What is this?

[Lindsey0106]

I've just given my baby a little soak. Left her for a two/three minutes. When I got back the water had this in it.
It smells quite bad. Is it vomit or is it poop? It's a bit more green than what it looks like on the photo so I'm thinking vomit. What may have caused this? Should I put her back in water in case she's lost a lot of fluid? I don't want to stress her out. She seems fine now, back basking and drying off.

 

[The_Four_Toed_Edward]

Probably poop, partially undigested food. Like a soft stool he has broken up into pieces. You could give him a new soak if you want to, but it is not a must.

 

[Lindsey0106]

Probably poop, partially undigested food. Like a soft stool he has broken up into pieces. You could give him a new soak if you want to, but it is not a must.

OK, thank-you!

 

[Littleredfootbigredheart]

Yep looks like poop

What kind of tortoise do you have and how old?

 

[Lindsey0106]

Yep looks like poop

What kind of tortoise do you have and how old?

She's a western hermanns 15 months old. Called Betty

 

[Littleredfootbigredheart]

She's a western hermanns 15 months old. Called Betty

Oh how cute!! I don’t suppose you’d mind sharing how you keep her? It’s really nice to check in with newer members!

How are your temperatures? Ie basking temp(directly under the bulb)overall day temps, night temps?
What kind of lighting/heating are you using specifically? Packaging photos are good if you have any
Do you use indoor uv? If so what kind?
How’s your humidity? As she’s a baby is she in a closed set up? What do you use for substrate?

A photo of the full set up would be great if willing to shareAlong with one of your adorable Tort

 

[Lindsey0106]

I'm going to hold off taking a photo at the moment as it's not finished and is very basic atm. I need to get her a new enclosure that's bigger as she will be staying indoors for the winter now and i want to try adding a few plants.
But at the moment she's in a wooden table that is 3.5ft by 2 with a mesh lid with locks (i have cats and a small child) I've lined it with plastic sheeting which I can flap over the top at night to try and hold moisture.
The humidity is around 80-85 so think the plastic is doing its job with that.
I've got an arcadia basking flood light 75w and I've uploaded the fixture.
Temp on the basking side is around 30, 35 directly under. Theres a bit more room to lower the light if needed and can easiky raise it. I also want to get a thermostat so i can control it better. Not sure what the cool side is but in the covered 'bedroom' compartment it's always around room temperature so normally reads low 20s. I have 2 thermometers, little round black digital ones that also shows the humidity. Not sure how accurate they are.
I'm using coco coir for substrate which is damp underneath, dry on top which I mist in the mornings or if the humidity decreases and a large slate slab on the hot side. She has 2 small water bowls on either side, just big enough for her to sit in. But she just walks straight through them and makes a mess. I bathe her twice for 10 minutes a day.
Her diet is mainly weeds out the garden which I dust with calcium/vitamin powder and she occasionally chomps on a cuttlefish. She loves her food.
I'm in the UK so the weather is starting to get quite cold at night, I don't have any night heat in her enclosure. But our central heating keeps the house around 20.
I know I need to make a few upgrades, so any ideas and advice is very welcome!
@Littleredfootbigredheart

 

[Littleredfootbigredheart]

