Hi, i recently got my 8 year old Hermanni tortoise from a family friend who could no longer look after her. The thing is, the way she has been raised is completly opposite everything ive read on how to look after a tortoise! She has been brought up indoors (her "house" is a box with a heat pad built in with three walls, which slots into a desk i have. allowing her to roam around the room, going back into her house when she wants). She also has a heat light which they said they used "sometimes" and she has never been hibernated. Her food has been mainly TREX soaked food, which has calcium added once a week and fruit and veg. Obviously when i got her a few months back i didnt want to drastically change everything because it was stressfull enough the change in environment but now im wondering what to do. I had her checked over by my local vet when i first got her who trimmed her nails but having researched more i realise her beak is overgrown and she has a small sore on her leg from where her shell is rubbing. (you may have read my post regarding that). Im just wondering if you have any advice on where to start from here as obviously things need to change, however she is 8 and has been raised completly differently to how it should have been. She seems to have settled in well and comes to find me when she hears my voice so is definately attached to me im just worried as to where to begin. I have started weaning the TREX food away and offering more vegetables and garden weeds etc. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. xx
Starting from scratch, please help...
- Thread starter Diane2009
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Hermann tortoises get great benefit from being outside when possible and I'd suggest you might want to think about making some kind of outdoor enclosure for the tortoise to use in the summer. Even just taking the tortoise outside in a rabbit cage on nice days is better than nothing. If you do get your tortoise outside, it is very important they have access to shade because even on days that are simply warm, they can get too hot in direct sunlight and need to be able to get away from it when they need to.
Hermanns have a high UVB requirement and if the animal is kept indoors really must have UVB supplied either by a UV tube such as the Reptisun 10, or better still by one of the combined heat and UV lamps such as the MegaRay or Powersun. Most people also use a supplement that helps with Vit D as well as calcium.
My personal opinion about the manufactured foods is that they are for emergency use only, and if you have access to a garden there will be lots of suitable plants there already. Plus you can grow more. Vegetables on the whole are not suitable. All the Brassica family which includes broccoli should be avoided. Spinach is also unsuitable. Some salad foods are OK but most lettuces are only useful for the water content. If you wish to feed salad foods I suggest Raddicio, Lambs Lettuce (Corn Salad), Frisee and Endive. Maybe watercress in limited amounts, and rocket.
Some tortoises will struggle with a change of diet but unless your tortoise is underweight you can just stop offering the manufactured food and unsuitable vegetables and he will simply have to eat the better stuff. Which will then become the norm. Many weeds are fine but don't feed buttercups, foxgloves are dangerous and so is almost anything that grows from a bulb.
If you put food down on a slate this will help with the beak. The tort will naturally wear it down picking up the food. The overgrowth can be filed off but I've never done it myslef.
Hermanns thrive on some access to outside, but they do not do well in cold and wet conditions. Diane can I ask what part of the world you live in?
Both indoors and out a Hermann should have a shallow water dish to drink from. Some keepers provide deeper dishes the animal can climb into and have a soak but personally I fear drowning too much for this. I do bath mine regularly but in the enclosure they have a shallow saucer that I top up frequently with water. They do drink, but we don't see them do it that often as they know they are vulnerable and prefer to drink when they are not being observed.
The sore on the leg should probably be cleaned with dilute iodine solution but I suggest you ask your vet about that.
Outdoor accommodation can seem daunting to begin with because there are hazards like birds that might attack but you can make provision for all risks. What I have written might not be agreed upon by everyone but I have been keeping Hermanns for a few years and learned a lot from other keepers on forums like this one.
This tortoise is lucky to have found its way to someone with a genuine interest in its welfare.
The Hermann originates in the Mediterranean of course, but can tolerate temperatures down to 10C easily. But this is no good day in day out, as they won't get to feeding temperature and that temp will slow them down too much.
I've rambled on too much! What I really want to emphasise is to think about how you can offer some outdoors time to this Hermann.
Hermanns have a high UVB requirement and if the animal is kept indoors really must have UVB supplied either by a UV tube such as the Reptisun 10, or better still by one of the combined heat and UV lamps such as the MegaRay or Powersun. Most people also use a supplement that helps with Vit D as well as calcium.
My personal opinion about the manufactured foods is that they are for emergency use only, and if you have access to a garden there will be lots of suitable plants there already. Plus you can grow more. Vegetables on the whole are not suitable. All the Brassica family which includes broccoli should be avoided. Spinach is also unsuitable. Some salad foods are OK but most lettuces are only useful for the water content. If you wish to feed salad foods I suggest Raddicio, Lambs Lettuce (Corn Salad), Frisee and Endive. Maybe watercress in limited amounts, and rocket.
Some tortoises will struggle with a change of diet but unless your tortoise is underweight you can just stop offering the manufactured food and unsuitable vegetables and he will simply have to eat the better stuff. Which will then become the norm. Many weeds are fine but don't feed buttercups, foxgloves are dangerous and so is almost anything that grows from a bulb.
If you put food down on a slate this will help with the beak. The tort will naturally wear it down picking up the food. The overgrowth can be filed off but I've never done it myslef.
Hermanns thrive on some access to outside, but they do not do well in cold and wet conditions. Diane can I ask what part of the world you live in?
Both indoors and out a Hermann should have a shallow water dish to drink from. Some keepers provide deeper dishes the animal can climb into and have a soak but personally I fear drowning too much for this. I do bath mine regularly but in the enclosure they have a shallow saucer that I top up frequently with water. They do drink, but we don't see them do it that often as they know they are vulnerable and prefer to drink when they are not being observed.
The sore on the leg should probably be cleaned with dilute iodine solution but I suggest you ask your vet about that.
Outdoor accommodation can seem daunting to begin with because there are hazards like birds that might attack but you can make provision for all risks. What I have written might not be agreed upon by everyone but I have been keeping Hermanns for a few years and learned a lot from other keepers on forums like this one.
This tortoise is lucky to have found its way to someone with a genuine interest in its welfare.
The Hermann originates in the Mediterranean of course, but can tolerate temperatures down to 10C easily. But this is no good day in day out, as they won't get to feeding temperature and that temp will slow them down too much.
I've rambled on too much! What I really want to emphasise is to think about how you can offer some outdoors time to this Hermann.
Hi, thanks for your reply its really helpful! Im from Scotland so not really the nicest of places for the weather. Ive been taking her out into the garden on nice days, a few times inside a rabbit run and another letting her roam with me trailing behind. (I actually think this is when the small sore appeared as she power walked round my full garden (i have half an acre!) Im really grateful for the advice and im starting to implement the changes already, thanks again xx
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