Your tortoises are beautiful, @Chanchara. Thanks for the welcome.
New member. I'd like you all to meet Comet.
- Thread starter enzot91
- Start date
Both myself and Mudflap (My Hermanns) say 
Here's Mudflap he just turned 10 months old and has THE best personality & loves to explore everything, like your Comet obviously does!
Here's Mudflap he just turned 10 months old and has THE best personality & loves to explore everything, like your Comet obviously does!
little tort! Take good care of him/her,and ask ANY question when you need I replaced the top soil this afternoon with coco coir, and although I do like it I'm slightly concerned. She has burrowed right into it for the night, but it's relatively damp. Is this OK with a night time temperature of 72-74 F? Am I correct in saying that the coir just needs to dry out a little, and that this isn't an issue assuming the enclosure is still heating up properly during the day? I hope you don't mind me tagging you here @Tom @JoesMum @BrianWI
Digging right into it is good. Your tort is loving it.
It's hard to tell what you mean by "relatively wet".
Is the dampness evenly spread? If not, take out all the decor... and the tort
... and get in there with both hands and mix it thoroughly so it's evenly spread.
Are we talking muddy? Take a large handful and squeeze it hard - can you make the water appear at the surface or drip out? If so, that's probably too wet in which case swap half (ish) for some dry substrate and mix thoroughly with your hands so the wet substrate dampens the dry and it's evenly damp.
Your nighttime temps are fine. Warm and damp is good. Cold and damp isn't.
It's hard to tell what you mean by "relatively wet".
Is the dampness evenly spread? If not, take out all the decor... and the tort
... and get in there with both hands and mix it thoroughly so it's evenly spread. Are we talking muddy? Take a large handful and squeeze it hard - can you make the water appear at the surface or drip out? If so, that's probably too wet in which case swap half (ish) for some dry substrate and mix thoroughly with your hands so the wet substrate dampens the dry and it's evenly damp.
Your nighttime temps are fine. Warm and damp is good. Cold and damp isn't.
Thanks! It's definitely not wet, and it's evenly spread. I can't squeeze any water out of it, it just feels like it holds a lot more moisture than the top soil which I was using before but that's probably a good thing.
When you say cold and damp isn't good, I'm assuming you mean less than around 18 C or so?
When you say cold and damp isn't good, I'm assuming you mean less than around 18 C or so?
According to @HermanniChris's care sheet, temperatures can drop to the low 70s F at night.
70F is 21C, so ideally you could do with it a little warmer at night.
Use a CHE on a thermostat to achieve this.
70F is 21C, so ideally you could do with it a little warmer at night.
Use a CHE on a thermostat to achieve this.
Chanchara
Active Member
For example, how my kids spend the night. At night, on the street about +22C.
A little bit buried in the ground, in the most humid areas, under the dry grass.
I have an automatic irrigation system to create sufficient humidity.
(photos done in the morning, + 24C)
A little bit buried in the ground, in the most humid areas, under the dry grass.
I have an automatic irrigation system to create sufficient humidity.
(photos done in the morning, + 24C)
Just a small update after a week (well, 8 days). She seems to be doing well, and now weighs 23g up from the 20g she weighed when I brought her home. Loves her food (still won't go near Mazuri though) and quite happily eats from my hand. She also seems to be getting used to soaking too, or at least she's struggling less!
I'm pretty happy with the enclosure too.The humidity seems to be consistently at around 65-70% during the day, and between 80-85% at night. The basking spot is approximately 34-36 C, the warm side away from the basking spot is around 28-30 C, and the cool side is 23-24 C with night time temperatures of 20-22 C.
I've also started planning her indoor enclosure for when she gets slightly larger, which I'm aiming at 8 foot by 4 foot. It's still at the planning stages, but I've gotten some fantastic ideas from the enclosures section on this website.
I'm pretty happy with the enclosure too.The humidity seems to be consistently at around 65-70% during the day, and between 80-85% at night. The basking spot is approximately 34-36 C, the warm side away from the basking spot is around 28-30 C, and the cool side is 23-24 C with night time temperatures of 20-22 C.
I've also started planning her indoor enclosure for when she gets slightly larger, which I'm aiming at 8 foot by 4 foot. It's still at the planning stages, but I've gotten some fantastic ideas from the enclosures section on this website.
