New Hermanns Tortoise..

[JadeIvy]

I already have a 3 (nearly 4 year old) female hermanns tortoise and today I brought a 4 (nearly 5 year old) male tortoise as the people who had him didn't know what they were doing and he now has a deformed shell so I have taken him on to give him a better life.
My female tortoise is in a tortoise table and so has just one lamp that produces everything she needs.
The male tortoise come with his setup and he has a long bulb which is florescent and then a heat bulb but the heat bulb is red..
Can people tell me what kind of set up they have for theirs? as my new one is now in a viv and not a tortoise table..

 

[Yvonne G]

Hi JadeIvy, and welcome to the Forum!

In my opinion, as long as you can get the temperatures from one end to the other, there's no difference between a viv and a table. You want one end to be warmer than the other - about 105F directly under the light, fading to around 80F at one end and room temperature or around 70F at the other end. This way the tortoise can decide where it needs to be in order to cool down or warm up. Take a look through our 'Enclosures' section and see the great pictures our members have put up.

Please keep the new tortoise quarantined for about 3 months and pay very close attention to the two once you put them together. Sometimes the Testudo males are very aggressive breeders, and he may be rough on your female. You may have to keep them separated.

 

[StarSapphire22]

How big is the tank? An adult hermanns should usually not be in a viv, simply because most tanks will be too small unless you have a massive one. 3'x6' is the minimum size for a hermanns really so a table or outdoor setup is a better option. That being said, I agree with Yvonne. As long as the appropriate numbers and size requirements are being met and everything, there's no problem using a viv, though you may find humidity getting higher than you'd like. I would switch out the red bulb for a regular one though...torts sometimes find the red ones distressing.

My hatchling is currently in a 75 gallon, but will move out as it grows.

 

[StarSapphire22]

Found a pic of my setup.