Jerri Doing Ok

TortyJay

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Sep 15, 2021
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23
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England
Jerri has settled in fairly well and is now eating after his morning bath. After that he tends to bask most of the day in between sleeps. I’ve put fake Reed around the basking area and I’m finding he just sticks to the basking end of the enclosure and shelters in the Reed. Would you advise to remove this to try give him more incentive to have a roam. Or shall I leave him if he’s happy. Personally we don’t mind letting him do his thing been young I guess they enjoy their sleep. We only handle during the bath in a morning then leave him be since he’s still new to the enclosure.


He does move back to bask when he wants more heat. Temps under light are around 32 and the low is around 23.5 near his water. Shortly I’ll be adding closable vents directly above the lighting that will open and close automatically via a sensor on the low end.

I know a lot of people have concerns over vivs but we’ve made I think good adaptions and I’m making the top breathable as he gets a bit older. (Replacing with closable vents soon and later moving to a mesh.) We also added matching wood to the bottom trim he cannot see directly into the room.

I have also started putting a slate placemat in his bath in a morning. As he scuttles about I figured this would be good for his claws any thoughts on that would be helpful. He’s not had a try of his tortoise block yet maybe he’s a little small yet.

Im also wanting to move to a better substrate as I’ve seen some opinions that the soil type texture we currently have isn’t suitable. Which I didn’t know, it’s specific tortoise substrate from Pets At Home (UK retailer) but I know pet shops don’t always know best! So any thoughts on that are appreciated. Water is applied behind the log when humidity drops below 70%.

Jerri’s Fam x
 

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Karen(pebbles)

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Hi and welcome, I found the best substrate (advised by members here) is coco fibre hand packed down with a fine orchid bark on top, this is great for humidity especially in a viv, I found the best place for this is a company online called Internet Reptile, hope this helps
 

Emmawilly

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Hello! Which breed of tortoise do you have? There are care sheets you can check your set up against.
They provide lots of info, including lighting and heating. If that bulb is a red one, it can cause issues with eyes so beware. We'd love to see a pic of your tortoise! Welcome
 

Lyn W

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Hi and welcome, this is the most up to date caresheet you need and if you follow the advice in it your baby should thrive. It covers substrates diet and temps etc.

Vivs are fine for babies as it makes it easier to control temps and humidity to give them a good start.
What sort of lamp is that you have there? Do you have a source of uvb?

You may find www.thetortoisetable.org.uk useful to find safe and nutritious foods too.
 

TortyJay

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Thanks for the care sheets I’ve had a good read of those. Though there is a lot of conflicting advice I found this forums on point.

I’m not using a red spot no, it’s just on a dimmer controller so looks that way in the picture. I also run a UVB strip 12 hours of the day. I have also been opening our double doors and allowing him some direct sunlight in a bath. (Outside the viv ofc)

The tortoise table is so helpful! I also bought an IOS app that you can scan plants and it tells you what they are as I’m terrible with plants seems really good! Called PictureThis.
we are enjoying going out looking for food and we’ve also started our own tortoise garden ready for next year.

Certainly going to change that substrate at the end of the month!
 

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TortyJay

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Wow you've done great! I love your tortoise garden!
Thanks! They were super cheap to setup and I cannot believe how quickly they’ve grown. We saw results in only a few days! Jerri is a Hermann. He’s currently tucking into his food ?
 

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Emmawilly

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He's very cute indeed. Saw your other thread with your daughter pretending to be a tortoise.... Very sweet
 

Sarah2020

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Hi he is finding the best temperature that suits him and he feels safe in the reeds. You just need to be careful that he does not get cold and then not interested to walk around. Mid way through the day I place mine under heat lamp and he normally basks for a while warming up and then moves to the food and roams.... just an idea.
 
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