Tortoise species

[19TORI92]

Help!
My mum recently passed away.
My dad and I are looking after her tortoises. Unfortunately we aren't completely sure of their species.
I believe one of their shells has started pyramiding. However it's not spongy?!
We feed them Florret crispy salad with zoo med grasslands and calcium supplement.
They have a 60watt bulb over their 'basking' area. What are we doing wrong?!

 

[Maggie Cummings]

Especially in England he needs a UVB bulb for health. 60 watt bulb is not good enough. Then they need humidity. You also need to send us pictures of your enclosure, lights, what temp is it etc. We really need to see pix of the torts so we can advise you correctly. We can't tell what species it is with seeing it, or them. Are they all the same species? Each species eats differently.
How many are there?
Sorry about your Mum. That's hard to go thru. You have my condolences...

 

[Tom]

Help!
My mum recently passed away.
My dad and I are looking after her tortoises. Unfortunately we aren't completely sure of their species.
I believe one of their shells has started pyramiding. However it's not spongy?!
We feed them Florret crispy salad with zoo med grasslands and calcium supplement.
They have a 60watt bulb over their 'basking' area. What are we doing wrong?!

Hello and welcome. So sorry for your loss.

We will be better able to help with some pics of the tortoises and enclosures as Maggie stated above.

 

[19TORI92]

Hi, Maggie and Tom.
Thanks for the reply.
I'm currently at work, I thought I would just quickly put a message up while on breaks.
As soon as I'm home I'll send pictures.
We have two, a male and female. We had to separate them as the male was bullying the female.

 

[Yvonne G]

Hi Tori (?), and welcome to the Forum!

First thing, in my opinion, that you're doing wrong, is keeping them indoors. I understand that the weather in England isn't exactly the warmest place on the planet, however, many,many people in England keep tortoises in their gardens.

After having said that, and you keep them indoors, then you must provide them with the biggest indoor habitat you have space for. Tortoises require a lot of roaming space.

After you've posted their pictures we'll be better able to offer you the kind of advice that fits the kind of tortoises that you are keeping.

I'm so sorry about your mum. That's a hard thing to have to go through.

 

[Maggie Cummings]

Hi, Maggie and Tom.
Thanks for the reply.
I'm currently at work, I thought I would just quickly put a message up while on breaks.
As soon as I'm home I'll send pictures.
We have two, a male and female. We had to separate them as the male was bullying the female.

Sounds like a Russian...we'll see when you send post the pix. Russian males are bad about being aggressive to the lone female...

 

[19TORI92]

This is the picture of the enclosure and female. (The one I'm worried about pyramiding)

 

[19TORI92]

The male and half the enclosure. Turns out there is a Uv light in there. It looks like the temperature gauge has stopped working though.

 

[naturalman91]

i'm not the best at IDing but that looks like a hermann tortoise

 

[19TORI92]

Thanks 'naturalman91' is that both or just the first one?

 

[peasinapod]

Pictures of the plastron aka. the "belly" could help us identify the correct species.

Somehow the picture of the male doesn't show up for me.

 

[HermanniChris]

You have a Hermann's and Greek, no doubt about it but we need plastron shots to know what subspecies.

 

[russian/sulcata/tortoise]

advice: the substrate has to go, he needs some humidity and that substrate wont hold it. use cyprus mulch or coconut fibers. also his beak is over grow, feed him on a rock and provide a cuttle bone.

 

[Yellow Turtle01]

Here's a care sheet for both those
Hermann's-http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/sticky-hermanns-tortoise-care-sheet-updated.101410/
Greek's-http://www.tortoisetrust.org/articles/Basicmedcare.htm

 

[tortoisemom6]

Hi..sorry for your loss..i also have 3hermanns.what kind of bedding do you use.?

 

[19TORI92]

Thanks guys. This is really helpful.
I'll try and take a pic of their bellys later.
They have beech chips and shredded paper?

 

[19TORI92]

advice: the substrate has to go, he needs some humidity and that substrate wont hold it. use cyprus mulch or coconut fibers. also his beak is over grow, feed him on a rock and provide a cuttle bone.

The calcium substrate?

 

[johnsonnboswell]

You can get cuttlebone that's packaged and marketed for birds. That's a good source of calcium.

That substrate has to go. Don't wait. Coconut coir or cyprus mulch - it must hold some moisture. Pet stores often give bad advice, so read the care sheets and don't be swayed by the store's attempts to sell you stuff.

If your bulbs are a year old, they need replacement.

You can't reverse pyramiding, but you can prevent it from getting worse.

Condolences on the loss of your mum.

 

[19TORI92]

This is the male. Herman or Greek?

 

[19TORI92]

Here is the female