Hello from Georgia!

[Tanuki]

Hello everybody! My name is Karina and I am a new tortoise owner learning the ropes. Last month we adopted a 2.5 year old Eastern Hermann’s tortoise. His name is Tanuki and he is adorable 🐢❤️. He is a healthy tortoise and his previous owner took good care of him. He lives in an outdoor enclosure in our backyard now ( please see the attached photo), but I am not sure what exactly we will do for his first winter with us. I find conflicting information about brumation. I would love to allow him to brumate naturally in an outdoor setting, but I am afraid to make a mistake. If someone has lived or is living in the state of GA or any neighboring states with similar climate, could you please help me with practical advice on how to do brumation properly? How should I modify his outdoor enclosure to allow proper brumation? Right now his outdoor enclosure has wood chips as a substrate, some rocks/shells, boston fern ( which he almost entirely destroyed by now!), terracotta plates for food and water, and a wooden house where he sleeps every night. Are there any societies or clubs for the owners of Hermann’s tortoises in GA? Do you know of any websites/apps similar to the tortoise table that have a larger database of edible plants and weeds? A lot of weeds that grow here cannot be found on the tortoise table. Do you have any suggestions about predator prevention? Right now he goes to sleep in his wooden house every night around 7:00 pm and doesn’t leave it until 9:00- 10:00 am in the morning, so I feel that he is safe and protected over there. We have squirrels, deer and, rarely, I saw opossums walking on our fence. I know it is a lot of questions in a single post, but I am new to this and any valuable info would be helpful. Thank you very much!

 

[wellington]

You should lock him in his house each night and then open it in the morning.
They need to be brumated on purpose, which means in a frig or a cold dark room in the basement,
That keeps a constant temp.

 

[wellington]

@Tom

 

[Tanuki]

You should lock him in his house each night and then open it in the morning.
They need to be brumated on purpose, which means in a frig or a cold dark room in the basement,
That keeps a constant temp.

Thanks for you feedback. That’s a good idea. I could put a cinder block to block the entrance to his house and remove it every morning. As far as purposeful brumation goes, could you elaborate more on that? Do you think I could use a large 50 gallon plastic bin filled with wood chips and place it in a dark basement room? When should I do it ( starting from what month or what temperature) and for how long should I do it? Do I have to periodically check on him while he is undergoing brumation?

 

[wellington]

I don't brumate my Russian, so I sent an alert to member Tom that can link a thread on how to do it.

 

[Tom]

Hello everybody! My name is Karina and I am a new tortoise owner learning the ropes. Last month we adopted a 2.5 year old Eastern Hermann’s tortoise. His name is Tanuki and he is adorable 🐢❤️. He is a healthy tortoise and his previous owner took good care of him. He lives in an outdoor enclosure in our backyard now ( please see the attached photo), but I am not sure what exactly we will do for his first winter with us. I find conflicting information about brumation. I would love to allow him to brumate naturally in an outdoor setting, but I am afraid to make a mistake. If someone has lived or is living in the state of GA or any neighboring states with similar climate, could you please help me with practical advice on how to do brumation properly? How should I modify his outdoor enclosure to allow proper brumation? Right now his outdoor enclosure has wood chips as a substrate, some rocks/shells, boston fern ( which he almost entirely destroyed by now!), terracotta plates for food and water, and a wooden house where he sleeps every night. Are there any societies or clubs for the owners of Hermann’s tortoises in GA? Do you know of any websites/apps similar to the tortoise table that have a larger database of edible plants and weeds? A lot of weeds that grow here cannot be found on the tortoise table. Do you have any suggestions about predator prevention? Right now he goes to sleep in his wooden house every night around 7:00 pm and doesn’t leave it until 9:00- 10:00 am in the morning, so I feel that he is safe and protected over there. We have squirrels, deer and, rarely, I saw opossums walking on our fence. I know it is a lot of questions in a single post, but I am new to this and any valuable info would be helpful. Thank you very much!

Hello and welcome!

I own a house in GA and spent many months there in the last three years.

The info found here is the best info in the world for tortoise care. Most everything else will give you terrible advice.

He needs a hinged door that can be latched shut at night. A cinder block will not even slow a raccoon down. The enclosure also needs more furniture and plants for cover. Does it get direct sun for part of the day at least?

Brumation outside frequently results in death. Brumation is totally safe, natural, and beneficial, but it must be done correctly in controlled conditions.

Start here with this thread. There is a brumation thread and a temperate species care sheet farther down the page:

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

 

[TammyJ]

Hi and welcome! Stick with us here for the very best advice for your tortoise. I will just say that right now, the enclosure needs to be covered with strong mesh wire to keep predators out.

 

[SinLA]

Another option is to make a section of your enclosure lockable and enclosed. Here is mine for an example, that section is big enough that if I am away I can lock him there for a few days/nights and I know he is safe.

