New Substrate

[DynomiteThor]

Hi, I'm a new tortoise owner of a lovely little Hermann's called Oogway.
When I bought him he came with woodchip substrate which I changed recently (had him for about a month and a half) for a Mediterranean soil substrate as I read that this was better for him. However since I change this over (about two days ago) he seems to be very keen to get out from his viv and I'm worried he may not like it. This is the only change there has been and this has never happened until now. He spends a lot of time, of respectively a lot of time, at the front right scraping the wall and glass and seemingly trying to open the glass door.

Should I change the substrate back? What should I do? Does he just need some time to climatize?
I'm really worried about stressing him out or doing anything wrong so any advice would be greatly appreciated, for this or also any general advice too

Many thanks

 

[wellington]

Post pictures of the enclosure.
I don't know what the substratet is that you switched too. Most highly recommended for most if not all tortoises is orchid bark and/or coconut coir.

 

[DynomiteThor]

Post pictures of the enclosure.
I don't know what the substratet is that you switched too. Most highly recommended for most if not all tortoises is orchid bark and/or coconut coir.

Post pictures of the enclosure.
I don't know what the substratet is that you switched too. Most highly recommended for most if not all tortoises is orchid bark and/or coconut coir.

This is the enclosure, I've let him out for a lil bit so he's not there, also he walks through his water and good alot but it is all clean and I refresh the water every so often to stop it from getting too soily

 

[DynomiteThor]

This is the enclosure, I've let him out for a lil bit so he's not there, also he walks through his water and good alot but it is all clean and I refresh the water every so often to stop it from getting too soily

The soil I bought was this one https://www.reptiles.swelluk.com/prorep-tortoise-life-10ltrs

 

[Karen(pebbles)]

This soil is no good, they eat the small white stones and this can cause impaction, as @wellington said, you need orchid bark and/or coco coir, also what kind of lighting do you have? can you show pics of this also?

 

[wellington]

I agree with what Karen said.

 

[DynomiteThor]

This soil is no good, they eat the small white stones and this can cause impaction, as @wellington said, you need orchid bark and/or coco coir, also what kind of lighting do you have? can you show pics of this also?

When I bought the soil I bought some fine beech chips as a back up, as this is what the reptile shop originally provided me with, so I've just cleaned out the soil and replaced it with the woodchips and will see how tomorrow goes, if he calms down or not. Where would a good place be to get orchid bark or coco coir? Is there a particular amount of each that's ideal? If I did a mix, how would I set this up? Like layer them or do half of one and half of the other?
Sorry about all the questions, I just wanna make sure I'm getting everything right

The lighting I have is a UV strip and then there's also a heat lamp at the back of the enclosure, again this was just bought from the reptile shop and built by them.

Sorry about the picture quality, he's asleep so I didn't wanna turn the light on, the window's getting a proper wipe down tomorrow, it got messed up from him pressing up against it

 

[Karen(pebbles)]

Unfortunately pet shops don’t always give the best advice, I learnt this the hard way and had to replace everything they sold me, I get my coco coir and fine orchid bark from “Internet Reptile” the coco coir needs to be damp and hand packed down, some people put a layer of fine orchid bark on the top, it’s less messy, you need 3-4 inches of substrate to allow for burrowing, also may I suggest your basking bulb ideally needs to be changed, I use Arcadia floodlight bulbs. This is just what I have learned here on the forum, I’ve had my tort for 2 yrs so I’m still learning. I’ve enclosed pic of what lighting I use. I hope this helps

 

[Sarah2020]

Hi and welcome. Soil not good you can see it is trampled into his food and this will fill up in his stomach = impaction. Swell reptiles is great just order fine orchid bark from them. I suggest using plant bases for food and water with small stones round the edge. The cute house will be outgrown and is a flipping and climbing hazard suggest remove. Tortoise hate change so that is one if the behaviors your seeing. I would tape up 3 inches of the glass and as he grows tape more. You need to block vision out as he wants to get out there. Will add some pics asap

 

[Sarah2020]

Shows the tape on glass and how I had to add as speedy grows! Whilst not 100% does a good job.
Plant base mentioned terracotta for food and plastic for water work well with pebbles round edge to help ingress and egress

 

[Tom]

When I bought the soil I bought some fine beech chips as a back up, as this is what the reptile shop originally provided me with, so I've just cleaned out the soil and replaced it with the woodchips and will see how tomorrow goes, if he calms down or not. Where would a good place be to get orchid bark or coco coir? Is there a particular amount of each that's ideal? If I did a mix, how would I set this up? Like layer them or do half of one and half of the other?
Sorry about all the questions, I just wanna make sure I'm getting everything right

The lighting I have is a UV strip and then there's also a heat lamp at the back of the enclosure, again this was just bought from the reptile shop and built by them.

Sorry about the picture quality, he's asleep so I didn't wanna turn the light on, the window's getting a proper wipe down tomorrow, it got messed up from him pressing up against it

As you are learning the hard way, pet shops usually give terrible advice and sell you all the wrong products. Beech chips are no good because you can't keep them damp. Soil is made from composted yard waste. There is no way to know what is in it, so it should not be used. Sand is a skin and eye irritant and a terrible impaction risk. Putting limestone bits in a sandy soil substrate is absolute stupidity and a good way to kill tortoises.

For a baby Testudo, a thick layer of damp hand packed coco coir works great. Once they reach 3-4 inches, I switch them to fine grade orchid bark.

Also, tortoise should never be loose on the floor or loose outside. They need to be in a tortoise enclosure to be kept safe. Letting them free roam will eventually lead to death, sickness, impaction or loss. Make a secure outdoor enclosure for fair weather, but don't let the tortoise roam around outside of an enclosure.

Here is the correct care info and questions are welcome:

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

 

[DaphneV]

Hi, I'm a new tortoise owner of a lovely little Hermann's called Oogway.
When I bought him he came with woodchip substrate which I changed recently (had him for about a month and a half) for a Mediterranean soil substrate as I read that this was better for him. However since I change this over (about two days ago) he seems to be very keen to get out from his viv and I'm worried he may not like it. This is the only change there has been and this has never happened until now. He spends a lot of time, of respectively a lot of time, at the front right scraping the wall and glass and seemingly trying to open the glass door.

Should I change the substrate back? What should I do? Does he just need some time to climatize?
I'm really worried about stressing him out or doing anything wrong so any advice would be greatly appreciated, for this or also any general advice too

Many thanks

Ni hao oogway 🙂

 

[DynomiteThor]

This is all amazing, thank you so much everyone for your advice. I'll try and change the substrate as soon as possible and have a look into outdoor enclosures.

I do have one teeny final question, slightly off topic, but I was wondering if anyone had any advice around hibernation?
He's a Hermann's tortoise, if that's any help. I'm going to make a vet appointment as soon as I can to make sure he is a healthy weight, but I was wondering if anyone had any preparation advice, how to hibernate him and regulate his hibernation, literally as much information as possible really.

You've all been an amazing help, this is all so new to me and I really really appreciate it

 

[DynomiteThor]

Ni hao oogway 🙂

Oogway says ni hao