New Hermann Carer - looking for advice and reassurance!

[miller2605]

Hi everyone! New Hermann's owner here looking for some advice.

There's so much information online and given at local reptile centres that we've become really confused. We want to make sure he's got the best possible environment and life so I'm hoping you'll be able to help! He's a Hermann's hatchling around 10 months old. He weighs 84 grams and is a little difficult to measure as he's super active! Firstly, does this seem like a suitable weight? He was 77g when we got him around 6 weeks ago, so I'm worried the weight gain is too fast. Any advice on this? We feed him 3-4 pellets and greens (for now just kale or rocket) around the size of his shell daily.

We have him in a vivarium for now. We have a table top as well but our house is cold, so we only put him in here to have a run around and forage for an hour or so at a time occasionally, as I'm worried he'll get too cold. This week I have noticed he has started to eat the hemp substrate in his vivarium - has anyone else experienced this? I'm worried it's really bad for him!

We are also bathing him every 2-3 days but I've seen more recently that it should be daily, so we're now doing this and a weigh-in after for consistency.

He's generally really alert and seems healthy but we want to be sure we're on the right path. We went to several local experts, and they all gave different opinions on what substrate/enclosure/food is best for him! Any advice you can give would be much appreciated.

Here's a few photos 🥰

 

[SinLA]

This is the best place to start: https://tortoiseforum.org/threads/info-for-new-people-please-read-this-first.202363/#post-2036954

Its alot, but will help you out.

 

[TheTattooedTortoise]

Hi, Personally I'd swap out the hemp for some cocoa coir (misted daily) topped with coarse orchid bar,
Deep enough in places for him to dig into.
Hemp potentially is an impaction risk (blocked digestive system)

As for diet, variety is the biggest key.
Shop bought 'salads' hold little nutritional value so as many SAFE natural weeds and flowers as you can include will be beneficial.
Stay away from 'pellets' etc, its junk food for torts, isn't much good and is quite addictive.

(Presuming your in UK) here's a small list of native plants/weeds readily available and safe for daily feeding - Google images for ID.
Please be sure that there are no pesticides being used (stay away from public parks/flower beds & commercial garden centres unless organic)

Dandelion
Nipplewort
Ribwort plantain
Broad leaf plantain
Clover
Cats eat
Hawkbit
Mallow
Pansies
Violas
Petunias
Trailing campanula
Corn flower
Forget me nots
Geraniums (not the house plant variety)
Rose of sharon.


The tortoise table.co.uk is worth a peek as a guide if your second guessing anything.

Hope this helps a bit to get you started with a solid diet.

Last bit of advice, (I wish someone told me) its surprising how much food you will get through, particularly at autumn when supplies die off for winter... buy seeds & plants now!! pots, trays, containers, milk cartons, yoghurt pots, just sow seeds.... Grow as much as you can physically fit in your garden/windowsills/patios etc. You cant get enough!!!

 

[miller2605]

Hi, Personally I'd swap out the hemp for some cocoa coir (misted daily) topped with coarse orchid bar,
Deep enough in places for him to dig into.
Hemp potentially is an impaction risk (blocked digestive system)

As for diet, variety is the biggest key.
Shop bought 'salads' hold little nutritional value so as many SAFE natural weeds and flowers as you can include will be beneficial.
Stay away from 'pellets' etc, its junk food for torts, isn't much good and is quite addictive.

(Presuming your in UK) here's a small list of native plants/weeds readily available and safe for daily feeding - Google images for ID.
Please be sure that there are no pesticides being used (stay away from public parks/flower beds & commercial garden centres unless organic)

Dandelion
Nipplewort
Ribwort plantain
Broad leaf plantain
Clover
Cats eat
Hawkbit
Mallow
Pansies
Violas
Petunias
Trailing campanula
Corn flower
Forget me nots
Geraniums (not the house plant variety)
Rose of sharon.


The tortoise table.co.uk is worth a peek as a guide if your second guessing anything.

Hope this helps a bit to get you started with a solid diet.

Last bit of advice, (I wish someone told me) its surprising how much food you will get through, particularly at autumn when supplies die off for winter... buy seeds & plants now!! pots, trays, containers, milk cartons, yoghurt pots, just sow seeds.... Grow as much as you can physically fit in your garden/windowsills/patios etc. You cant get enough!!!

Thanks for this! We are currently planting up lots of dandelions for him so we can become more self-sufficient in terms of his diet. I'll add some more of the above to our list! Good to know about the pellets, he seems to like them so makes sense they're junk food (he's like me already😅).

Substrate definitely seems to have been the thing that's been the hardest to find one opinion on, so appreciate that too. We'll look at swapping this out for him. I had read that misting can cause it to be too human for Hermann's babies, especially in a vivarium as this already gets humid. We have a humidity sensor on the way so we can be more scientific with it, too. Its so hard to know what's what when you first start out!

 

[TheTattooedTortoise]

Your welcome, yes you certainly don't want it ' damp in there' but humidity (up to a point) is beneficial.
I start my day at "lights on" with a quick misting over the substrate with a spray bottle, that's it.
The coir holds humidity to burrow into and the bark provides a dry top layer so no shell rot/mess etc.
If you aim to have a bask spot, a warm side and a cooler side to your enclosure, generally you will get varying humidity levels across the board anyway, so your tort can just move around to which part suits and makes him comfortable at the time.
As mentioned, regular warm soaks (do not take your eyes off him) and a good diet and you'll have a happy healthy pebble.