I'm new! Getting a tortoise in a week!

[von345]

I chose a Hermann for my first tort too. I love him! I also made a tortiose table about that size, it has worked out perfectly. Cypress mulch is a really good substrate to use. It holds in the moisture and he loves to bury down in. Stay away from starches in the diet it causes upset stomachs. And mine LOVES dandelions, clovers and hibiscus flowers! Hope this helped

 

[SarahChelonoidis]

Is it the same rule with the bagged food, to see however much they can eat in 10 minutes? .

I give them as much as they eat in a sitting, no time limit. Some people do timed feeding, but it isn't very popular on this forum. Everyone has different preferences with bagged food and depends on what else you are feeding.

 

[Yvonne G]

Welcome!

 

[boos googf]

A: wow! Beautiful lady, you have the tortoise its strong life. I have raised before. But it is because I just left another personal reason. If never raise tortoises, I don't think you choose the wrong.

 

[NDevon]

I'm not sure if links are allowed to external sites. I don't think we have that food available in the pet stores near me, but they have something called Komodo Holistic Tortoise food. Could you tell me if that's any good?

I'm in the UK too, I buy Mazuri from eBay, just ordered half a kilo bag for £6 delivered. There are lots of sellers, not sure if some is better than others, the seller I get it through is gracenalfie - good prices, shipped straight away, and they say they donate all he profits to he tortoise protection group and torts in need. I can't verify that of course but have no reason to doubt them.

Invest in a Hygrometer, I got an Exo Terra one from eBay, it was £6.99 plus couple of quid delivery but you may have to pay a little more. That will tell you the humidity level, I niece for Hermann torts you want around 70% but I don't keep them so please check with others who know loads more than I do.

B&Q and most garden centres will have large spray bottles with a pump on top, I think I paid £6 for mine. I always fill it with filtered water plus our water is from a bore hole so I don't have as many added chemically things in it as you will find in tap water, but then I'm just paranoid I guess! The good thing about the pump bottles is you pump until it gets harder to press down, and then when you pull the trigger air pushes the water out, you don't have to sit squeezing over and over to soak the substrate.

Having some kind of cover will help to maintain humidity, don't be afraid to spray the tortoise too - mine love being hosed down! I have a sealed vivarium so it's easier to maintain humidity and I spray it all down first thing and then early evening, in an open enclosure it will need a little more spraying. Your substrate will help.

I get the coco coir from eBay too, depending on how much you need, it is cheaper to buy in bulk and use the bricks. They take up less space so they cost less to buy and ship. There is a seller called fertilefibre on eBay, they sell 4 organic blocks which expand to 280 litres for £22.40 delivered and have 100% positive feedback. Personally I used a bag of topsoil (maybe £5) which I put as a bottom layer, left it a few days to dry out and broke it down with a fork, then I put coco coir on top, plus I have an area with forest floor which is bark and leaf litter and then loads of sphagnum moss. I have Redfoots so their needs are different but I believe that sort of substrate makeup would work for most although please check with others.

Waterproof your table, you can do this using a varnish or you can put something like pond liner in. I used pond liner, again eBay sorted me out, I paid about a tenner for a huge amount but you won't need as much. If you go the varnish route B&Q do a floor varnish, you want a water based one, this one would do the trick - Quick Dry antique pine satin interior varnish. It's £9.84 for 750ml, it's water based, non toxic and drys in an hour. The table may be sealed, but over time it's going to get very wet and may rot, so consider treating it or just sticking a liner in. I've seen vivariums start to break down in a matter of weeks due to moisture, they can't cope with it.

For the food, I make sure there is always food available, I have 4 tortoises and put them to their food once they've had a soak, if I'm lucky a couple will eat, but most times they wander off. I can't just leave it for ten minutes or they would starve, so I do what I can then just make sure the healthy foods are left in at all times, and of course always have fresh water available to drink and sit in.

You will find weeds, you just need to start looking at them on the tortoise table website. We pass them every day, and we ignore them, suddenly we have to know them and pick them! Be careful if they are in public places as they could have been sprayed, dogs could have peed on them, anything really. If you can get out of town and explore you will find plenty, unless your garden is concrete or immaculate at all times I'd bet there are weeds out there. You will get odd looks when you stop to pick weeds but it's free food and good for the tortoise, so why not!

I hope thats a little help

 

[IIzDaFury]

Hello and welcome!

I'm also from the UK!! $$

I'm fairly new to my two Russian tortoises, had them for about 2 months now it's beena learning curve but it's been fun!

I've started to grow food for them in my own green house, i believe russians and harmans have a similar diet!

I'm currently growing: Mullberry tree (leaves is what they'll eat) Water cress, green turnips (the leaves obc) normal weeds and dandilion heads in the garen, cabbage kale, stawberry leaves, a rose bush (i heard they can eat the petals and leaves) and Endive Pancalieri. i think thats varied enough! i did use supermarket greens (which are not better than nauturally grown but it works for now! ) for a short time till i can get my stucks up tooo but i live in the UK and i think this works well for my torts! I'm growing them in bulk too, the stree is a good idea since, well they can get quite big, alot of leaves = alot of food = happy tort!