Welcome to Boycy

[Rach@UK]

Hello.

I’ve just had my Hermann tortoise for a month now. He’s totally adorable and has such a character. He’s 2 years old and we rescued him via an RSPCA centre locally.

I’m paranoid about pyramiding and any advice, hints or tips will be great fully received. If anyone could take a look at his shell for me to see what you think I would really appreciate it.

I’ve always wanted to have a tortoise and now I finally have one I’m hell bent on making sure I give him the best possible life.
Thank you

 

[Jan A]

Hello.

I’ve just had my Hermann tortoise for a month now. He’s totally adorable and has such a character. He’s 2 years old and we rescued him via an RSPCA centre locally.

I’m paranoid about pyramiding and any advice, hints or tips will be great fully received. If anyone could take a look at his shell for me to see what you think I would really appreciate it.

I’ve always wanted to have a tortoise and now I finally have one I’m hell bent on making sure I give him the best possible life.
Thank you

What a cute little guy!! Welcome to the forum, & congratulations. There are lots of UK members who can steer you to the best buys for your little guy. And even more members with Hermanns. There are lots of threads on here about pyramiding. Photos of your enclosure & light set up will help us help you on the subject of pyramiding. Are you giving him daily soaks? What are his temps & humidity?

 

[jeff kushner]

Welcome and your little guys looks, well he looks perfect to me! What a beast! Spend a bit of time and read the care sheets posted, follow them and you'll be in great shape. They were written by pros, not a guy that works at a pet store<lol>!

Congrats on your little guy!

 

[Rach@UK]

What a cute little guy!! Welcome to the forum, & congratulations. There are lots of UK members who can steer you to the best buys for your little guy. And even more members with Hermanns. There are lots of threads on here about pyramiding. Photos of your enclosure & light set up will help us help you on the subject of pyramiding. Are you giving him daily soaks? What are his temps & humidity?

Thank you for getting back to me. I’ve got a tortoise table with a 100w UVB. Before I got him I read on the UK based tortoise trust website that UVB is a good option but since he arrived I’ve read on here that it may not be a good option so now I don’t know what’s best. I wasn’t giving him daily baths but now I do; again I first read to soak a couple of times a week and then I read it should be done daily. It’s all a bit confusing. ?? The temperature under his lamp is 34 degrees Celsius and further away is usually around 22 degrees Celsius. I don’t have a humidity measure so I don’t know what that is at; I do put pools of water into his substrate every couple of days near his lamp and he’s always got fresh water daily. I’ve got a soil based substrate and was going to change it to bark; what do you think? Thank you again for taking the time to help ?

 

[ZEROPILOT]

If your UVB is an MVB bulb (mercury vapor bulb) you're correct that it's not ideal.
These are very desicating and give sporadic levels of UVA, UVB. They really do nothing very well.
For heat and light, you can use incandescent lamps. For heat without light for nighttime you can use a CHE.
For UVB youll need a T5 HO UVB strip florescent lamp.
You should be able to purchase a decent digital temperature and humidity gauge at a hardware store or a nursery.
In America they're about $15.
They'll be relatively cheap there too and are quite long lasting.
There are other slightly more elaborate ones with probes for a bit more money.

 

[Lyn W]

Hi and welcome,
Thanks for giving this little tort a good home.
This is the caresheet you need with all the up to date information that will help your tort thrive

The Best Way To Raise Any Temperate Species Of Tortoise

I chose the title of this care sheet very carefully. Are there other ways to raise babies and care for adults? Yes. Yes there are, but those ways are not as good. What follows is the BEST way, according to 30 years of research and experimentation with hundreds of babies of many species. What is...

tortoiseforum.org

Please read it and ask as many questions as you like, you'll only get good advice that will benefit your tort.

What substrate are you using? The white bits could cause an impaction problem if he eats them and he looks pretty interested in them in the pic.

Many of us use T5 HO tube kits for uvb, with a separate flood basking bulb (I use Arcadia for both) and a CHE run through a thermostat for night and extra heat (only gives heat so that it's dark for the tort to sleep at night) - I bought a CHE and thermostat at the Range for about £50 - they last for years.

 

[Rach@UK]

If your UVB is an MVB bulb (mercury vapor bulb) you're correct that it's not ideal.
These are very desicating and give sporadic levels of UVA, UVB. They really do nothing very well.
For heat and light, you can use incandescent lamps. For heat without light for nighttime you can use a CHE.
For UVB youll need a T5 HO UVB strip florescent lamp.
You should be able to purchase a decent digital temperature and humidity gauge at a hardware store or a nursery.
In America they're about $15.
They'll be relatively cheap there too and are quite long lasting.
There are other slightly more elaborate ones with probes for a bit more money.

Thank you for getting back to me. Yes you’re right I’ve got a MVB lamp. I’ll swap for the others that you mention, I assume they’re easy to fix to the table; my husband’s a builder so he should be able to rig it for me! Then I just need to look at the humidity.

 

[Rach@UK]

Hi and welcome,
Thanks for giving this little tort a good home.
This is the caresheet you need with all the up to date information that will help your tort thrive

The Best Way To Raise Any Temperate Species Of Tortoise

I chose the title of this care sheet very carefully. Are there other ways to raise babies and care for adults? Yes. Yes there are, but those ways are not as good. What follows is the BEST way, according to 30 years of research and experimentation with hundreds of babies of many species. What is...

tortoiseforum.org

Please read it and ask as many questions as you like, you'll only get good advice that will benefit your tort.

What substrate are you using? The white bits could cause an impaction problem if he eats them and he looks pretty interested in them in the pic.

Many of us use T5 HO tube kits for uvb, with a separate flood basking bulb (I use Arcadia for both) and a CHE run through a thermostat for night and extra heat (only gives heat so that it's dark for the tort to sleep at night) - I bought a CHE and thermostat at the Range for about £50 - they last for years.

Hi. Thank you for sending me the care sheet. I can’t remember what the substrate is called but I was going to change it to bark anyway, especially if you guys think it’s better for him? I don’t think he eats it, he falls asleep in it though which is really cute ? I’m definitely going to change the lamps. I don’t use anything at night; he’s indoors in our home and the heating kicks in at 16 degrees Celsius. I don’t think he gets too cold because he’s usually ready for food quite early after a little warmies ? he’s a greedy little tortoise!

He’s getting to enjoy his daily soak and it gives us time to spend with him too. I really think he’s getting to know our voices. He’s just so cute!

 

[Lyn W]

Thank you for getting back to me. Yes you’re right I’ve got a MVB lamp. I’ll swap for the others that you mention, I assume they’re easy to fix to the table; my husband’s a builder so he should be able to rig it for me! Then I just need to look at the humidity.

It's hard to control temps and humidity in an open table. Some people make plexiglass covers with holes cut to get the correct height for temperatures, or use portable mini greenhouses to cover the whole thing with.
If you look in the enclosures thread you'll get some ideas. He will eventually need a minimum 4 x 8 feet enclosure but the bigger the better. A nice project for you builder hubby!!