New Hermanns Tortoise

[MrsB94]

New tortoise owner we picked up our Turbo today. Hoping he may live up to his name one day!
He hasn’t really moved around much at all today is this normal for them as I know it must of been stressful travelling and new environment, was just slightly concerned he hasn’t ventured out of his hide his just moved from one side to the other burrowing under a little.

 

[zolasmum]

Welcome from Devon . I have a Hermanns tortoise too -Zola-he is now 24 and a constant joy to us.
I'm so glad you have found this forum, as it really is the most helpful, friendly and informative place to get advice and to talk about tortoises !
I'm not an expert, but I would suggest you leave Turbo to settle down -Zola took several days to really feel confident about coming out of his hide. Just put some food and water close to him, so he can find them when he is ready.
All best wishes from Angie

 

[MrsB94]

Thank you Angie for your reply, I’ve left him some food and his water close by to his hide so I’m hoping he will maybe venture out when it’s quiet to grab a bite.

 

[Littleredfootbigredheart]

Hello! If we could get more housing information from you that would be great, congratulations on your new baby!

What are your temperatures like all over? Ie basking temp(directly under the bulb), overall day temps(middle and cooler side), night temps?
What kind of basking bulb is being used specifically? Packaging photos are good if you have any
What kind of indoor uv?
How’s humidity? Is he in a closed set up?
What’s his substrate?
What kind of monitoring do you have?
What’s his diet with you?

A photo of the full set up would be wonderful if you’re up for sharing more! Welcome to the forum

 

[MrsB94]

Hello! If we could get more housing information from you that would be great, congratulations on your new baby!

What are your temperatures like all over? Ie basking temp(directly under the bulb), overall day temps(middle and cooler side), night temps?
What kind of basking bulb is being used specifically? Packaging photos are good if you have any
What kind of indoor uv?
How’s humidity? Is he in a closed set up?
What’s his substrate?
What kind of monitoring do you have?
What’s his diet with you?

A photo of the full set up would be wonderful if you’re up for sharing more! Welcome to the forum

Hi thank you for your reply, I have a vivexotic deluxe table, Temp under lamp is 30 cooler side is around 23 and that stays the same during the night as my house is quite warm and set to 23 degrees and heating comes on if drops below that temp. Basking Lamp is Arcadia mercury d3 100w which is what the shop sold me yesterday and said I would only need that which I’ve now read is not good so I need to change this!
His substrate is swell reptile tortoise mix soil on one side and hemp bedding the other,I have a thermometer that the shop sold me yesterday sitting under the basking bulb.
So far I’ve managed to get him to nibble a little bit of lambs lettuce.

The picture is before I brought all the lamps with him yesterday and it does have two mesh lids sections on top as well.

Thank you!

 

[MrsB94]

Turbo is awake today, I gave him a little Luke warm bathe which he absolutely loved he did seem rather dry bless him and now his venturing around his new home he rather likes his stones to climb on I’m hoping his going to settle just fine in there.

 

[COmtnLady]

Welcome to the Forum!

How old is Turbo? Or if you don't know age, how big?


You have found the best tortoise info site anywhere online. The Tortoise Forum has the best most up-to-date info, plus there are a lot of years of expert tortoise keeping represented by the various members here. Everyone will do their best to help you help your tortoise to have a happy healthy life.
.
For your own peace of mind don't listen to the "advice" given by other sources (like: pet shops, social media sites, People at reptile shows, many of the YouTube videos, and even most veterinarians). They're still using old info that doesn't work as well as what you'll find here.

Study the info in the links offered. All those head-exploding details will show you how to help your tortoise to thrive.

And, ask questions.

Hint: Run it by the other members here before you buy new equipment or whatever - their expertise will save you a lot of time, stress, and money.



Welcome aboard!

 

[MrsB94]

Welcome to the Forum!

How old is Turbo? Or if you don't know age, how big?


You have found the best tortoise info site anywhere online. The Tortoise Forum has the best most up-to-date info, plus there are a lot of years of expert tortoise keeping represented by the various members here. Everyone will do their best to help you help your tortoise to have a happy healthy life.
.
For your own peace of mind don't listen to the "advice" given by other sources (like: pet shops, social media sites, People at reptile shows, many of the YouTube videos, and even most veterinarians). They're still using old info that doesn't work as well as what you'll find here.

