Any info is helpful

[Shelldog]

I have had a hermanns tortoise for a couple years now and I expected her to reach full growth by 5. She has definitely grown but is still small, I’m wondering what I’m doing wrong?
I have a uvb bulb and heat lamp and plants in her enclosure. I also have temperature and humidity measuring devices and keep the values within the recommended amount but I’m not sure they are accurate. For diet she was eating bad for a while (as she wasn’t in my care) but I have since started picking weeds for her and feeding her those. I’m also worried about her shell as one part seems to be lower than the others. Additionally her bottom beak is quite long despite me having her eating on slate and having a cuttle bone. Any advice is appreciated thanks 🙏

 

[zovick]

I have had a hermanns tortoise for a couple years now and I expected her to reach full growth by 5. She has definitely grown but is still small, I’m wondering what I’m doing wrong?
I have a uvb bulb and heat lamp and plants in her enclosure. I also have temperature and humidity measuring devices and keep the values within the recommended amount but I’m not sure they are accurate. For diet she was eating bad for a while (as she wasn’t in my care) but I have since started picking weeds for her and feeding her those. I’m also worried about her shell as one part seems to be lower than the others. Additionally her bottom beak is quite long despite me having her eating on slate and having a cuttle bone. Any advice is appreciated thanks 🙏

The shell issue sounds as though it could be from metabolic bone disease (MBD). You will need to post some photos of the tortoise to get truly meaningful feedback. The beak issue may need to be addressed by a vet, but again, photos would be helpful in determining what is best.

 

[The_Four_Toed_Edward]

Hi! Welcome to the forum. We can surely help you if you answer our questions and send some photos of your tortoise.
Can you answer these questions:

• What are you temperatures? (basking and ambient, shell level temps)
• What is your humidity? (shell level, ambient and hide)
• What exactly have you been feeding?
• What are your enclosure measurements?
• What substrate do you use?
• Do you have a water dish? What kind? (A terracotta plant saucer is the best)
• What is his carapace length and weight? Have you kept track of his growth?

For the pictures:

• Underneath the shell, top of the shell and all four sides if you suspect that anything is wrong with the growth.
• Plant saucers don't do much for bottom jaws. Could you post a picture of his face from up front, underneath the jaw and both sides?

Also, read this and feel welcome to ask any questions

Info For New People. Please Read This First.

Hello and welcome to tortoiseforum.org! We are all glad you are here! There is no other forum like this anywhere. We have tens of thousands of members from all over the world ranging from kids with their first tortoise to people who have been breeding and keeping high end tortoises since the...

tortoiseforum.org

 

[wellington]

We need to know exact lights,heat,temps, etc. size of enclosure and how much you are feeding
If you got the wrong info then it's not being cared for properly and this will stunt it's growth, so will having too small of an enclosure. It can all be corrected though and should start putting size on.

 

[Tom]

I have had a hermanns tortoise for a couple years now and I expected her to reach full growth by 5. She has definitely grown but is still small, I’m wondering what I’m doing wrong?
I have a uvb bulb and heat lamp and plants in her enclosure. I also have temperature and humidity measuring devices and keep the values within the recommended amount but I’m not sure they are accurate. For diet she was eating bad for a while (as she wasn’t in my care) but I have since started picking weeds for her and feeding her those. I’m also worried about her shell as one part seems to be lower than the others. Additionally her bottom beak is quite long despite me having her eating on slate and having a cuttle bone. Any advice is appreciated thanks 🙏

Where did you go? We all want to help, but we ned more info.

 

[Shelldog]

I have had a hermanns tortoise for a couple years now and I expected her to reach full growth by 5. She has definitely grown but is still small, I’m wondering what I’m doing wrong?
I have a uvb bulb and heat lamp and plants in her enclosure. I also have temperature and humidity measuring devices and keep the values within the recommended amount but I’m not sure they are accurate. For diet she was eating bad for a while (as she wasn’t in my care) but I have since started picking weeds for her and feeding her those. I’m also worried about her shell as one part seems to be lower than the others. Additionally her bottom beak is quite long despite me having her eating on slate and having a cuttle bone. Any advice is appreciated thanks 🙏

NEW NOTES:

• Tortoise table: length = 30 inches, width = 15 inches, height = 9 inches
• Has 2 inches of the coco coir soil
• Temperature = on the thermometers it says 30 degrees under the heat lamp and 20 degrees on the opposite end of the table
• Humidity = the humidity says 78% on the hot end and
• I don’t think these are accurate
• UVB = it is the Pro T5 uvb kit and Shadedweller from www.arcadiareptile.com (although I got it from Amazon)
• Heat lamp = I don’t have the exact thing but on the bulb it says eco terra intense basking spot (220-240V, 50Hz, 50w)
• As for diet she used to just get lettuce and these Komodo tortoise diet balls but I now try and go out and pick weeds. These mostly consist of dandelion, sticky weed, white dead nettle, some yellow archangel, narrow leaf plantain. I have also planted some stuff in my garden which I hope to use later. I sprinkle this with Komodo nutri cal like 3/4 times a week and sometimes with the dandelion tortoise diet balls like 2 times a week.

