New Tortoise Owner - Help!
Posted: 19 Dec 2019, 12:38
Hi everyone,
It's great to be a part of the forum, I've been doing a lot of Googling recently and this is definitely the friendliest and most helpful place to get tort info it seems!
I've purchased a new Hermann tortoise, and I'll be honest, I'm a little nervous. I'm picking him up on the 31st of December, and I've been busy getting his tortoise table ready and doing as much research as I possibly can to make sure he's as well looked after as can be, but I've found that getting a clear answer on things isn't always easy. It's reassuring, in a way, to see so many people experiencing the same thing - you look for an answer to a question, and the more you research, the deeper the rabbit hole of conflicting information goes...
Having looked everywhere I could, it seems this is the place to go for UK-based tort advice; everyone seems so helpful, I thought I'd put up a post with a few of my outstanding concerns and questions, to see if anyone could offer me a bit of guidance. So, a brief rundown:
Tort name: Percy Shelley
Location: Southeast UK
Habitat: Wooden tortoise table, 4 foot by 2 foot. Enclosed hide, tortoise soil substrate purchased from reptile shop, food dish, water dish. 100w arcadia UVA/UVB/Heat lamp, hanging as high as tort table panel allows.
Temperatures: Currently hitting about 33/34C directly under the heat lamp, at the very bottom of the enclosure (not factoring couple of inches of substrate, and tort shell height), so potentially a little higher where Percy will actually bask. around 20C in the cool side of his table.
Key questions - there are few different areas I'm not 100% about, so I'll categorise the questions and if anyone can offer any insight into anything I'd be hugely grateful!
FOOD:
This is my biggest concern. The chap in the reptile shop recommended romaine lettuce, as well as dandelion, and some other flowers, but that was pretty much it. Bit concerned that's all they've been feeding Percy, but if so then I'm looking forward to rescuing him and giving him a nice varied diet. I've been doing a LOT of reading, and looking through the tortoise table app/list for ideas, but living in the UK in winter, and having about as much knowledge of botany as an egg, I'm a little concerned.
Here's my diet plan so far, from what I've read to be ok:
- Buy a few different bags of mixed salad leaves from supermarkets, with romaine, red lettuce, lamb's lettuce, the florette bags etc. Buy some cress. Buy some of the Pre Alpin pellets. Start growing a 'tortoise weeds' seed kit ASAP.
- Every day, give him a variety of a few of these different greens, with some Pre Alpin, all dusted with reptivite calcium powder, and topped with whatever weeds I can identify. I'm really not very good at this though, and I'm quite worried I'll make him ill or feed him something toxic.
- Once weeds are grown, use these as fresh weeds/flowers/foliage to avoid me foraging.
QUESTIONS:
- Does this diet sound ok? I'm hoping that over time, by growing my own weeds and flowers for him to eat, this will become very easy, but until they've flourished I'm a bit worried about what to make up his diet from.
- Should I use reptivite every day? How much should I use?
HABITAT:
This is my other big area of concern. From what I can tell, I have the table set up fairly well. It seems to meet most of the criteria for a lovely little tort home, but I'm not sure about a few things, particularly humidity, night temperatures, and UV lighting.
QUESTIONS:
- Should I also provide a UVB strip light, as well as an 'all in one' mercury vapour bulb? Mr reptile shop said they would bask in the sun in the wild, or go and hide in the shade, so it's fine just to use a all-in-one, but I've also read people saying they need UVB when they're not basking...
- Is a 100watt bulb ok for a yearling? Not sure exactly how old Percy is, but it says he was captive bred in 2018, and I'll get the CITES Article 10 cert. when I pick him up so I should know more then. The bulb is probably hitting about 34/35 directly beneath it, maybe even a little hotter, and he's only teeny... I can't make it higher without using a clamp, which annoyingly means I can only hit a maximum of about 26/27C with it facing directly downwards. Rock and a hard place. Is this temp ok?
- Night temps in his hide are currently hitting about 18C, is this ok? It might drop lower, I need to get a min/max thermometer, but we throttle the heating in the house during the winter and it never gets freezing. Was going to put some hay in his hide too for warmth...
- Is a cuttlefish bone PLUS reptivite too much calcium? Don't want to come downstairs one morning and find that Percy has turned into a statue!
HEALTH:
Having already paid for Percy, I realised that 'CP 2018' doesn't actually guarantee he was bred in the UK, although I *think* he was... I'm going to sort out pet insurance soon, and have located a specialist reptile vet within driving distance, but I've never owned an animal myself before so I wanted to double check...
QUESTIONS:
- Should I take Percy for a 'checkup' at the vet as soon as I get him, or is this overkill? Is this likely to decimate my bank balance, all to be told 'yep he's a tortoise'?
Phew, that was a long post. I'm really sorry if I should have broken this down into smaller posts on different threads, but I thought an 'all in one' approach might be simpler. Really looking forward to hearing any responses, and sharing Percy's journey with you all as I learn how to be a good tort dad.