Study the info in the links offered. All those head-exploding details will show you how to help your tortoise to thrive.

And, ask questions.

Hint: Run it by the other members here before you buy new equipment or whatever - their expertise will save you a lot of time, stress, and money.



Welcome aboard!

Thank you for your reply, on his paperwork it says hatchling 24 and issue date was August 24 so I’m guessing roughly 7/8 months old. His doing very well this morning very active I gave him a little lukewarm soak which he loved! Since he has been wondering his new surroundings so he seems just fine this morning, my issue is now they sold me a mercury Vapor basking bulb for my tortoise table which I’m now concerned is not correct.

 

[COmtnLady]

You are right. The mercury vapor ones are hard on their eyes and shouldn't be used.

The reason I was asking about age - tortoises really need to be humid conditions for the first approximately three years of their lives. The enclosure you have is very pretty, but it needs to be enclosed to hold heat and humidity in.

Also that big gray plastic water-dish isn't a good thing for a young tortoise. A terracotta plant saucer that is counter-sunk into the substrate would be a lot safer. The plastic is slick and the sides are too vertical. Little ones get in there and can't get the traction to get out, eventually they end up trying to get over the too vertical sides and flip onto their backs in the water, once exhausted they drown. Terracotta saucers have a rough enough surface that the baby tortoise can pretty much go wherever they want, and the sides are angled outward so they don't provide the flipping hazard. There is also a secondary perk, the surface will help keep their nails "filed" down. I haven't had to trim my Red Foot's in years because of a terracotta saucer and her feeding platform is that kind of surface, too.



Have you had a chance to read this yet?

Info For New People. Please Read This First.

Hello and welcome to tortoiseforum.org! We are all glad you are here! There is no other forum like this anywhere. We have tens of thousands of members from all over the world ranging from kids with their first tortoise to people who have been breeding and keeping high end tortoises since the...

tortoiseforum.org

Here is another good sheet about problematic things -

Common keeping errors

Hello everyone! I’d been a long time lurker on this site long before joining just under a year ago now, over that time I’ve seen these husbandry issues come up time and time again, sometimes with dire consequences☹️ I thought this thread might serve as a good visual guide for these common...

tortoiseforum.org

and

Beginner Mistakes

To comment on Tom's article, go here: http://www.tortoiseforum.org/Thread-split-Beginner-Mistakes#axzz1tG8s05M5 Over the years many of us, myself included, have made many of these mistakes, and we have certainly seen them made many times by others. With springtime upon us and many new...

tortoiseforum.org

And this will help quite a bit, too -

The Best Way To Raise Any Temperate Species Of Tortoise

I chose the title of this care sheet very carefully. Are there other ways to raise babies and care for adults? Yes. Yes there are, but those ways are not as good. What follows is the BEST way, according to 30 years of research and experimentation with hundreds of babies of many species. What is...

tortoiseforum.org

.

 

[MrsB94]

You are right. The mercury vapor ones are hard on their eyes and shouldn't be used.

The reason I was asking about age - tortoises really need to be humid conditions for the first approximately three years of their lives. The enclosure you have is very pretty, but it needs to be enclosed to hold heat and humidity in.

Also that big gray plastic water-dish isn't a good thing for a young tortoise. A terracotta plant saucer that is counter-sunk into the substrate would be a lot safer. The plastic is slick and the sides are too vertical. Little ones get in there and can't get the traction to get out, eventually they end up trying to get over the too vertical sides and flip onto their backs in the water, once exhausted they drown. Terracotta saucers have a rough enough surface that the baby tortoise can pretty much go wherever they want, and the sides are angled outward so they don't provide the flipping hazard. There is also a secondary perk, the surface will help keep their nails "filed" down. I haven't had to trim my Red Foot's in years because of a terracotta saucer and her feeding platform is that kind of surface, too.



Have you had a chance to read this yet?

Info For New People. Please Read This First.

