Hi everyone,
This past week I became the proud owner of my third tort and he is my first Hermann's hatchling, my other Hermann's lil'Tort was around 2 years old when I adopted him this past spring. It's been five years since I've had a hatchling (my Russian, Torty) so I may be coming to the forum with questions. I know its too early to determine sex, so I'm just calling him a he and we'll see what he is later on.
I had always planned on getting a third tortoise eventually and when I saw this little guy at PetSmart it just felt right. I waited a week and really thought about it before going back and getting him on Wednesday. I have a few questions, both times I went to see him his food dish was filled with chopped up fruit, I think it was apples. When I got him the girl working in reptiles said that he only eats fruit and doesn't like veggies. It has always been my understanding that fruit should be given very sparingly if ever, would there be any damage from only having fruit for the last month?
I thought it would be difficult to transition to proper food, but I offered him endive, radicchio, and some other greens and some mazuri and he started eating everything, he tried everything I offered him and has been eating quite a bit the last few days.
I do have a question about his shell, I'm not sure about the terminology but is the fourth vertebral scute down the back of his shell normal? It just seemed a little small, but I'm not that familiar with Hermann's hatchlings so that may be normal.
I'll attach some pictures, one of his shell and the others because he's a pretty cute little guy. I thought maybe he would like roses, but so far my Russian is the only tort that does.
Thanks so much
This past week I became the proud owner of my third tort and he is my first Hermann's hatchling, my other Hermann's lil'Tort was around 2 years old when I adopted him this past spring. It's been five years since I've had a hatchling (my Russian, Torty) so I may be coming to the forum with questions. I know its too early to determine sex, so I'm just calling him a he and we'll see what he is later on.
I had always planned on getting a third tortoise eventually and when I saw this little guy at PetSmart it just felt right. I waited a week and really thought about it before going back and getting him on Wednesday. I have a few questions, both times I went to see him his food dish was filled with chopped up fruit, I think it was apples. When I got him the girl working in reptiles said that he only eats fruit and doesn't like veggies. It has always been my understanding that fruit should be given very sparingly if ever, would there be any damage from only having fruit for the last month?
I thought it would be difficult to transition to proper food, but I offered him endive, radicchio, and some other greens and some mazuri and he started eating everything, he tried everything I offered him and has been eating quite a bit the last few days.
I do have a question about his shell, I'm not sure about the terminology but is the fourth vertebral scute down the back of his shell normal? It just seemed a little small, but I'm not that familiar with Hermann's hatchlings so that may be normal.
I'll attach some pictures, one of his shell and the others because he's a pretty cute little guy. I thought maybe he would like roses, but so far my Russian is the only tort that does.
Thanks so much