- Joined
- Aug 30, 2015
- Messages
- 11
Hey Guys and Gals,
I'm new to Tortoise forum, and new to keeping tortoises. I always wanted one though and now that im 25 and living alone, i'm trying to live out my dreams lol. Anyways I got a 40 day old western Hermanns hatching 10 days ago. I built him a large indoor enclosure as I live in Minnesota USA and it gets really cold here in the winter.
My worry is that the enclosure is so large that I don't have enough UVB for him/her. When we first got our hatchling, I think ill name him Speedy, he was always trying to climb out as if he was looking for his hatchling mates or something. I built a tort table out of oak plywood and whenever there is a corner he would climb straight up vertically and end up falling on his back. I was worried he'd do this under the heat lamp while we were at work and end up over heating, so i put up rubber matting along the walls and corners and he seemed to get over his climbing obsessing. I felt bad since he seemed to love climbing but I didn't want to risk it. Since then he was eating fine and still being active. I've been feeding him random weeds from my yard mostly dandelion and hibiscus leaves as he seems to love those. also a little bit of zoo med grassland tortoise and some of those orange tortoise bits, though he doesn't like those two as much. I have been soaking him for like 10 min every other day, as ive heard that's good for the little ones. his temp is usually 80 F ambient and 95 under the balking light. 65-70 F at night. Humidity 40-50%. anyways the last few days he has been hiding under his moss nearly the whole day. he'll eat but only if I put him on his feeding slate and hand feed him. he used to go and find it for the last 6-7 days. he is also drinking water constantly, something ive never seen him do even when id give him a bath. now whenever I moisten his substrate or food he'll go and take drinks out of it. this is what is really concerning me. I want to know if I have too little or too much light. is he dehydrated, or not getting enough UVB, as he is being lethargic. here are some pics of the enclosure. The long florescent bulb on the right is a 18" reptisun 10.0 12" above the substrate. The bulb right above it is just a 100W basking light from exo terra ( this was before I learned any incandescent bulb is just as good). the next 18" bulb is just a normal household florescent bulb, usually not on. The light in the second level is a 125W solar glo from exo terra, at 16" at the moment as when I had it at 13" as the box prescribed it was way to hot 100+ F.
Maybe im just being paranoid and hes still getting used to his new surroundings but he seemed so active right off the bat, now hes really slow and constantly drinking. Hope you have some advice thanks everyone!
I'm new to Tortoise forum, and new to keeping tortoises. I always wanted one though and now that im 25 and living alone, i'm trying to live out my dreams lol. Anyways I got a 40 day old western Hermanns hatching 10 days ago. I built him a large indoor enclosure as I live in Minnesota USA and it gets really cold here in the winter.
My worry is that the enclosure is so large that I don't have enough UVB for him/her. When we first got our hatchling, I think ill name him Speedy, he was always trying to climb out as if he was looking for his hatchling mates or something. I built a tort table out of oak plywood and whenever there is a corner he would climb straight up vertically and end up falling on his back. I was worried he'd do this under the heat lamp while we were at work and end up over heating, so i put up rubber matting along the walls and corners and he seemed to get over his climbing obsessing. I felt bad since he seemed to love climbing but I didn't want to risk it. Since then he was eating fine and still being active. I've been feeding him random weeds from my yard mostly dandelion and hibiscus leaves as he seems to love those. also a little bit of zoo med grassland tortoise and some of those orange tortoise bits, though he doesn't like those two as much. I have been soaking him for like 10 min every other day, as ive heard that's good for the little ones. his temp is usually 80 F ambient and 95 under the balking light. 65-70 F at night. Humidity 40-50%. anyways the last few days he has been hiding under his moss nearly the whole day. he'll eat but only if I put him on his feeding slate and hand feed him. he used to go and find it for the last 6-7 days. he is also drinking water constantly, something ive never seen him do even when id give him a bath. now whenever I moisten his substrate or food he'll go and take drinks out of it. this is what is really concerning me. I want to know if I have too little or too much light. is he dehydrated, or not getting enough UVB, as he is being lethargic. here are some pics of the enclosure. The long florescent bulb on the right is a 18" reptisun 10.0 12" above the substrate. The bulb right above it is just a 100W basking light from exo terra ( this was before I learned any incandescent bulb is just as good). the next 18" bulb is just a normal household florescent bulb, usually not on. The light in the second level is a 125W solar glo from exo terra, at 16" at the moment as when I had it at 13" as the box prescribed it was way to hot 100+ F.
Maybe im just being paranoid and hes still getting used to his new surroundings but he seemed so active right off the bat, now hes really slow and constantly drinking. Hope you have some advice thanks everyone!