Hello lovely people of TortoiseForum! Now that I've been a tort parent for about a week and a half, I think I'm ready to introduce myself and Herman to the tort community!
Herman is an adorable Eastern Hermann's tort (please correct me if I'm wrong ?) that I purchased 10 days ago from $PopularPetStoreChain. I had been eyeing him for a while since I was already in love with my brother's Russian tort and Herman had been living at the pet store for quite some time. I just had to give him a home! According to the pet store Herman is about 3 years old and was sourced from a local breeder. He is unbelievably active and has such a fun personality.
Unfortunately, leading up to his purchase almost all of my information on his care came from the pet store employees, the pet store's care sheet, and my brother's experience with his Russian, and I definitely fell into some traps that you lovely people warn about on this forum. We had started him in a 40" x 20" enclosure that we immediately recognized was not enough space for this shockingly active tort. Just the second day we had him we went to a local hardware store and purchased materials to make him a 4' x 4' enclosure in the corner of our office, and he immediately was much happier! He loves to adventure and climb and essentially destroy his enclosure as much as his little body can. We were also convinced to get a mini compact fluorescent bulb for UV, which is something we still need to correct. Otherwise he seems very happy with his enclosure! So far he hasn't been a very picky eater, and I'm excited to start getting him on the Broadleaf Testudo Mix I purchased from TortoiseSupply. He loves his every other day baths, running laps around his enclosure, sliding down his log, and watching me and my girlfriend as we work from home.
I'm definitely open to criticisms and feedback on his enclosure and care! I just want him to be the happiest and healthiest tort he can be. Please enjoy my pictures of him! Let me know if you spot anything alarming. Also don't flame my camera too much please.
Big shout out to Tom on his Temperate Tortoise care guide, and Yvonne on somehow answering almost every question I've looked up on this forum! I'm very happy I found this community!
Herman is an adorable Eastern Hermann's tort (please correct me if I'm wrong ?) that I purchased 10 days ago from $PopularPetStoreChain. I had been eyeing him for a while since I was already in love with my brother's Russian tort and Herman had been living at the pet store for quite some time. I just had to give him a home! According to the pet store Herman is about 3 years old and was sourced from a local breeder. He is unbelievably active and has such a fun personality.
Unfortunately, leading up to his purchase almost all of my information on his care came from the pet store employees, the pet store's care sheet, and my brother's experience with his Russian, and I definitely fell into some traps that you lovely people warn about on this forum. We had started him in a 40" x 20" enclosure that we immediately recognized was not enough space for this shockingly active tort. Just the second day we had him we went to a local hardware store and purchased materials to make him a 4' x 4' enclosure in the corner of our office, and he immediately was much happier! He loves to adventure and climb and essentially destroy his enclosure as much as his little body can. We were also convinced to get a mini compact fluorescent bulb for UV, which is something we still need to correct. Otherwise he seems very happy with his enclosure! So far he hasn't been a very picky eater, and I'm excited to start getting him on the Broadleaf Testudo Mix I purchased from TortoiseSupply. He loves his every other day baths, running laps around his enclosure, sliding down his log, and watching me and my girlfriend as we work from home.
I'm definitely open to criticisms and feedback on his enclosure and care! I just want him to be the happiest and healthiest tort he can be. Please enjoy my pictures of him! Let me know if you spot anything alarming. Also don't flame my camera too much please.
Big shout out to Tom on his Temperate Tortoise care guide, and Yvonne on somehow answering almost every question I've looked up on this forum! I'm very happy I found this community!