The Tortoise Table

Hey all!

I have a new Hermann's Tortoise called Pattern. I'm just wondering how long it'll take her to settle into her new table? She's drinking well and picking at food. She's had one wee since her arrival last night.

Is there anything I should be doing to help her settle? She's bathed, has cuttlefish and limestone powder and her fresh weeds are sprinkled with nutribol.

Thanks,

Nar[attachment=0]Pattern_050922.jpeg[/attachment]

Hi NarRakasa,

I'm so sorry that your original post got missed. We are usually notified when a new post comes in (and you can tick the box under the box you are writing in that says 'notify me when a reply is posted', so that you know when your post has been answered). Our system obviously went wrong and many apologies!

Tortoises can take a while to settle in, and I hope she has settled in well now. I don't think there is any more you can do to help her settle in. I'm so glad that you have her in a tortoise table, and I can see that you have a good substrate, etc. -- so many people start out with a bad set-up and then there are lots of problems down the line, but from what I can see in the photo she looks fine. If you want to send a photo of the whole table, we can have a look and see if any little tweaks can be made to make it even better.

It's the time of year when many tortoises are thinking about hibernation, and I said in my response to your other post about hibernation that you haven't really known her long enough to hibernate her this year -- see my other post). However, many tortoises do start to go into hibernation mode as the days get shorter, and will sometimes go off their food, but more often just won't want to wake up in the mornings. If this happens, let us know and we can tell you how to get round this. In the meantime make sure that she has the right temperature (about 30C directly under her heat source and measured at the height of her shell, and about 20C at the cool end), and also high light levels -- you want to fool her into thinking that it is a bright summer's day. If she isn't showing signs of wanting to hibernate then there is no need to add extra light, but thought I'd mention it just in case.

Would you like a care sheet for Hermann tortoises? Here's a link to one:
https://www.tortoise-protection-group.o ... 014New.pdf

Nina