Rescued Herman’s Tortoise help & advice please

Neil W

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Jun 16, 2020
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Northampton
Morning guys new to the site, just wanted to talk to people about my tortoise as I am not on any social media, I don’t like humans as much as my animals lol

I rescued my tortoise about 5 months ago now, when I got her she has been left in the dark with no light for over a month and her shell was super soft. I took the entire enclosure off them an put the appropriate lighting etc in the tank. I have done my best with her and she looks much healthier now however she has a deformed shell. I have a few questions,

oh by the way her name is Shelly! I love her to bits and she is very active, she eats well and moves around her tank constantly, I bath her twice a week and feed her and give her fresh water daily. She is on a sand soil substrate about 6 inch deep how her recently I have added two slate slabs into the enclosure for her food and water bowl ( she gets soil everywhere and it spoils her food and drys out her water. Unfortunately due to her shell deformities she can not flip herself back over when she flips so I have had to take most of her decor out of her tank because I went to work one day and came home to her on her back, I almost had a heart attack! She was fine and I put a camera in there for the first couple of weeks and watched her intensely, since removing the decor she has not flipped since. I have placed a plant against the front of the enclosure so he can climb safely as he just loves to climb, does anyone have any advice of anything else I can do to make the enclosure more interesting for her, I am also interested to know what others think of her health, I can take pictures if anyone is interested in looking at her?
Thanks guys
Neil W
 

KarenSoCal

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Hi, and welcome to the forum!
We love pictures! Of Shelly and her enclosure. Maybe you could tell us her rescue story in a bit more detail, too.
Here's our care sheet for Hermann's tortoises. I hope you find it helpful!

 

Neil W

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Northampton
Hi, and welcome to the forum!
We love pictures! Of Shelly and her enclosure. Maybe you could tell us her rescue story in a bit more detail, too.
Here's our care sheet for Hermann's tortoises. I hope you find it helpful!


Hi sure!

she was about 2 and a half years old when I got her, I had a friend who had her from a baby she was the size of a 50 pence piece, unfortunately they did not research how to look after her properly. They moved her enclosure to the garage as there grandmother was dying and they did not want shelly in the same room as her. Towards the end of them having her, her uvb bulb had broken so she only had the light from her heat bulb ( she could have been like this for more then a month in it sure) when I went to visit I noticed that you could see her shell moving with her breathing which is obviously not good at all, so I went and brought the correct lighting for her. about a month later after there grandmother passed away they wanted to go on holiday and asked if I could look after her for them. Obviously I agreed but when they came back I ha ld grown so attached to her and after the work I had put in with her, I refused to give her back lol.

I problem I have now is working out if she is healthy or not as I have no comparison , please see the pics attached, I will do anything that is recommended as I am constantly changing her enclosure to try and make it better for her.

I have attached a few photos of her and what the enclosure looks like now, just remember I have had to take most of the decor out to make sure he does not flip over.

I also have a rankins dragon called Larry in a viv above her but that’s another rescue story lol7E148BDB-D7DD-4AA6-9D29-2B5D831AE061.jpeg66FEED5A-E2FE-41A0-BFD6-49591D3EBD92.jpegC300111A-5C19-473D-9DEC-C9DAA1535451.jpeg
 

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Joined
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Yea I’m sure she is around 3 years old now, do you think she looks healthy? From what I have read, as long as her eyes are looking shiny and her shell looks strong, then they are good indicators
There is some significant pyramiding in her shell which is something to watch out for. Try feeding foods higher in calcium or using calcium powders. How big is she now?
 

Neil W

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Northampton
There is some significant pyramiding in her shell which is something to watch out for. Try feeding foods higher in calcium or using calcium powders. How big is she now?

Yes this is something I am worried about, she is about the size of a McDonald’s double cheese burger ? I dust her food but also use liquid calcium in her water bowl so she gets a good dose every day, apart from the shell, she is very very active bless her, she climbs, eats, digs, everything you would expect a tort to be doing in its every day life. I am worried that because of her past tho that she could out grow her shell and be in trouble, is there anything I can do to prevent this?
 
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Yes this is something I am worried about, she is about the size of a McDonald’s double cheese burger ? I dust her food but also use liquid calcium in her water bowl so she gets a good dose every day, apart from the shell, she is very very active bless her, she climbs, eats, digs, everything you would expect a tort to be doing in its every day life. I am worried that because of her past tho that she could out grow her shell and be in trouble, is there anything I can do to prevent this?
This is good, I believe she's the right size for her age and it seems like her calcium intake is excellent! Don't worry about her outgrowing her shell, shells grow with the torts inside them the same way our spines grow with us. Even if she was unhealthy, she could never outgrow her shell.
 

Neil W

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This is good, I believe she's the right size for her age and it seems like her calcium intake is excellent! Don't worry about her outgrowing her shell, shells grow with the torts inside them the same way our spines grow with us. Even if she was unhealthy, she could never outgrow her shell.

Ahh this is great news!! She is such a little character and full of life, I would be gutted if I couldn’t keep it that way, regarding her enclosure, do you think it’s to bare for her? I have tried to put other stuff in but she flips over and it scares the hell out of me, I have loads of stuff waiting to go in but just do not want to risk it, also what is your take on putting earthworms in the soil? I regularly move the soil around for her but wouldn’t a worm make it better? Do Torts eat worms!?!
 
