In case you don't want to read that whole mess below, the summary is:
The important information:
He is a few month old (2 inch) Hermann tortoise.
His ambient temperature is between 75-85 degrees during the day. Basking area is 95-100 degrees.
Humidity is between 30-55% at all times.
He has been getting daily 20 minute soaks in 84-88 degree water.
He has pooped on Tuesday and on Thursday.
He doesn't nap much at all, but he goes to bed pretty early, doesn't stay up for the whole 12 hours before heading to bed for the night. It takes him about a half hour to get up and moving in the morning.
He gets a drink from his water dish at least once a day, today he got 2 or 3 drinks, but that was before he got his afternoon soak.
He has a 10.0 UVB tube light and a multi-use bulb (45 watt? maybe?) for his basking spot.
Today his food had calcium sprinkled on it (without D3) and he had no problem with it. He's been eating young rose of sharon leaves, a little bit of a flower from a Christmas catus, and nibbled on air plants and spider plants.
My questions are:
1. Can Hermann hatchling tortoises eat this dried foliage mix? http://www.arizonatortoisecompound.com/A.T.C.-s-Dried-Foliage-Mix.html If so, do you feed it to them straight up or do you soak it first or something?
2. Do Hermann hatchlings need this cactus pad? http://www.arizonatortoisecompound.com/Cactus-Pads.html I've read it has a calcium content which is good, but succulents can give them diarrhea which is bad.
3. How much should I be feeding him and/or how much should he be growing per week? Like I said, he's gone from 18 grams to 22 grams in 3 days. Is that too much too fast?
4. Also, as an aside, I haven't decided on a name yet so I am open to suggestions. Right now we are bouncing around Bentley, Rudy, Scout, Aldo, Archibald, and a couple others.
And yes, I know there's a forum for diet/food, but whenever I post on those general forums the only response I get is "I don't know anything about Hermann's" so I figured I would post to the Hermann forum to get a Hermann answer.
Here's the whole story, if you're interested:
I got another Hermann tortoise, from Arizona Tortoise Compound this time instead of LLL Reptile. He is (I quote) "a few months old" and exactly 2 inches long. He was 18 ounces out of the box, but after 3 days of daily soaks and eating like a pig, he weighs 22 ounces.
The difference between this hatchling and the first one I got is astounding. The first one barely moved at all the entire time I had him and never showed the slightest interest in food. In the first few hours I had him, this guy took a poop, ate an entire rose of sharon leaf and took a nibble of every plant in the enclosure then took a nice long bask, climbed up on the hubba hut, burrowed down into the substrate, and got a drink from his dish. I mean, when my mom was watching him (she doesn't know about tortoises at all) she was like, "Does he have the hiccups?" When I explained that he is just breathing, she's like "Well then, that other one didn't breath at all."
In short, he seems very healthy and very active. He seems totally comfortable, too. He even ate out of my hand today and when people walk by he watches them come and go like he's expecting food all the time. The problem is, I only have a few plants I can feed him right now. I have a rose of sharon bush growing in the house, spider plants, air plants, and aloe vera (which I understand needs to be fed carefully since it's a succulent). I have other plants for him (African violet and bromeliad from Lowes), but I bought them from the store only a few weeks ago. I'm also growing a tortoise wildflower seed mix from amazon and other approved seeds in the basement under a grow light, but it will be a week or two before he can eat any of those plants.
So far the only thing he eats very vigorously is the rose of sharon. I've been using the tortoise table website to decide his diet and it says this is totally safe to feed as opposed to "feed in moderation" but I understand that he needs and probably wants variety.
In looking at the ATC website, I see they offer this:
http://www.arizonatortoisecompound.com/A.T.C.-s-Dried-Foliage-Mix.html
and this:
http://www.arizonatortoisecompound.com/Cactus-Pads.html
I've seen other people talk about feeding these things to their various tortoises, but none of them had Hermann tortoises.
Below are a bunch of pictures. I've taken about 380 pictures of him since Tuesday morning (and it's only Thursday night).
