I've had my Hermanns tortoise for 11 days now. She is nearly 8 months old. Here is a picture of my set up:
Under the spotlight is 30/31°C and in the little house at the left-hand end is 19/20°C (there is a little heater in the house so there are some cooler spots in between there and the lamp that are more like 17/18).
Every morning I wake her up and give her a warm bath then dry her off and put her back in. The first few days she stayed at the end where the lamp is, sat under the lamp then buried herself in the afternoon. She has eaten almost every day (I have been feeding her suitable weeds and plants).
The last 4/5 days in the UK have been really sunny and warm so I washed out an old sandpit and filled it with top soil with a couple hidey places and have put her outside for an hour or so every day in the afternoon so she can get some natural UV. When she's outside she's really active and walks around a lot, eats etc. But when she's inside, she just goes straight into the house at the cool end and stays there. I have been thinking that maybe this is because its cooler and more humid in there and after being outside, she needs a bit of humidity and maybe has gotten a bit hot outside? Also maybe setting up the new outside area has been disruptive to her, just as she was getting used to the inside area and she feels safe in there? This morning I got her up, bathed her and she just went straight back to the house. Its not so sunny today so I won't be putting her outside.
The other factor is that she has only done 2 poos since she has been with me (as far as I can tell). They have both been surprisingly large and also very wet, just about keeping their shape. Is this normal? After the first one she did, she went a bit nuts, charging around and trying to climb the walls which is the most active I've seen her.
My final point of concern is that the edge of her shell curves slightly out at the bottom. I've read that this is normal and also that it is a sign of growing too fast. She weighs 60g which I think is a bit high for her age so just wanted to check on that too (while I'm here).
Thank you so much in advance for any replies. I am completely new to this and have tried to do as much research as I can but its really tricky to be able to know things are ok / not ok without any experience and there is quite a lot of conflicting info online.
Under the spotlight is 30/31°C and in the little house at the left-hand end is 19/20°C (there is a little heater in the house so there are some cooler spots in between there and the lamp that are more like 17/18).
Every morning I wake her up and give her a warm bath then dry her off and put her back in. The first few days she stayed at the end where the lamp is, sat under the lamp then buried herself in the afternoon. She has eaten almost every day (I have been feeding her suitable weeds and plants).
The last 4/5 days in the UK have been really sunny and warm so I washed out an old sandpit and filled it with top soil with a couple hidey places and have put her outside for an hour or so every day in the afternoon so she can get some natural UV. When she's outside she's really active and walks around a lot, eats etc. But when she's inside, she just goes straight into the house at the cool end and stays there. I have been thinking that maybe this is because its cooler and more humid in there and after being outside, she needs a bit of humidity and maybe has gotten a bit hot outside? Also maybe setting up the new outside area has been disruptive to her, just as she was getting used to the inside area and she feels safe in there? This morning I got her up, bathed her and she just went straight back to the house. Its not so sunny today so I won't be putting her outside.
The other factor is that she has only done 2 poos since she has been with me (as far as I can tell). They have both been surprisingly large and also very wet, just about keeping their shape. Is this normal? After the first one she did, she went a bit nuts, charging around and trying to climb the walls which is the most active I've seen her.
My final point of concern is that the edge of her shell curves slightly out at the bottom. I've read that this is normal and also that it is a sign of growing too fast. She weighs 60g which I think is a bit high for her age so just wanted to check on that too (while I'm here).
Thank you so much in advance for any replies. I am completely new to this and have tried to do as much research as I can but its really tricky to be able to know things are ok / not ok without any experience and there is quite a lot of conflicting info online.