For her beak and nails I tried adding the stone to eat off, the slate to walk on and the cuttle bone but it hasn’t done much.



Tortoise:
She is like 3.5 inches long and 2.25 wide
I tried my best to show what I think is wrong, I looked up the overgrown beak but I have only ever seen example of the top beak and I believe the third part along the middle is too low.

 

[Shelldog]

Where did you go? We all want to help, but we ned more info.

I have added new info 🙌

 

[Shelldog]

We need to know exact lights,heat,temps, etc. size of enclosure and how much you are feeding
If you got the wrong info then it's not being cared for properly and this will stunt it's growth, so will having too small of an enclosure. It can all be corrected though and should start putting size on.

I have added new notes

 

[Shelldog]

The shell issue sounds as though it could be from metabolic bone disease (MBD). You will need to post some photos of the tortoise to get truly meaningful feedback. The beak issue may need to be addressed by a vet, but again, photos would be helpful in determining what is best.

I have added new info

 

[Shelldog]

Hi! Welcome to the forum. We can surely help you if you answer our questions and send some photos of your tortoise.
Can you answer these questions:

• What are you temperatures? (basking and ambient, shell level temps)
• What is your humidity? (shell level, ambient and hide)
• What exactly have you been feeding?
• What are your enclosure measurements?
• What substrate do you use?
• Do you have a water dish? What kind? (A terracotta plant saucer is the best)
• What is his carapace length and weight? Have you kept track of his growth?

For the pictures:

• Underneath the shell, top of the shell and all four sides if you suspect that anything is wrong with the growth.
• Plant saucers don't do much for bottom jaws. Could you post a picture of his face from up front, underneath the jaw and both sides?

Also, read this and feel welcome to ask any questions

Info For New People. Please Read This First.

Hello and welcome to tortoiseforum.org! We are all glad you are here! There is no other forum like this anywhere. We have tens of thousands of members from all over the world ranging from kids with their first tortoise to people who have been breeding and keeping high end tortoises since the...

tortoiseforum.org

I have added new info, always open to advice.

 

[wellington]

She has been housed all wrong and is very pyramided and looks to have MBD and the care is likely the beak problem
The enclosure is way too small. She should have had 80% humidity from the day she was hatched in a closed chamber enclosure and 50% now. She needs more room to roam of she will nor be able to walk properly and this could also be her growth being stunted. She needs an incandescent flood bulb, 65w for basking under 95-100 temps. A tube fluorescent for uvb and ceramic heat emitter or radiant heat panel for any needed heat.
Also a very good diet with calcium sprinkled on sparingly 3 times a week.
If you can get her outside for natural uvb from the sun several times a week that would be best
The vet can likely trim the bottom beak to make it fit better
Get changes ASAP

 

[The_Four_Toed_Edward]

On top of wellingtons great advice, I recommend you change the water dish for a plant saucer. How often do you soak him?

Your current humidity sounds fine, but if you doubt it I would invest to a better hydrometer.

I would also recommend that you get the beak trimmed at a vet since it looks like it poses some difficulty to eating.

 

[Tom]

I have added new info 🙌

Please read this, and there is a care sheet for temperate species near the bottom:

Info For New People. Please Read This First.

Hello and welcome to tortoiseforum.org! We are all glad you are here! There is no other forum like this anywhere. We have tens of thousands of members from all over the world ranging from kids with their first tortoise to people who have been breeding and keeping high end tortoises since the...

tortoiseforum.org

 

[Shelldog]

She has been housed all wrong and is very pyramided and looks to have MBD and the care is likely the beak problem
The enclosure is way too small. She should have had 80% humidity from the day she was hatched in a closed chamber enclosure and 50% now. She needs more room to roam of she will nor be able to walk properly and this could also be her growth being stunted. She needs an incandescent flood bulb, 65w for basking under 95-100 temps. A tube fluorescent for uvb and ceramic heat emitter or radiant heat panel for any needed heat.
Also a very good diet with calcium sprinkled on sparingly 3 times a week.
If you can get her outside for natural uvb from the sun several times a week that would be best
The vet can likely trim the bottom beak to make it fit better
Get changes ASAP

I don’t know what the conditions were for when she was born. She was given by my parents friend for free for my sibling but they weren’t being cared for so I’m trying to fix that now for her. What size enclosure do I need for her? I want to put her outside but I’m afraid that she is too small and I live in the uk so I thought it would be too cold.



