Worried about my Hermann - over-protective owner or poorly tort?!

[HappyHerbie]

Hi everyone,

I've had Herbie, my 7 month old Hermann tortoise, for 6 weeks now. During this time, I feel like his behaviour has changed.....he's eating less, not as active and sleeping so much more.

I'm really happy with his enclosure - lots of heat, UV bulb, open air, safe place and a 'bedroom' for hiding in. The bulbs come on at 9am and the UV bulb goes off at 5pm while the heat lamp goes off at 8pm. I use mainly a soil substrate with some sand and additional newspaper in his bedroom. It's deep enough for him to burrow in. He has fresh water every day and a good variety of fresh food - mainly dandelions, rocket, parsley and lots of other tortoise specific fresh herbs that I've got growing on my windowsill. I've started giving him a pet shop pellet each day as I was concerned he wasn't eating so much. He eats this and I've often wiped a dandelion leaf in this pellet mush to encourage him to eat other food.

He has a soak every other day. A few days ago, he did a small poo in the bath but before that, it was weeks ago when he last pooed in the bath. I've not seen any white stuff (oxates?) for a few weeks.

His daily routine is something like this: crawls out of bed about 10:30/11am to bask then mooches around for a while. He might eat something. Then is usually back in his bedroom for about 3:30/4pm. I'm in the UK and it's too chilly to take him outside. On warmer days, he has appeared to enjoy his little play time outside.

When I first bought him he weighed 46g. He lost weight (a big poo?!) and went down to 42g and is now back up to 45g.

I've attached various photos. I don't keep the thermometer in there all the time, I was just checking the temperatures!

I'm not sure if I'm worrying unnecessarily or if Herbie is poorly. Please help!

 

[ascott]

I would add one a light fixture hood for the bulb, this will offer up a true basking spot...at present the open bulb is losing its effectiveness by unlimited area for loss of light and heat....

Are those little white pieces in the soil a perlite material? If so, I would change that substrate out to one that does not include it....those are little morsels that torts seem to like to ingest, but doing so can cause an impaction in their gut---bad things can happen then.

Since you are in a area where it is still cold outdoors...and you are overwintering the tort....I would seriously set up a way to cover half to 3/4 of the top of the enclosure...this will allow the enclosure to balance out a bit on warmth and humidity...and open air enclosure can be hard to achieve this....

Since this is a species that includes brumation naturally and you are overwintering the tort...I would also add some night time warmth, either a black night heat bulb or a ceramic heat emitter...this way there is not the drastic night cool temps that the tort is dealing with...when you say he does not move about until 10:30-11, I am thinking it is taking this long for the tort to get heated up (like an old car) which means his night temps being bumped would get him up and going earlier in the am....hence longer period of warmth and awake time before he turns in for the evening.....

I would offer daily warm water soaks for this tort and would be sure that the soaks are for no less than 20-30 minutes in water that you keep warm the entire time....I would do this for a couple weeks at least and I would absolutely change out the substrate....the white material always worries me....

 

[HappyHerbie]

Hi,

Thank you for your reply.

That's a good idea to add a hood on. I'll look into getting one. Currently it's 34 degrees under the heat lamp and in the furthest corner, it's 21 degrees so he has a good range of temperature available.

The white stuff in the substrate is part of the sand and soil mix. I bought it from a pet shop and it's reptile friendly. I've added more topsoil in addition to this.

I'll pop a towel over one end of the enclosure to see if this helps in any way.

During the evening, Herbie's lamp goes off at 8pm but my central heating is on until 10:30 so the room is about 19-20 degrees. Overnight, if the temperature of my house drops below 16.5 degrees, the central heating automatically comes on. I thought tortoises could withstand cooler night time temperatures. Do you think I still need a night time lamp?

I bathe him every day usually until he climbs the sides. This somewhere between 10 and 30 minutes.

Should I take him to a specialist reptile vet?

Thanks for your help.

 

[WillTort2]

I like to offer my torts more time for basking and therefore set my timers to give light for about 14 hours each day. It give them more time to eat and roam. If they want to retire early, they dig into the substrate or go into the hide. They generally find the corner closest to the basking spot and dig in for the evening. The temperature in those corners is generally in the 80 degree range. They always need a cool end and a basking spot each day to allow them to self regulate their temperature.

My torts will eat better when they have a longer basking time. And the night temperatures can drop into the 60's with no problem as long as the substrate is not too wet. I like to give a moist under substrate and let it be slightly dry on top. I f the tort can make his own comfort choices with temperature and humidity they will do well in most cases.

Good luck!

 

[HappyHerbie]

Hi,

Thank you for your reply. I've bought Herbie a new Exo Terra sun glo lamp and a new holder. The range of temperatures are better now and I'm happier that he's got an all in one lamp that does a good job. He's eating well.....but usually only when I pop a dandelion leaf in front of him while he's basking!

I'm still a bit concerned at how much he is sleeping. I'm getting him up every day but he often just takes himself back off to bed after he's warmed up and had a munch.

I'm bathing him every day and he's pooing well! No urates for a while though.

If only tortoises could speak!!

Thanks again.

 

[ascott]

Like I said, I would use a night heat bulb, especially since you are keeping the tort awake year round and you have low temps right now....this will avoid the night cold in the enclosure...but that is just my belief. When you offer the warm water soaks--you will want to offer the soak for about 20-30 minutes while keeping the water warm the entire time....it does not harm the tort if he tries to climb the edges, this activity will help him to get motion and motion will help a tort poo....just keep an eye on the tort in the event he flips in the container you can flip him back over...the extended soak is essential for a young captive tort...also, temps are a huge factor for appetite and also activity level. You have a young tort so hiding is normal as well...

 

[milkandsam]

Definitely try bumping up the night time temperatures. Typically your tort can withstand lower night temperatures, but since he is acting weird, making him warmer may help him to eat/digest easier-or correct whatever problem he is having! Just keep trying!

 

[HappyHerbie]

Thank you both for your replies.

I have bought Herbie a log hide which will hopefully encourage him to spend more time in the main area of the table.

I'm happy to sort a way of keeping him warm at night time. What do you think is best? Here's his current bulb and new holder. I'm not sure how I'd be able to attach a night heat lamp on to that which heats his bedroom.....? Maybe a heat map under his bedroom might be a good idea?

I'd appreciate your thoughts.

Thank you!