Hershel
New Member
- Joined
- Dec 21, 2015
- Messages
- 14
Hi all,
We have a new hermann, about 6 months old, and just wanted to make sure we're doing our best for him.
He's in a tortoise table 90x60cm with a uv/heat lamp at one end, focused towards one corner, and a shady hide at the other. We've left him alone as much as we can since he got home yesterday and he's been quite active. We've fed him fresh lettuce, endive and watercress mostly, and he's eaten most of what he's been given.
Our biggest worry is that he's the right temp. We have an infra red themometer and its reading 34C under the lamp, 29C in the corner at the lit end and 19C in the shady box (these are soil surface temps). Last night and this evening he's buried himself in a corner reading 29C and has fallen asleep while the lamp is on, we turned it off around 10pm and back on at 8am and he woke up, warmed up for while and went for food, so far he hasn't used the cooler shady hide at all that we've seen (other than an initial exploration). We've bought a little log shelter for him too today but he's been asleep since we put it in.
Also we've read a lot about regular bathing and also how beneficial it is to allow tortoises to settle in for a while. How often should we bathe him and when should we start.
Any help and advice on any of this would be great, this forum has been really helpful already.
We have a new hermann, about 6 months old, and just wanted to make sure we're doing our best for him.
He's in a tortoise table 90x60cm with a uv/heat lamp at one end, focused towards one corner, and a shady hide at the other. We've left him alone as much as we can since he got home yesterday and he's been quite active. We've fed him fresh lettuce, endive and watercress mostly, and he's eaten most of what he's been given.
Our biggest worry is that he's the right temp. We have an infra red themometer and its reading 34C under the lamp, 29C in the corner at the lit end and 19C in the shady box (these are soil surface temps). Last night and this evening he's buried himself in a corner reading 29C and has fallen asleep while the lamp is on, we turned it off around 10pm and back on at 8am and he woke up, warmed up for while and went for food, so far he hasn't used the cooler shady hide at all that we've seen (other than an initial exploration). We've bought a little log shelter for him too today but he's been asleep since we put it in.
Also we've read a lot about regular bathing and also how beneficial it is to allow tortoises to settle in for a while. How often should we bathe him and when should we start.
Any help and advice on any of this would be great, this forum has been really helpful already.