Recent content by RJOfford

So just picking up on this old thread again, it also seems my Greek tortoise likes eating both cat poo and fur balls. My cat (or perhaps a neighbour's cat) has an annoying habit of going to the toilet and coughing up fur balls in their enclosure. I try really hard to pick them out as soon as I...

If he has been brought up to temperature following brumation, then he should be awake by now. Since when did you get him out of brumation, or was it a natural brumation outside?

He hasn't eaten for months, and you're only just now wondering if something is wrong? If he has not been brumating for the majority of this period then I would be seriously worried.

Thanks Tom, I'll check on them in the morning to see if they are asleep again. Do you have any recommendations on fridges? I have tried a few over the years and in my experience they all need defrosting at some point. As I say, ordinarily I can defrost it on a cold day where I can leave them...

Hi, I am looking for some urgent advice please. I hibernate my tortoise in a reptile fridge, which I have set to 5 degrees C. The fridge works great but the condenser frosts up, which then affects the fan and causes the temperature to gradually increase. To combat this, once a week I remove...

I don't consider myself to be an expert, but I have read before that if a tortoise comes out of hibernation, early or not, you cannot put them back into hibernation. When they come out of hibernation, they have a glycogen boost which kind of gives them sufficient energy to get moving again as...

Yes, fully agreed. Thankfully my cat never eats them, he just brings them in to the garden as a present for me...

Well the mouse was dead but clearly hadn't been eaten (it was not marked or missing any limbs or anything) so as neither the cat or the tortoise had actually eaten anything, then no concerns there. Just found it odd that a tortoise would try and eat a dead mammal.

Hi there, I have a four year old greek tortoise (testudo graeca ibera), who is active, healthy and eats well. I feed him a mixture of dandelion, lavatera, viola, plantain, campanula, clover, vetch, hawksbeard, hawk bit, sow thistle and mallow, and he gets a good mixture of these two or three...

Thanks for your reply, much appreciated. What are your thoughts on the donaghue method in determining whether a tortoise is the right weight for its size? By that method, both of mine are in the 'little overweight' category, so I adjust how much additional food I give them (aside from the...

Thanks. They are certainly Testudo Ibera as I bought them from a certified breeder (who incidentally only sells in pairs) in the UK who only keeps/breeds this species. There is always food left over at the end of the day, so I don't think I'm under feeding them, but if I put down all the food...

Many thanks for the replies. The enclosure is about 4 feet by 10 feet, with plenty of hiding places and enough plants/obstacles etc to break up sightlines. They both eat very well and will basically eat as much food as I am willing to give them. If I were to constantly put down food, they...

I'm bumping this one. Has nobody got any guidance on what would be a 'normal' weight for a four year old greek, and what's a healthy average monthly weight gain? There must be someone who has some information!

Hi, I have two Testudo Ibera tortoises, both hatched in August 2017 so are around 4 years old. Since getting them in August 2019, I have weighed and measured them weekly, and charted their growth over the last two years. The smaller of the two at the time was 181g and 9.8cm long, and the...

Hi, I'm new to the forum and would like some feedback on substrates please for my two 3 year old Hermann's tortoises. For their indoor enclosure, I currently use a specific tortoise substrate brand that we get here in the UK, which is a mixture of top soil, sand and limestone. As a substrate...