Hello and welcome to tortoiseforum.org! We are all glad you are here! There is no other forum like this anywhere. We have tens of thousands of members from all over the world ranging from kids with their first tortoise to people who have been breeding and keeping high end tortoises since the...

tortoiseforum.org

Here is another good sheet about problematic things -

Common keeping errors

Hello everyone! I’d been a long time lurker on this site long before joining just under a year ago now, over that time I’ve seen these husbandry issues come up time and time again, sometimes with dire consequences☹️ I thought this thread might serve as a good visual guide for these common...

tortoiseforum.org

and

Beginner Mistakes

To comment on Tom's article, go here: http://www.tortoiseforum.org/Thread-split-Beginner-Mistakes#axzz1tG8s05M5 Over the years many of us, myself included, have made many of these mistakes, and we have certainly seen them made many times by others. With springtime upon us and many new...

tortoiseforum.org

And this will help quite a bit, too -

The Best Way To Raise Any Temperate Species Of Tortoise

I chose the title of this care sheet very carefully. Are there other ways to raise babies and care for adults? Yes. Yes there are, but those ways are not as good. What follows is the BEST way, according to 30 years of research and experimentation with hundreds of babies of many species. What is...

tortoiseforum.org

.

Thank you for all the advice here, I have started to read the for new people one and I’m going to get new bulbs and make changes to anything I can to make it perfect for him, so I will take a read of all the other links above!
So far this morning be seems very happy his had a lovely soak, and wondered around the whole table.

 

[COmtnLady]

Soaking is great! Young ones should be soaked at least once each day, for a half hour or so, in water that is only as deep as where the top and bottom shells come together. Its REALLY important that the water be warm the whole time, but since it is so shallow, you have to change it frequently. Some members keep a warming-light over the water to keep it warm; some have two soaking bins (think the plastic "Rubbermaid" things - only get the cheap ones from the dollar store) so when the first one begins to cool down they switch the tortoise to the other one and put fresh warm water into the first for the next change needed; I soak mine in a sink and replace with running water as needed. Try different ways and go with whatever works best for you.


It would be good to discuss the things you actually need with other members. Its so easy to lead astray by people at stores. Plus, Zolasmum and LittleRedFootBigRedHeart are both from UK, along with quite a few others, and can help with brand-names and places to get stuff.

 

[Littleredfootbigredheart]

Hi thank you for your reply, I have a vivexotic deluxe table, Temp under lamp is 30 cooler side is around 23 and that stays the same during the night as my house is quite warm and set to 23 degrees and heating comes on if drops below that temp. Basking Lamp is Arcadia mercury d3 100w which is what the shop sold me yesterday and said I would only need that which I’ve now read is not good so I need to change this!
His substrate is swell reptile tortoise mix soil on one side and hemp bedding the other,I have a thermometer that the shop sold me yesterday sitting under the basking bulb.
So far I’ve managed to get him to nibble a little bit of lambs lettuce.

The picture is before I brought all the lamps with him yesterday and it does have two mesh lids sections on top as well.

Thank you!

Thank you for your response! I can see it’s already been touched on above about lighting, I’ll also say this table does ideally need covering, babies need a closed set up to retain the humidity 24/7, I’d also look into changing your substrate to coco coir.

Hopefully you find this a good read, this thread covers correct equipment(uvb, heating bulbs, lighting etc), correct levels, importance of a closed chamber for younger tortoises(only way to maintain the humidity you need), appropriately maintaining the humidity, safe substrates, there’s lots of visual examples for everything, and a really handy diet link to check out! If going with a greenhouse, the lower the ceiling height, whilst still allowing for recommended bulb height, the better! but I’ll include some more closed chamber ideas below

Housing young Russian/Herman

Hello there! In this thread, I’m going to include some information on an effective way to tackle a starter set up/a way you can build a bigger size once your baby is an adult. I know it looks a lot to go over, I like to make sure all bases are covered, I’m happy to break down any information...

tortoiseforum.org

This includes different closed chamber options, some work better than others

Visual inspiration

Hi guys! I’ve had some lovely messages complimenting me on my care sheets I made for all the visuals they include! That makes me so happy because as a visual learner myself, that was my goal🥰 I’ve recently had some requests for some more visual inspiration for set ups that can house babies/...

tortoiseforum.org

Lastly, that common keeping error one above is probably most important to go over and keep on hand, it’ll help you avoid the wrong bulbs, substrates, housing etc, I always encourage double checking purchases on the forum too before buying

Really hope this helps! Please feel free to ask any further questions

 

[MrsB94]

Thank you for your response! I can see it’s already been touched on above about lighting, I’ll also say this table does ideally need covering, babies need a closed set up to retain the humidity 24/7, I’d also look into changing your substrate to coco coir.

