islandtort
Member
Hey all. I recently got my first tortoise, Darwin, a four year old hermanns a few weeks ago. I initially had him in a glass tank with a hide in there and he seemed to be doing well. Every night without fail he would put himself to bed in the hide and wake up the next morning like normal and do his thing. Eventually I noticed he seemed to be getting stressed out with the glass (I know) so I built him a proper tortoise table that is MUCH bigger than the tank. He seems happier in there but I want to know if this behavior is normal.
He will take occasional laps around his table but he seems to be sleeping more than before. He is eating every time I offer food which is almost every day (I will skip the occasional day) and doesn’t show signs of being sick when he is awake but doesn’t seem to walk around as much. Is he just more comfortable?
But probably my biggest concern is he stopped going into his hiding spot to sleep. He will be under his basking light (or right beside it) sleeping before it turns off at 930 and then he will just sleep where he was laying with no cover even is it is out in the open. Temps at the time before the light turns off is approx 100f under the heat lamp, 80f around the other half of the enclosure, and then around 70f in his ‘cool’ spots of the enclosure. At night after it all cools down the entire enclosure will get around between 65-68 (usually on the higher end of that). The humidity typically hovers around 65-70%. Is it normal for him to not seek cover to sleep?
Is this behavior something I should be concerned about or is he just more comfortable now?
Thanks for any and all advice!
He will take occasional laps around his table but he seems to be sleeping more than before. He is eating every time I offer food which is almost every day (I will skip the occasional day) and doesn’t show signs of being sick when he is awake but doesn’t seem to walk around as much. Is he just more comfortable?
But probably my biggest concern is he stopped going into his hiding spot to sleep. He will be under his basking light (or right beside it) sleeping before it turns off at 930 and then he will just sleep where he was laying with no cover even is it is out in the open. Temps at the time before the light turns off is approx 100f under the heat lamp, 80f around the other half of the enclosure, and then around 70f in his ‘cool’ spots of the enclosure. At night after it all cools down the entire enclosure will get around between 65-68 (usually on the higher end of that). The humidity typically hovers around 65-70%. Is it normal for him to not seek cover to sleep?
Is this behavior something I should be concerned about or is he just more comfortable now?
Thanks for any and all advice!