Hi Koop. I think this tortoise needs lots of heat and light to be convinced its really still summer. If you don't want this tortoise to hibernate then I think it would be best to try and get him more active and feeding daily again. Otherwise he could slip into a state between wakefull and...
Thats interesting about the cost of Hermanns in Spain. I did read somewhere that it is illegal to keep certain species of tortoise in Spain as a measure to prevent them being taken from the wild. There are still some Hermanni Hermanni tortoises in Spain but I believe they have been reduced to a...
I don't think it would be a problem at all. As watermellon says they don't have a high need for oxygen and would maybe just work their lungs a little more. In some parts, Hermanns live at significant altitudes. Maybe not at the tops of high mountains, due to lack of food.
A one year old western hermann. This one is quite a big for that age, weighing in at 32 grammes. I have a hunch this will be a female as she big and strong, and she knows it too!
RE: Western Hermann's vs. Eastern Hermann's
Chris is the specialist in these tortoises and his diagrams are the bees knees. I had the pleasure recently of visiting a breeder that I know in France and added to my little group of hermanni hermanni's (westerns). This breeder also keeps 'easterns'...
Hi Yannick. I understand your wish to hibernate this tortoise in the future. Your tortoises have access to fantastic outdoor living which I personally believe to be very beneficial compared to a life indoors. I have to keep my Hermanns indoors for part of the year because, although I do...
Hi there Yannick! As the weather gets worse this tortoise is bound to slow down so a decision will be needed on your part quite soon. I'm not clear if you have indoor facilities for keeping this tortoise up all winter. If you usually hibernate your animals naturally outdoors then you might not...
Hi all
if you do decide to hibernate Herbie then a small fridge can work well. This is the method I use. I hibernate smaller and younger ones for a shorter time as some say this is safer for them. My opinion is that its not worth it for the tortoise to hibernate less than 8 weeks so I don't...
On the subject of being more active outside- yes I have seen this with mine. Outside is a lot more interesting. The tortoise naturally explores the area that it has access to and finds it's way around. Once it has checked out an area it gets to know where the warmest places are and where there...
Hi GB - yes I have that book and agree it is excellent. His enclosures are fantastic. I asked Wolfgang about a few of the items on his feeder plant list because they don't appear on other lists. His reply basically had to do with the fact that tortoises in the wild eat differently to those in...
Mark thanks for that article, I'll certainly check it out. I'm still not convinced about Hermanns eating a lot of high protein plants in the wild. They don't eat grasses. Some leguminous plants do grow in their range and they will eat them but I reckon its nearly all leaf they are getting and...
Hi friends
yes I'm familiar with the uses of rhubarb as a human desert food. Usually with loads of sugar added. Chewing on the raw stalks straight from the garden would be a bit sour to say the least. I did say poisonous 'to tortoises' and personally I wouldn't feed the stalk of something...
Chelsea I think you will end up needing something with more height to it than a habba hut, so you would have enough space to put your sponge or whatever in the roof.
I agree with GB about plastic containers. These can work well - they don't rot for a start and are easy to clean too. You can...
I'm almost 100% sure that rhubarb is poisonous for tortoises and I think that the beans should not be fed at all either due to excess protein.
Dandellions are quite high in oxalic acid which blocks calcium absorption but dandellions contain a lot of calcium so some of it probably does get...
Outdoors there can be good levels of UVB in the summer including on days when its not very sunny. But the UVB level falls off very quickly after about 3.30 pm (in the UK at least, probably different in the states). This can be surprising when its nice and sunny at 4pm and warm. But the fact is...
Hi Chelsea. Just on the building upwards aspect of it- sounds like you might be planning something like three tier bunk beds? This can work, but you might end up needing a lot of height because there can be heat build up in a confined space. Your lamp needs to be hung a distance from the...