New herman

[snelly]

Hi

I have recently purchased a Herman tortoise and just wondered if you thought it looked healthy etc. im new to owning a tortoise and worry

 

[Tortoise]

Hi
Its hard to know for sure of health through photos but as long as he is eating well, active and alert, clear of nasal discharge, gaining weight etc etc he is probably well.

The shell on this Hermanns is very smooth so he must have been well looked after previously.


Very beautiful tortoise, enjoy him/her
Feel free to ask questions on this forum as there are many helpful folk here.

 

[cherylim]

Very smooth! He/she is lovely.

 

[snelly]

Thank you so much. I just wanted to ensure it looked healthy. I've been reading a lot about pyramiding and shell rot and immediately was checking my tortoise over

I am hoping to take it to a specialist vet tomorrow to make sure all is good and find out if it's a boy or girl so I can name it

 

[MatrixDJ]

Very Pretty little one you have there! What kind of substrate is that?

 

[LSHarry]

Awwww I'm new to this also! I've got a herman aswell called Harry he's 1 year old, love him to bits

 

[bubbles01]

Hi and Welcome!

Gorgeous little tort! As previously posted, very difficult to judge health on a few pics, have you read the caresheets on here?

He/she is very pretty, looks just like my smallest Hermanns, Niles. Nice and smooth and a cute face!!

I'm not an expert by any means, I keep 7 hermanns but mine are not in an enclosure so you'd need to ask for help from other members re your housing/substrate/lighting etc.

Enjoy your tort!

Helen x

 

[dmarcus]

congrats on the new tortoise...

 

[Yvonne G]

Hi LSHarry:

Won't you take a few moments to start a new thread in the "introductions" section and tell us a bit about yourself?

 

[Terry Allan Hall]

Looks great...congrats!

 

[snelly]

Hi the bedding I have is the wooden bedding. I think it's called hemp bedding.

The full set up is from the site the tortoise shop.com. I have the miss daisy house pretty cute

Thank you for all your comments about how lovely my tortoise looks. I am well pleased with it and can't wait to find a name for it. I think I have bonded already and only had it three days now

I did post on the my introductions page about me etc . I think this forum is really good. I have had a lot of advice already

 

[cherylim]

Hi the bedding I have is the wooden bedding. I think it's called hemp bedding.

The full set up is from the site the tortoise shop.com. I have the miss daisy house pretty cute

Thank you for all your comments about how lovely my tortoise looks. I am well pleased with it and can't wait to find a name for it. I think I have bonded already and only had it three days now

I did post on the my introductions page about me etc . I think this forum is really good. I have had a lot of advice already

If I were you, I'd change the hemp bedding. Have a read through this:

http://www.tortoisetrust.org/articles/hemp.htm

There are many other safe options. A lot of people go for coco coir and some for aspen. I use 100% organic topsoil in my enclosure - it's not the cleanest, but I know Emrys is safe on it and he's a tortoise, so I don't mind a bit of mess around his enclosure.

 

[snelly]

Blimey that's well bad. I shall me changing the bedding then. I don't want anything that can harm him/her. That's well bad. They should stop selling it

Thank you

 

[cherylim]

Blimey that's well bad. I shall me changing the bedding then. I don't want anything that can harm him/her. That's well bad. They should stop selling it

Thank you

Indeed. As the article says, it's often used for horses, but most pet shops don't care how you care for your tortoise once you have it, as long as you've paid them the money for everything you need.

Fortunately, I'd found and learned from TFO before I got Emrys. I walked into the pet shop, told them exactly what kind of tortoise I wanted, asked to look over them and picked out the one I wanted. They were being kept on pure sand (a definite no-no), with no water, in a small tank, but were surprisingly healthy considering, with only slight pyramiding. Still, if I hadn't known what I was doing I would have thought that was the right environment (and would have bought the wrong sub-species, because the guy in the shop didn't know there were different types of Hermann's!).

As long as you stick around here, you'll be fine - there are plenty of experiences to learn from!

 

[lisamolloy89]

Hi snelly! what age is ur little guy?
Mines is from the tortoiseshop.com also they could b related!

 

[Yvonne G]

Hi Hannah:

Most of us are not fans of that "fruity pebble cereal" type food for tortoises. You would be better off feeding dark, leafy greens from the produce market. Rockett salad, etc.

 

[snelly]

My tortoise is approx a year old. I got her from a pet shop around me. I am trying not to feed her the tortoise pellets but I think the pet shop fed her on them as she doesn't want to eat much else. I am trying to wean her off them by adding the smallest amounts to her food with her leafy food

 

[Richmond2]

Hi snelly he looks amazing and very healthy but one thing I would like to point out is I think your feeding him to much of them fruity pellets my local pet shop stressed to me to feed him no more than six and a little greens so he can always leave a bit over and than give him extra greens so he keeps leaving a bit everytime than he will get himself a pattern also only feed him during the morning for 3-4 hours because he will eat and eat and eat and eat and get fat in addition to that he shell will pyramid which is him getting fat in other words.i purchased a hermanns recently and do strongly recommend.them as a species mine is called TONY

 

[ALDABRAMAN]

Very nice, congrats.