Hopefully you find this a good read, this thread covers correct equipment(uvb, heating bulbs, lighting etc), correct levels, importance of a closed chamber for younger tortoises(only way to maintain the humidity you need), appropriately maintaining the humidity, safe substrates, there’s lots of visual examples for everything, and a really handy diet link to check out! If going with a greenhouse, the lower the ceiling height, whilst still allowing for recommended bulb height, the better! but I’ll include some more closed chamber ideas below

Housing young Russian/Herman

Hello there! In this thread, I’m going to include some information on an effective way to tackle a starter set up/a way you can build a bigger size once your baby is an adult. I know it looks a lot to go over, I like to make sure all bases are covered, I’m happy to break down any information...

tortoiseforum.org

This includes different closed chamber options, some work better than others

Visual inspiration

Hi guys! I’ve had some lovely messages complimenting me on my care sheets I made for all the visuals they include! That makes me so happy because as a visual learner myself, that was my goal🥰 I’ve recently had some requests for some more visual inspiration for set ups that can house babies/...

tortoiseforum.org

Lastly, that common keeping error one above is probably most important to go over and keep on hand, it’ll help you avoid the wrong bulbs, substrates, housing etc, I always encourage double checking purchases on the forum too before buying

Really hope this helps! Please feel free to ask any further questions

Would you know if these bulbs would be ok? There’s 3 in the pack which I was thinking great I’ll have replacements and they fit in the dome I already have, also the t5 Arcadia would I need the 12% for Hermanns I’m looking at the kit set.

 

[Littleredfootbigredheart]

Would you know if these bulbs would be ok? There’s 3 in the pack which I was thinking great I’ll have replacements and they fit in the dome I already have, also the t5 Arcadia would I need the 12% for Hermanns I’m looking at the kit set.

They’re listed as a spot bulb which you want to avoid, but sometimes the package is confusing and it’s actually a flood. Let me get @Alex and the Redfoot to che these over. As for the uvb, yeah Arcadia prot5 kit 12%, the 24watt should do you

 

[MrsB94]

They’re listed as a spot bulb which you want to avoid, but sometimes the package is confusing and it’s actually a flood. Let me get @Alex and the Redfoot to che these over. As for the uvb, yeah Arcadia prot5 kit 12%, the 24watt should do you

Ok perfect I just want to make sure I buy the correct basking bulb and il shall order the uvb hopefully it comes quickly

 

[Alex and the Redfoot]

They’re listed as a spot bulb which you want to avoid, but sometimes the package is confusing and it’s actually a flood. Let me get @Alex and the Redfoot to che these over. As for the uvb, yeah Arcadia prot5 kit 12%, the 24watt should do you

"Spot" here is related to "basking spot" not the bulb. But I have no information on these bulbs (even simple distance/temperature charts) so I can't tell if they are suitable.

 

[MrsB94]

"Spot" here is related to "basking spot" not the bulb. But I have no information on these bulbs (even simple distance/temperature charts) so I can't tell if they are suitable.

Thank you, Would these be better?

 

[Alex and the Redfoot]

Thank you, Would these be better?

Yes, Arcadia Floodlights are fine. Exact wattage depends on enclosure type (open table/vivarium), room temperature, hanging height etc. You can start with a 100W or a 75W one.

 

[MrsB94]

Yes, Arcadia Floodlights are fine. Exact wattage depends on enclosure type (open table/vivarium), room temperature, hanging height etc. You can start with a 100W or a 75W one.

Ok I have open table it’s quite large it’s the vivexotic deluxe so maybe il got for the 100w thank you