New member intro - Hermionne's Keeper - South Wales, UK

Hermionne's keeper

New Member
Joined
Jun 8, 2021
Messages
3
Location (City and/or State)
South Wales, UK
Hello all you heroes with a half shell,

Our rescue animal household increased by 1 in late 2019 with the introduction of Hermionne, our Hermann's Tortoise. She arrived via a friend or a friend and is 13. No doubt she is starting to enjoy her teenage years! Lockdown gave us the chance to build her an outdoor enclosure, to complement her indoor table, and we are keen to learn more to give her the best life possible.

This year we are trying to grow food to give her plenty of variety but are always looking for options during the winter months. All advice gratefully received.

Thanks,
Steve
 

Lyn W

Well-Known Member
5 Year Member
Joined
Jul 22, 2014
Messages
23,497
Location (City and/or State)
UK
Hi and welcome ,
I'm also in S Wales.
Did you get her form the Sully Tortoise rescue place?
This is the most up to date caresheet you need to help you get things right for your tort and if you follow that she'll have a great home

www.thetortoisetable.org.uk is a good guide to tort safe foods and will help you ID weeds
My tort loves dandies, ribwort and broadleaf plantain, I collect the seeds heads to grow in my garden, clover spreads really well for grazing.
Torts can't handle sugars so as much as they like it, no fruit and carrots also have a lot of sugar so not a good regular food.

In the winter months (and to bulk out summer feed) Aldi do a good mixed leaf salad in a light green bag which is 39p a bag at the moment but never more than about 57p. Lidl also do a good crispy salad mix as do Morrisons and Tesco, but slightly dearer. Florette classic crispy is the best but pretty expensive as is the Sainsbury mixed leaf. They all have a good mix of leaves. My tort also enjoys lambs lettuce (bags in Sainsbury or home grown), pak choi, romaine; kale and spring greens are fine but my tort doesn't like them much so I waste a lot. They need variety so mix it up.
A small pinch of calcium a couple of times a week is all they need and I also use the same for Nutrabal. You could put a cuttlefish bone in her enclosure (as sold for birds but with the cage clips removed) for her nibble but she may generally ignore it.

Hope that helps but ask as many questions as you want there's always someone around to help and if you post pics of her enclosure you'll get good feedback to make sure everything is safe.
 

Hermionne's keeper

New Member
Joined
Jun 8, 2021
Messages
3
Location (City and/or State)
South Wales, UK
Hi and welcome ,
I'm also in S Wales.
Did you get her form the Sully Tortoise rescue place?
This is the most up to date caresheet you need to help you get things right for your tort and if you follow that she'll have a great home

www.thetortoisetable.org.uk is a good guide to tort safe foods and will help you ID weeds
My tort loves dandies, ribwort and broadleaf plantain, I collect the seeds heads to grow in my garden, clover spreads really well for grazing.
Torts can't handle sugars so as much as they like it, no fruit and carrots also have a lot of sugar so not a good regular food.

In the winter months (and to bulk out summer feed) Aldi do a good mixed leaf salad in a light green bag which is 39p a bag at the moment but never more than about 57p. Lidl also do a good crispy salad mix as do Morrisons and Tesco, but slightly dearer. Florette classic crispy is the best but pretty expensive as is the Sainsbury mixed leaf. They all have a good mix of leaves. My tort also enjoys lambs lettuce (bags in Sainsbury or home grown), pak choi, romaine; kale and spring greens are fine but my tort doesn't like them much so I waste a lot. They need variety so mix it up.
A small pinch of calcium a couple of times a week is all they need and I also use the same for Nutrabal. You could put a cuttlefish bone in her enclosure (as sold for birds but with the cage clips removed) for her nibble but she may generally ignore it.

Hope that helps but ask as many questions as you want there's always someone around to help and if you post pics of her enclosure you'll get good feedback to make sure everything is safe.
Thanks for all the info Lyn and confirming that we have started our care for Hermionne following most of that advice already. We eat a lot of leafy greens ourselves so always save her some. Some days she tears into them, others not so much. We try to serve her browsing nature as best we can, supplementing with supermarket salad like Florette too. We have seeded her outdoor area with a specific tortoise mix and it's growing nicely. Love watching her tuck in to all that. We regularly add Nutrabol and have cuttlefish bone on offer too.

She came to us via a friend of a friend, with the appropriate documentation but we did pop into the Sully Rescue centre for some advice initially. We are in the Vale, near Ogmore.

Our current concern is making the outdoor enclosure as safe and as interesting as possible.
 

Lyn W

Well-Known Member
5 Year Member
Joined
Jul 22, 2014
Messages
23,497
Location (City and/or State)
UK
Thanks for all the info Lyn and confirming that we have started our care for Hermionne following most of that advice already. We eat a lot of leafy greens ourselves so always save her some. Some days she tears into them, others not so much. We try to serve her browsing nature as best we can, supplementing with supermarket salad like Florette too. We have seeded her outdoor area with a specific tortoise mix and it's growing nicely. Love watching her tuck in to all that. We regularly add Nutrabol and have cuttlefish bone on offer too.

She came to us via a friend of a friend, with the appropriate documentation but we did pop into the Sully Rescue centre for some advice initially. We are in the Vale, near Ogmore.

Our current concern is making the outdoor enclosure as safe and as interesting as possible.
There's some good ideas in the Enclosures thread and the bigger the better. Sounds like Hermionne has a lovely home.
 
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