“She needs an incandescent flood bulb, 65w for basking under 95-100 temps” is this just for the heat lamp bulb? Is my uvb bulb ok? I don’t rlly know what that means but I will try find one.



I’m not sure I understand? I looked it up earlier and it say it should be like 38 degrees Celsius? Is that wrong?

• Does this mean I need three lights? A uvb a heat bulb and a flood bulb?
• How do u suggest I improve her current diet?
• I try get her out often but it’s quite cold in the uk and I wasn’t sure if it was suitable?
• I will try get her to the vet as quick as possible, I leave school soon so hopefully I can change everything then.

Sorry for lots of questions I just want to make sure I get this right and make sure she has a good life moving forward.

 

[Shelldog]

On top of wellingtons great advice, I recommend you change the water dish for a plant saucer. How often do you soak him?

Your current humidity sounds fine, but if you doubt it I would invest to a better hydrometer.

I would also recommend that you get the beak trimmed at a vet since it looks like it poses some difficulty to eating.

Thanks for the advice, I will look to replace the water dish and get her to the vet.
I try soak him like twice a week.
Also this is news to me because I wasn’t told if they were male or female 😭

 

[Tom]

I don’t know what the conditions were for when she was born. She was given by my parents friend for free for my sibling but they weren’t being cared for so I’m trying to fix that now for her. What size enclosure do I need for her? I want to put her outside but I’m afraid that she is too small and I live in the uk so I thought it would be too cold.



“She needs an incandescent flood bulb, 65w for basking under 95-100 temps” is this just for the heat lamp bulb? Is my uvb bulb ok? I don’t rlly know what that means but I will try find one.



I’m not sure I understand? I looked it up earlier and it say it should be like 38 degrees Celsius? Is that wrong?

• Does this mean I need three lights? A uvb a heat bulb and a flood bulb?
• How do u suggest I improve her current diet?
• I try get her out often but it’s quite cold in the uk and I wasn’t sure if it was suitable?
• I will try get her to the vet as quick as possible, I leave school soon so hopefully I can change everything then.

Sorry for lots of questions I just want to make sure I get this right and make sure she has a good life moving forward.

All of these questions are answered in the link I post #13.

 

[The_Four_Toed_Edward]

Thanks for the advice, I will look to replace the water dish and get her to the vet.
I try soak him like twice a week.
Also this is news to me because I wasn’t told if they were male or female 😭

Oh sorry I am not sure either. They actually have female characteristics but it is possible that they aren't mature yet. They or she would have been better. I only used he because English isn't my main language and we have only one pronoun in my language, which is gender neutral. So sorry for any confusion, my mistake!

 

[Alex and the Redfoot]

@Shelldog What is the distance between UVB lamp and substrate? All ShadeDweller lamps have very weak UVB output (targeted mostly for crepuscular species). For Hermann's tortoise optimal would be Arcadia Desert 12% lamp (and distance about 18" over substrate).

The basking bulb you use is a spot lamp. What's bad about them: they give rather narrow and intense beam of heat and light. For a tortoise you need more diffused and wider basking zone which is achieved with a flood bulb (or "common" pear-shaped bulb in a wide lampshade). Temperature in the basking area should be around 35-38C (95-100F).

As of nighttime heating - it's advisable to have one to ensure that tortoise doesn't get too cold at nights. 20C is not too cold for an adult or young Hermann's tortoise but you need some heat source to maintain it on colder days.

 

[Shelldog]

So would you recommend me make a larger tortoise table or am I able to have her outside (I’m in the UK) or have a house with those in and access to outside?

 

[The_Four_Toed_Edward]

So would you recommend me make a larger tortoise table or am I able to have her outside (I’m in the UK) or have a house with those in and access to outside?

You won't be able to keep your tortoise outdoors year round. I would probable set both a big enough enclosure indoors and outdoors. Plus you would have to have a heated house outdoors or bring your tortoise indoors at night.