I'm going to hold off taking a photo at the moment as it's not finished and is very basic atm. I need to get her a new enclosure that's bigger as she will be staying indoors for the winter now and i want to try adding a few plants.
But at the moment she's in a wooden table that is 3.5ft by 2 with a mesh lid with locks (i have cats and a small child) I've lined it with plastic sheeting which I can flap over the top at night to try and hold moisture.
The humidity is around 80-85 so think the plastic is doing its job with that.
I've got an arcadia basking flood light 75w and I've uploaded the fixture.
Temp on the basking side is around 30, 35 directly under. Theres a bit more room to lower the light if needed and can easiky raise it. I also want to get a thermostat so i can control it better. Not sure what the cool side is but in the covered 'bedroom' compartment it's always around room temperature so normally reads low 20s. I have 2 thermometers, little round black digital ones that also shows the humidity. Not sure how accurate they are.
I'm using coco coir for substrate which is damp underneath, dry on top which I mist in the mornings or if the humidity decreases and a large slate slab on the hot side. She has 2 small water bowls on either side, just big enough for her to sit in. But she just walks straight through them and makes a mess. I bathe her twice for 10 minutes a day.
Her diet is mainly weeds out the garden which I dust with calcium/vitamin powder and she occasionally chomps on a cuttlefish. She loves her food.
I'm in the UK so the weather is starting to get quite cold at night, I don't have any night heat in her enclosure. But our central heating keeps the house around 20.
I know I need to make a few upgrades, so any ideas and advice is very welcome!
@Littleredfootbigredheart

Thank you for your in depth reply! Much appreciated! I can definitely help advise with a few minor tweaks of note.

For babies they do need higher humidity(in the 80’s) 24/7, this helps aid in smooth growth, so I’d personally recommend you keep it covered with the plastic day&night, just be sure the covering isn’t touching the light fixtures. A open top for babies isn’t ideal unfortunately.

Floodlight is the perfect basking light, you’ve got a good brand too and basking temp sounds pretty good. The basking light actually does better off of a thermostat, it’s acting as your ‘sun’ which shouldn’t be dimming or going on/off all day, the main thing is to get a height and watt that creates the perfect basking temp directly underneath, which sounds like you’ve already achieved

The rest of the enclosure should be reading 24-26 during the day(24 being the cooler end), low 20 is fine as a night temp but is a smidge too low for the day, to make up ambient temperature, especially in our uk climate, I highly recommend installing a CHE(ceramic heat emitter), it’s a non light emitting heat bulb that makes up ambient heat and creates night heat, that will need to be ran on a thermostat and can remain plugged in 24/7.

If the dials you have are those analog dials they are unfortunately notoriously inaccurate, I’d recommend getting yourself some digital monitor and an infrared temperature gun.

I will also say misting isn’t the most effective in keeping the humidity where needed, lukewarm water pours into a closed chamber is what to aim for, I’ll go more into that in the thread I link you. Coco coir is a good substrate choice though!

For soaks, instead of two 10 minutes I’d actually recommend just one for half an hour.

For night heat, again I’d definitely recommend the ceramic.

As you’re wanting to upgrade anyway and there’s some needed tweaks, I think you’ll hopefully find this thread I made a really helpful read! It covers correct equipment, levels, the importance of a closed chamber for babies, appropriately maintaining the humidity, there’s lots of visual examples for everything and really handy diet link to check out I go a little more in depth on the above points.

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 one is also really good to be familiar with so you can avoid the wrong bulbs, substrates, housing and more! I also always encourage to double check new purchases on the forum if you need too!

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

One last thing, with the uv timing, every other source of information will tell you 12hours of uv. This is essentially an old fashioned rule that has stuck with a lot of keepers, it stems from the presumption that once the basking light or ambient lighting is on, ie the ‘sun’, that uv must coexist the same amount of hours. Fact is, uv rays only peak for a few hours a day, anyone with a uv meter will confirm this. No tortoise is blasted with 12 hours of uv in the wild, therefore it’s not necessary in captivity.
The recommended t5 uv bulbs are much more expensive to replace once their uv strength diminishes, so it’s definitely best having it on a 4 hour timer that provides them with all the uv they need, saving your bulb life.
Then some cheaper led lighting for your ambient 12 hour light cycle as well as the basking light on the same 12hrs, your ceramics will run 24/7 on a thermostat, hope that all makes sense

Hope this helps! Would love if you give those threads a read, for you to let me know what you think and if you have any further questions!

 

[Lindsey0106]

Thank you for your in depth reply! Much appreciated! I can definitely help advise with a few minor tweaks of note.