Many thanks all, and to those who celebrate it, Merry Christmas!
James
It's great to be a part of the forum, I've been doing a lot of Googling recently and this is definitely the friendliest and most helpful place to get tort info it seems!
I've purchased a new Hermann tortoise, and I'll be honest, I'm a little nervous. I'm picking him up on the 31st of December, and I've been busy getting his tortoise table ready and doing as much research as I possibly can to make sure he's as well looked after as can be, but I've found that getting a clear answer on things isn't always easy. It's reassuring, in a way, to see so many people experiencing the same thing - you look for an answer to a question, and the more you research, the deeper the rabbit hole of conflicting information goes...
Having looked everywhere I could, it seems this is the place to go for UK-based tort advice; everyone seems so helpful, I thought I'd put up a post with a few of my outstanding concerns and questions, to see if anyone could offer me a bit of guidance. So, a brief rundown:
Tort name: Percy Shelley
Location: Southeast UK
Habitat: Wooden tortoise table, 4 foot by 2 foot. Enclosed hide, tortoise soil substrate purchased from reptile shop, food dish, water dish. 100w arcadia UVA/UVB/Heat lamp, hanging as high as tort table panel allows.
Temperatures: Currently hitting about 33/34C directly under the heat lamp, at the very bottom of the enclosure (not factoring couple of inches of substrate, and tort shell height), so potentially a little higher where Percy will actually bask. around 20C in the cool side of his table.
Key questions - there are few different areas I'm not 100% about, so I'll categorise the questions and if anyone can offer any insight into anything I'd be hugely grateful!
FOOD:
This is my biggest concern. The chap in the reptile shop recommended romaine lettuce, as well as dandelion, and some other flowers, but that was pretty much it. Bit concerned that's all they've been feeding Percy, but if so then I'm looking forward to rescuing him and giving him a nice varied diet. I've been doing a LOT of reading, and looking through the tortoise table app/list for ideas, but living in the UK in winter, and having about as much knowledge of botany as an egg, I'm a little concerned.
Here's my diet plan so far, from what I've read to be ok:
- Buy a few different bags of mixed salad leaves from supermarkets, with romaine, red lettuce, lamb's lettuce, the florette bags etc. Buy some cress. Buy some of the Pre Alpin pellets. Start growing a 'tortoise weeds' seed kit ASAP.
- Every day, give him a variety of a few of these different greens, with some Pre Alpin, all dusted with reptivite calcium powder, and topped with whatever weeds I can identify. I'm really not very good at this though, and I'm quite worried I'll make him ill or feed him something toxic.
- Once weeds are grown, use these as fresh weeds/flowers/foliage to avoid me foraging.
QUESTIONS:
- Does this diet sound ok? I'm hoping that over time, by growing my own weeds and flowers for him to eat, this will become very easy, but until they've flourished I'm a bit worried about what to make up his diet from.
- Should I use reptivite every day? How much should I use?
HABITAT:
This is my other big area of concern. From what I can tell, I have the table set up fairly well. It seems to meet most of the criteria for a lovely little tort home, but I'm not sure about a few things, particularly humidity, night temperatures, and UV lighting.
QUESTIONS:
- Should I also provide a UVB strip light, as well as an 'all in one' mercury vapour bulb? Mr reptile shop said they would bask in the sun in the wild, or go and hide in the shade, so it's fine just to use a all-in-one, but I've also read people saying they need UVB when they're not basking...
- Is a 100watt bulb ok for a yearling? Not sure exactly how old Percy is, but it says he was captive bred in 2018, and I'll get the CITES Article 10 cert. when I pick him up so I should know more then. The bulb is probably hitting about 34/35 directly beneath it, maybe even a little hotter, and he's only teeny... I can't make it higher without using a clamp, which annoyingly means I can only hit a maximum of about 26/27C with it facing directly downwards. Rock and a hard place. Is this temp ok?
- Night temps in his hide are currently hitting about 18C, is this ok? It might drop lower, I need to get a min/max thermometer, but we throttle the heating in the house during the winter and it never gets freezing. Was going to put some hay in his hide too for warmth...
- Is a cuttlefish bone PLUS reptivite too much calcium? Don't want to come downstairs one morning and find that Percy has turned into a statue!
HEALTH:
Having already paid for Percy, I realised that 'CP 2018' doesn't actually guarantee he was bred in the UK, although I *think* he was... I'm going to sort out pet insurance soon, and have located a specialist reptile vet within driving distance, but I've never owned an animal myself before so I wanted to double check...
QUESTIONS:
- Should I take Percy for a 'checkup' at the vet as soon as I get him, or is this overkill? Is this likely to decimate my bank balance, all to be told 'yep he's a tortoise'?
Phew, that was a long post. I'm really sorry if I should have broken this down into smaller posts on different threads, but I thought an 'all in one' approach might be simpler. Really looking forward to hearing any responses, and sharing Percy's journey with you all as I learn how to be a good tort dad.
Many thanks all, and to those who celebrate it, Merry Christmas!
James