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Ahh this is great news!! She is such a little character and full of life, I would be gutted if I couldn’t keep it that way, regarding her enclosure, do you think it’s to bare for her? I have tried to put other stuff in but she flips over and it scares the hell out of me, I have loads of stuff waiting to go in but just do not want to risk it, also what is your take on putting earthworms in the soil? I regularly move the soil around for her but wouldn’t a worm make it better? Do Torts eat worms!?!
Can you describe the decor you haven't put in? Or attach pictures? Also, hermann's torts do eat earthworms, which might actually be fun for her to catch but for moving soil around, you might be better off using your finger.
 

Neil W

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Can you describe the decor you haven't put in? Or attach pictures? Also, hermann's torts do eat earthworms, which might actually be fun for her to catch but for moving soil around, you might be better off using your finger.

Il put some in then, anything to make her happy lol, I have attached some pictures of her enclosure already but il attached another to this thread for you now D44DE661-6855-42EC-821E-C9B7E42A73DD.jpeg
 
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Il put some in then, anything to make her happy lol, I have attached some pictures of her enclosure already but il attached another to this thread for you now View attachment 297578
For my tort, I get these colorful ping pong balls and plastic easter eggs from online but you can also find them at just about any dollar store. They're really cheap and my tort spends loads of time just rolling them around. If you want to stick with a more natural look, you can probably find wooden or wicker balls that she can push around. She might not interact with them but if she does, they can provide lots of entertainment. It's also very fun to watch them do this. I'm assuming they would be less likely to result in a flip as well.
For general, non-interactive decor, you could get some fake plants to attach around some of the walls where she can't reach them.
 

Neil W

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For my tort, I get these colorful ping pong balls and plastic easter eggs from online but you can also find them at just about any dollar store. They're really cheap and my tort spends loads of time just rolling them around. If you want to stick with a more natural look, you can probably find wooden or wicker balls that she can push around. She might not interact with them but if she does, they can provide lots of entertainment. It's also very fun to watch them do this. I'm assuming they would be less likely to result in a flip as well.
For general, non-interactive decor, you could get some fake plants to attach around some of the walls where she can't reach them.

she has a yellow ping pong ball in there already :) that was just something I thought of about a month ago, I agree it is entertaining to watch, who would have thought that a tort would use one but she does and she pushes it around all the time! I have thought about putting some more plants in there which I think I’m going to do for the back ground. As this conversation goes on I am feeling more and more comfortable with the decisions I have made, she seems happy and she does zoom around her tank a lot, the main thing tho is that she is healthy so I thank you for your opinion on that, do you have any pics of your enclosure that I could look at for perspective?
 

Neil W

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This is my tortoise table:
Ahhh I love that! I really like the ramp to, I was thinking about building a little ramp around the sides so she can scurry around the edges as well! I can’t have an open top table as I also have 4 cats, 2 of them being a bengal and a savannah, they like to look at her through the glass and she does come up to great them but I’m not that stupid to think that when my back is turned they wouldn’t try something. I really like your set up tho, how often does yours sleep in the day? Do you find that she takes little naps or is that just Shelly being lazy? ?
 
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My tortoise (Tortellini, 5 months old) does spend a lot of time napping, often while basking. What times of the day does Shelly nap? For Tortellini, there doesn't seem to be any pattern.
 

Neil W

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My tortoise (Tortellini, 5 months old) does spend a lot of time napping, often while basking. What times of the day does Shelly nap? For Tortellini, there doesn't seem to be any pattern.

There is no pattern, she eats food has a run around, tired herself out, yawns then falls asleep, I was worried that she was sleeping fully extended out of her shell however after research, this is actually a really good thing as it means she is completely comfortable with her surrounding, it’s cute when she yawns ? what food are you feeding Tortellini?
 
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There is no pattern, she eats food has a run around, tired herself out, yawns then falls asleep, I was worried that she was sleeping fully extended out of her shell however after research, this is actually a really good thing as it means she is completely comfortable with her surrounding, it’s cute when she yawns ? what food are you feeding Tortellini?
I primarily feed lettuce which is Tortellini's favorite vegetable but for variety, I mix in things like carrot (just shavings for now), and spineless prickly pear on occasion. Sometimes I chop up fruits like papaya (tort's favorite fruit), apple or melons as a treat and squashes when they're in season. I use calcium powder usually three out of every four feedings because tort seems to like it better without. I also grow specific grass for him to eat in my backyard where I let him roam. How about you?
 

Neil W

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I primarily feed lettuce which is Tortellini's favorite vegetable but for variety, I mix in things like carrot (just shavings for now), and spineless prickly pear on occasion. Sometimes I chop up fruits like papaya (tort's favorite fruit), apple or melons as a treat and squashes when they're in season. I use calcium powder usually three out of every four feedings because tort seems to like it better without. I also grow specific grass for him to eat in my backyard where I let him roam. How about you?

Lettuce everyday for sure, she loves it! Also cress she munches that every day to, she like cucumber and tomatoes as well but her favourite has got to be strawberries, she looks like hannable lector once she’s finished with it ? lately I have been letting her out in the garden and she eats the dandelions but it’s a rare occasion as I live in the UK and the weather isn’t always great, I will have to try papaya I think, she only eats fruit maybe every couple of weeks as it’s quite acidic, what temp is your table at, Shelly is 80 at the cool end and 90/95 at the basking end, her temp is actually running off the temp from my rankins dragon set up above, her tank is bigger so it actually worked out ok, before she didn’t have any regulation at with her previous owners and was in 100 heat all day and night
 

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