Worried about my baby Hermaan’s

[TheUromastyx]

Hi everyone, I’m new here and I just received my first tortoise, a baby Hermaan’s, on 9/29.

I feel as though I might be paranoid but I am beginning to worry about him. The day he arrived I soaked him, he had a green well-formed stool, and he ate a good amount of spring mix (no spinach).

The next day he had a soft stool while soaking in the morning (not quite diarrhea but it wasn’t in a poop shape). I fed him spring mix, and a small amount of zoomed pellet. He ate with no interest in the pellet. He shows no interest in Mazuri pellets either.

Since then he has had a few soft stools, but they’ve mostly been normal. He refuses to eat anything accept greens, and the occasional accidental bite of pellet. He has had a couple soft stools but mostly normal.

The past 3 days he hasn’t been interested in eating very much at all. He eats small amounts out of my hand but nothing from his food pile.

I am struggling to keep his table humid enough but he gets soaks twice daily and I have placed him in his humid hide at night.

Day time temps are 94-95F directly under the lamp, 90F on the hot side, 85 in the middle, and 72F in the coldest corner (he never goes there).

At night the temp ranges from 82 in the middle to around 70 in the corners.

He never goes in his hide without me placing him there. He sleeps 18-22 hours a day, and spends almost all day right under his basking lamp.

Is this typical behavior? I feel like he’s behaving as though it’s too cold but the temps don’t imply that (correct me if wrong).

He has an 18”x36” tortoise table with cypress mulch/soil substrate.

Please be critical as I am new to this! Any advice is much appreciated and I will answer any questions.

 

[CoolTortoiseMan]

Hi everyone, I’m new here and I just received my first tortoise, a baby Hermaan’s, on 9/29.

I feel as though I might be paranoid but I am beginning to worry about him. The day he arrived I soaked him, he had a green well-formed stool, and he ate a good amount of spring mix (no spinach).

The next day he had a soft stool while soaking in the morning (not quite diarrhea but it wasn’t in a poop shape). I fed him spring mix, and a small amount of zoomed pellet. He ate with no interest in the pellet. He shows no interest in Mazuri pellets either.

Since then he has had a few soft stools, but they’ve mostly been normal. He refuses to eat anything accept greens, and the occasional accidental bite of pellet. He has had a couple soft stools but mostly normal.

The past 3 days he hasn’t been interested in eating very much at all. He eats small amounts out of my hand but nothing from his food pile.

I am struggling to keep his table humid enough but he gets soaks twice daily and I have placed him in his humid hide at night.

Day time temps are 94-95F directly under the lamp, 90F on the hot side, 85 in the middle, and 72F in the coldest corner (he never goes there).

At night the temp ranges from 82 in the middle to around 70 in the corners.

He never goes in his hide without me placing him there. He sleeps 18-22 hours a day, and spends almost all day right under his basking lamp.

Is this typical behavior? I feel like he’s behaving as though it’s too cold but the temps don’t imply that (correct me if wrong).

He has an 18”x36” tortoise table with cypress mulch/soil substrate.

Please be critical as I am new to this! Any advice is much appreciated and I will answer any questions.

what species is he?

 

[method89]

Are you soaking the pellets prior to giving them to him? if not soak them them till they are soft and mushy. then mix them with the greens. he will develop a taste for them and then eat them on the regular (probably).

Hes still getting acclimated to his new surroundings. don't expect too much. they hide/sleep a lot.

You should really have him in a closed chamber for humidity.

You should really be feeding him better greens than spring mix. think dandelion and other weeds.

Your day time temps are too cold.

I'll post the care sheet next

 

[method89]

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...

www.tortoiseforum.org

 

[Tom]

Hi everyone, I’m new here and I just received my first tortoise, a baby Hermaan’s, on 9/29.

I feel as though I might be paranoid but I am beginning to worry about him. The day he arrived I soaked him, he had a green well-formed stool, and he ate a good amount of spring mix (no spinach).

The next day he had a soft stool while soaking in the morning (not quite diarrhea but it wasn’t in a poop shape). I fed him spring mix, and a small amount of zoomed pellet. He ate with no interest in the pellet. He shows no interest in Mazuri pellets either.

Since then he has had a few soft stools, but they’ve mostly been normal. He refuses to eat anything accept greens, and the occasional accidental bite of pellet. He has had a couple soft stools but mostly normal.

The past 3 days he hasn’t been interested in eating very much at all. He eats small amounts out of my hand but nothing from his food pile.

I am struggling to keep his table humid enough but he gets soaks twice daily and I have placed him in his humid hide at night.

Day time temps are 94-95F directly under the lamp, 90F on the hot side, 85 in the middle, and 72F in the coldest corner (he never goes there).

At night the temp ranges from 82 in the middle to around 70 in the corners.

He never goes in his hide without me placing him there. He sleeps 18-22 hours a day, and spends almost all day right under his basking lamp.

Is this typical behavior? I feel like he’s behaving as though it’s too cold but the temps don’t imply that (correct me if wrong).

He has an 18”x36” tortoise table with cypress mulch/soil substrate.

Please be critical as I am new to this! Any advice is much appreciated and I will answer any questions.

Hello and welcome!

Soil should never be used as a substrate for tortoises. It is potentially toxic and harmful.

I would lower the basking bulb to warm things up a few degrees.

Only soak once a day. Too much handling this early on might be stressing him out.

What heating and lighting equipment are you using? Most people get the wrong stuff, and it causes exactly what you are seeing. Here is the correct info: There are four elements to heating and lighting:

1. Basking bulb. I use 65 watt incandescent floods from the hardware store. Some people will need bigger, or smaller wattage bulbs. Let your thermometer be your guide. I run them on a timer for about 12 hours and adjust the height to get the correct basking temp under them. I also like to use a flat rock of some sort directly under the bulb. You need to check the temp with a thermometer directly under the bulb and get it to around 95-100F (36-37C).
2. Ambient heat maintenance. I use ceramic heating elements or radiant heat panels set on thermostats to maintain ambient above 80 degrees day and night for tropical species. In most cases you'd only need day heat for a temperate species like Testudo or DT, as long as your house stays above 60F (15-16C) at night. Some people in colder climates or with larger enclosures will need multiple CHEs or RHPs to spread out enough heat.
3. Ambient light. I use LEDs for this purpose. Something in the 5000-6500K color range will look the best. Most bulbs at the store are in the 2500K range and they look yellowish. Strip or screw-in LED bulb types are both fine.
4. UV. If you can get your tortoise outside for an hour 2 or 3 times a week, you won't need indoor UV. In colder climates, get one of the newer HO type fluorescent tubes. Which type will depend on mounting height. 5.0 bulbs make almost no UV. I like the 12% HO bulbs from Arcadia. You need a meter to check this: https://www.solarmeter.com/model65.html A good UV bulb only needs to run for 2-3 hours mid day. You need the basking bulb and the ambient lighting to be on at least 12 hours a day.

Questions are welcome.