For babies they do need higher humidity(in the 80’s) 24/7, this helps aid in smooth growth, so I’d personally recommend you keep it covered with the plastic day&night, just be sure the covering isn’t touching the light fixtures. A open top for babies isn’t ideal unfortunately.

Floodlight is the perfect basking light, you’ve got a good brand too and basking temp sounds pretty good. The basking light actually does better off of a thermostat, it’s acting as your ‘sun’ which shouldn’t be dimming or going on/off all day, the main thing is to get a height and watt that creates the perfect basking temp directly underneath, which sounds like you’ve already achieved

The rest of the enclosure should be reading 24-26 during the day(24 being the cooler end), low 20 is fine as a night temp but is a smidge too low for the day, to make up ambient temperature, especially in our uk climate, I highly recommend installing a CHE(ceramic heat emitter), it’s a non light emitting heat bulb that makes up ambient heat and creates night heat, that will need to be ran on a thermostat and can remain plugged in 24/7.

If the dials you have are those analog dials they are unfortunately notoriously inaccurate, I’d recommend getting yourself some digital monitor and an infrared temperature gun.

I will also say misting isn’t the most effective in keeping the humidity where needed, lukewarm water pours into a closed chamber is what to aim for, I’ll go more into that in the thread I link you. Coco coir is a good substrate choice though!

For soaks, instead of two 10 minutes I’d actually recommend just one for half an hour.

For night heat, again I’d definitely recommend the ceramic.

As you’re wanting to upgrade anyway and there’s some needed tweaks, I think you’ll hopefully find this thread I made a really helpful read! It covers correct equipment, levels, the importance of a closed chamber for babies, appropriately maintaining the humidity, there’s lots of visual examples for everything and really handy diet link to check out I go a little more in depth on the above points.

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 one is also really good to be familiar with so you can avoid the wrong bulbs, substrates, housing and more! I also always encourage to double check new purchases on the forum if you need too!

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

One last thing, with the uv timing, every other source of information will tell you 12hours of uv. This is essentially an old fashioned rule that has stuck with a lot of keepers, it stems from the presumption that once the basking light or ambient lighting is on, ie the ‘sun’, that uv must coexist the same amount of hours. Fact is, uv rays only peak for a few hours a day, anyone with a uv meter will confirm this. No tortoise is blasted with 12 hours of uv in the wild, therefore it’s not necessary in captivity.
The recommended t5 uv bulbs are much more expensive to replace once their uv strength diminishes, so it’s definitely best having it on a 4 hour timer that provides them with all the uv they need, saving your bulb life.
Then some cheaper led lighting for your ambient 12 hour light cycle as well as the basking light on the same 12hrs, your ceramics will run 24/7 on a thermostat, hope that all makes sense

Hope this helps! Would love if you give those threads a read, for you to let me know what you think and if you have any further questions!

Thanks for replying and extra info! I will give those links a read.
The basking light I have only gives out uva light, not uvb. Does that mean I will need to get a separate uv bulb? I thought I read somewhere that both wasn't necessary, unless I understood it wrong or the info was wrong...

 

[Littleredfootbigredheart]

Thanks for replying and extra info! I will give those links a read.
The basking light I have only gives out uva light, not uvb. Does that mean I will need to get a separate uv bulb? I thought I read somewhere that both wasn't necessary, unless I understood it wrong or the info was wrong...

Yeah you’ll need a separate T5 tube fluorescent uv light. It’s only unnecessary when you can achieve their uv needs naturally by having them out in the sun, in the uk unfortunately we don’t get enough to do this, so artificial uv is needed. Just make sure not to go with any kind of compact or all in one uv bulb.

The best on the market and the one I’d recommend you get because it comes with the reflector fitting, is the Arcadia prot5 kit 12%, it should be mounted 18-20 inches from top of the tortoises shell and as close to the basking bulb as you can get it

I will warn they are the bulk of the expensive when it comes to setting up, but they are 100% needed for your torts health, without it they can’t utilise vitamin D3 which then allows them to absorb much needed calcium