 

[jeff kushner]

Welcome new girl



Beautiful Tort, nice home for him too! Listen to these guys, I was NOT kidding about that part! My Matilda got ravaged by a rat who chewed into her shell from the front nearly an inch & deep into the blood vessels. She's ok now but she was a hurtin pup for a while. Racs and Possums are there, and they will find her, just a matter of time.

Good luck....

jeff

 

[Tanuki]

Hello and welcome!

I own a house in GA and spent many months there in the last three years.

The info found here is the best info in the world for tortoise care. Most everything else will give you terrible advice.

He needs a hinged door that can be latched shut at night. A cinder block will not even slow a raccoon down. The enclosure also needs more furniture and plants for cover. Does it get direct sun for part of the day at least?

Brumation outside frequently results in death. Brumation is totally safe, natural, and beneficial, but it must be done correctly in controlled conditions.

Start here with this thread. There is a brumation thread and a temperate species care sheet farther down the page:

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

 

[Tanuki]

Hello Tom. Thank you so much for such a wealth of

Hello and welcome!

I own a house in GA and spent many months there in the last three years.

The info found here is the best info in the world for tortoise care. Most everything else will give you terrible advice.

He needs a hinged door that can be latched shut at night. A cinder block will not even slow a raccoon down. The enclosure also needs more furniture and plants for cover. Does it get direct sun for part of the day at least?

Brumation outside frequently results in death. Brumation is totally safe, natural, and beneficial, but it must be done correctly in controlled conditions.

Start here with this thread. There is a brumation thread and a temperate species care sheet farther down the page:

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

Hello and welcome!

I own a house in GA and spent many months there in the last three years.

The info found here is the best info in the world for tortoise care. Most everything else will give you terrible advice.

He needs a hinged door that can be latched shut at night. A cinder block will not even slow a raccoon down. The enclosure also needs more furniture and plants for cover. Does it get direct sun for part of the day at least?

Brumation outside frequently results in death. Brumation is totally safe, natural, and beneficial, but it must be done correctly in controlled conditions.

Start here with this thread. There is a brumation thread and a temperate species care sheet farther down the page:

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

Hi Tom. Thank you so much for such a wealth of invaluable information. Glad to hear that you are familiar with our climate. Have you raised tortoises here in GA?
The enclosure is under the shade of some Tupelo trees for the most part, but it does get direct sun from 10:00 am to about 12:00pm, then it gets shady, and later in the evening from 5 to 6 pm there are patches of sunshine.
I recently placed a potted Boston fern there level with the ground, but he destroyed it in 4-5 days. He just went to it everyday and ate all of the plant ignoring the other weeds and greens that I typically put on his plate. How do you prevent them from exclusively eating the plants in the enclosure?

 

[Tanuki]

Hi and welcome! Stick with us here for the very best advice for your tortoise. I will just say that right now, the enclosure needs to be covered with strong mesh wire to keep predators out.

Thank you, Tammy! I will have to modify it.

 

[Tanuki]

Welcome new girl



Beautiful Tort, nice home for him too! Listen to these guys, I was NOT kidding about that part! My Matilda got ravaged by a rat who chewed into her shell from the front nearly an inch & deep into the blood vessels. She's ok now but she was a hurtin pup for a while. Racs and Possums are there, and they will find her, just a matter of time.

Good luck....

jeff

Hi Jeff! Thank you! This sounds like a horror story. I am glad Matilda is doing well now. I would have never imagined that rats can do that. I was mainly worried about larger predators like raccoons or opossums. I will be making some changes to the enclosure. Thanks a lot.

 

[Tom]

Hello Tom. Thank you so much for such a wealth of


Hi Tom. Thank you so much for such a wealth of invaluable information. Glad to hear that you are familiar with our climate. Have you raised tortoises here in GA?
The enclosure is under the shade of some Tupelo trees for the most part, but it does get direct sun from 10:00 am to about 12:00pm, then it gets shady, and later in the evening from 5 to 6 pm there are patches of sunshine.
I recently placed a potted Boston fern there level with the ground, but he destroyed it in 4-5 days. He just went to it everyday and ate all of the plant ignoring the other weeds and greens that I typically put on his plate. How do you prevent them from exclusively eating the plants in the enclosure?

That area seems good for a hot summer pen, but you'll want an area with more sun for spring and fall. The night box design in the temperate species care sheet can help to mitigate this problem.

Plant your plants in pots or around the outside edges of the enclosure to keep the tortoise from trampling or eating them. If you plant them in the ground build barriers around them with boards or cinder blocks.

 

[Tanuki]

Another option is to make a section of your enclosure lockable and enclosed. Here is mine for an example, that section is big enough that if I am away I can lock him there for a few days/nights and I know he is safe.

Thanks, SinLa! Your enclosure looks great.