Thanks in advance for your help!
The important information:
He is a few month old (2 inch) Hermann tortoise.
His ambient temperature is between 75-85 degrees during the day. Basking area is 95-100 degrees.
Humidity is between 30-55% at all times.
He has been getting daily 20 minute soaks in 84-88 degree water.
He has pooped on Tuesday and on Thursday.
He doesn't nap much at all, but he goes to bed pretty early, doesn't stay up for the whole 12 hours before heading to bed for the night. It takes him about a half hour to get up and moving in the morning.
He gets a drink from his water dish at least once a day, today he got 2 or 3 drinks, but that was before he got his afternoon soak.
He has a 10.0 UVB tube light and a multi-use bulb (45 watt? maybe?) for his basking spot.
Today his food had calcium sprinkled on it (without D3) and he had no problem with it. He's been eating young rose of sharon leaves, a little bit of a flower from a Christmas catus, and nibbled on air plants and spider plants.
My questions are:
1. Can Hermann hatchling tortoises eat this dried foliage mix? http://www.arizonatortoisecompound.com/A.T.C.-s-Dried-Foliage-Mix.html If so, do you feed it to them straight up or do you soak it first or something?
2. Do Hermann hatchlings need this cactus pad? http://www.arizonatortoisecompound.com/Cactus-Pads.html I've read it has a calcium content which is good, but succulents can give them diarrhea which is bad.
3. How much should I be feeding him and/or how much should he be growing per week? Like I said, he's gone from 18 grams to 22 grams in 3 days. Is that too much too fast?
4. Also, as an aside, I haven't decided on a name yet so I am open to suggestions. Right now we are bouncing around Bentley, Rudy, Scout, Aldo, Archibald, and a couple others.
And yes, I know there's a forum for diet/food, but whenever I post on those general forums the only response I get is "I don't know anything about Hermann's" so I figured I would post to the Hermann forum to get a Hermann answer.
Here's the whole story, if you're interested:
I got another Hermann tortoise, from Arizona Tortoise Compound this time instead of LLL Reptile. He is (I quote) "a few months old" and exactly 2 inches long. He was 18 ounces out of the box, but after 3 days of daily soaks and eating like a pig, he weighs 22 ounces.
The difference between this hatchling and the first one I got is astounding. The first one barely moved at all the entire time I had him and never showed the slightest interest in food. In the first few hours I had him, this guy took a poop, ate an entire rose of sharon leaf and took a nibble of every plant in the enclosure then took a nice long bask, climbed up on the hubba hut, burrowed down into the substrate, and got a drink from his dish. I mean, when my mom was watching him (she doesn't know about tortoises at all) she was like, "Does he have the hiccups?" When I explained that he is just breathing, she's like "Well then, that other one didn't breath at all."
In short, he seems very healthy and very active. He seems totally comfortable, too. He even ate out of my hand today and when people walk by he watches them come and go like he's expecting food all the time. The problem is, I only have a few plants I can feed him right now. I have a rose of sharon bush growing in the house, spider plants, air plants, and aloe vera (which I understand needs to be fed carefully since it's a succulent). I have other plants for him (African violet and bromeliad from Lowes), but I bought them from the store only a few weeks ago. I'm also growing a tortoise wildflower seed mix from amazon and other approved seeds in the basement under a grow light, but it will be a week or two before he can eat any of those plants.
So far the only thing he eats very vigorously is the rose of sharon. I've been using the tortoise table website to decide his diet and it says this is totally safe to feed as opposed to "feed in moderation" but I understand that he needs and probably wants variety.
In looking at the ATC website, I see they offer this:
http://www.arizonatortoisecompound.com/A.T.C.-s-Dried-Foliage-Mix.html
and this:
http://www.arizonatortoisecompound.com/Cactus-Pads.html
I've seen other people talk about feeding these things to their various tortoises, but none of them had Hermann tortoises.
Below are a bunch of pictures. I've taken about 380 pictures of him since Tuesday morning (and it's only Thursday night).
Thanks in advance for your help!
