JorgeNC

New Member
Joined
Jun 25, 2018
Messages
2
Location (City and/or State)
London, UK
Hello everybody!

After a few years of taking care of my tortoise and reading on here, I've finally taken the step and joined the forum.

My name is Jorge and I live in London, UK. I have a 15 year old male Hermanni.

Let me tell you a bit more about him, and his behaviour, and if you have any suggestions, please go ahead and reply to this thread!

As a kid I had a tortoise which would hide everytime I even looked at him, so when I went to buy this one I chose the one that actually looked at me and came walking towards me as I peeked over the enclosure, while all his siblings stayed sleeping. This outgoing attitude has increased even more as he grows older.

As I live in a flat, I only have an indoor enclosure with all the equipment. But he has so much energy that he keeps trying to climb the walls for hours on end. As I know they like roaming and exploring for hours, I thought it would be good to let him out for a bit most days, under supervision and making sure there's nothing dangerous for him, and knowing that the flat floor of my living room is not ideal, but still good for him to walk around.

And walk around he does, very fast and energetic, and normally towards me or my partner. If we move, he will instantly look at us and come towards us. If we let him approach us, he will charge against our feet, bite, and eventually go on top of them and hump them. He's not at all scared of us, and the only way to stop him from walking around following us is letting him be on top of one of our feet. Sometimes he just rests on top while we don't move, other times he'll hump and make the moves and the noises, which can be a bit disturbing when you're just trying to relax watching TV, reading or having a cup of tea!

Even when he is quietly resting in his enclosure, or eating, as soon as he hears or sees us, he will leave what he is doing and look at us, and try to walk towards us/climb the walls.

I've thought maybe it's because he's an alpha male and trying to dominate anything and everything in his territory. He has never actually met a female. I won't buy one for him as I know she wouldn't be able to live in the same enclosure and I don't have space for two in my flat. But I wonder if introducing him to a female occasionally might be a good thing. If you live in London UK, have a female, and want to see if he'll mate with her, hit me up!

Most people that come to visit are shocked at how 'social', daring, randy and fast he can be, so I wonder if I have a one in a million or if they're all like this.

The vets we've visited always comment on how healthy and strong he is, and tend to compare him to a bull...

Thanks for reading, and please feel free to comment or suggest anything, as even though I've read things and had him for years, I'm not an expert.

Best,

Jorge

IMG_20170927_101745_518.jpg IMG_20180626_110450.jpg
 

CarolM

Well-Known Member
Joined
Oct 30, 2017
Messages
19,492
Location (City and/or State)
South Africa - Cape Town
Hello everybody!

After a few years of taking care of my tortoise and reading on here, I've finally taken the step and joined the forum.

My name is Jorge and I live in London, UK. I have a 15 year old male Hermanni.

Let me tell you a bit more about him, and his behaviour, and if you have any suggestions, please go ahead and reply to this thread!

As a kid I had a tortoise which would hide everytime I even looked at him, so when I went to buy this one I chose the one that actually looked at me and came walking towards me as I peeked over the enclosure, while all his siblings stayed sleeping. This outgoing attitude has increased even more as he grows older.

As I live in a flat, I only have an indoor enclosure with all the equipment. But he has so much energy that he keeps trying to climb the walls for hours on end. As I know they like roaming and exploring for hours, I thought it would be good to let him out for a bit most days, under supervision and making sure there's nothing dangerous for him, and knowing that the flat floor of my living room is not ideal, but still good for him to walk around.

And walk around he does, very fast and energetic, and normally towards me or my partner. If we move, he will instantly look at us and come towards us. If we let him approach us, he will charge against our feet, bite, and eventually go on top of them and hump them. He's not at all scared of us, and the only way to stop him from walking around following us is letting him be on top of one of our feet. Sometimes he just rests on top while we don't move, other times he'll hump and make the moves and the noises, which can be a bit disturbing when you're just trying to relax watching TV, reading or having a cup of tea!

Even when he is quietly resting in his enclosure, or eating, as soon as he hears or sees us, he will leave what he is doing and look at us, and try to walk towards us/climb the walls.

I've thought maybe it's because he's an alpha male and trying to dominate anything and everything in his territory. He has never actually met a female. I won't buy one for him as I know she wouldn't be able to live in the same enclosure and I don't have space for two in my flat. But I wonder if introducing him to a female occasionally might be a good thing. If you live in London UK, have a female, and want to see if he'll mate with her, hit me up!

Most people that come to visit are shocked at how 'social', daring, randy and fast he can be, so I wonder if I have a one in a million or if they're all like this.

The vets we've visited always comment on how healthy and strong he is, and tend to compare him to a bull...

Thanks for reading, and please feel free to comment or suggest anything, as even though I've read things and had him for years, I'm not an expert.

Best,

Jorge

View attachment 243179 View attachment 243180
Hi and Welcome.
This one I will leave to the experts to comment on.
 

Lyn W

Well-Known Member
5 Year Member
Joined
Jul 22, 2014
Messages
23,497
Location (City and/or State)
UK
Hi and welcome.
I personally wouldn't offer him for breeding to make sure there's no risk of passing on or picking up tort diseases.
You would also have to make sure that the keeper of the female is a responsible tort breeder who would do his best for the babies.
My male leopard goes through times of flashing his bits but as yet he hasn't tried to mate with anything other than his floor.
Is there no chance you could make him a larger enclosure or adapt a room for him rather than have him wandering around the flat?
There have been some horrible stories here of torts having heads crushed in doors and swallowing things.
My tort is a leopard about 30cm long at the moment, and he has his own room so he is safe but has space to roam.
Do you have access to an outside space around your flat?
Some members who can't have garden enclosures give their torts supervised outside time by using kiddies paddling pools, so that they get some real uvb from the sun.
 

JorgeNC

New Member
Joined
Jun 25, 2018
Messages
2
Location (City and/or State)
London, UK
Hi Lyn, and thank you for your reply and advice!

He is not just roaming freely around the flat, we only let him out in the living room for a while each day, while we keep an eye on him. It's a very clean, clutter free space, with just two mindful adults.

The living room leads into a small balcony with some plants in pots, that gets plenty of sun, and sometimes he stays there for a bit basking under real UV.

We have an allotment with lots of plants not far from our flat, but we weren't sure if it was too risky or too far to take him there regularly. It's not far for us, but we'd have to put him in a box, etc.

We don't have any more space in the flat, unfortunately, but will definitely consider taking him to the allotment some time.

Thanks again!

Jorge
 
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