Care Sheet-Hermann’s Tortoise
This species is from Southern and Central Europe. Hermanns Tortoise can grow to approximately 20 cm. This species can live to 75 or more years. Hermann’s are very interactive, extremely intelligent and enjoy climbing.
Housing
A reasonable size for a juvenile is 60cm x 90cm and for an adult is 120cm x 60cm. The ideal enclosure is a tortoise box or enclosure with an area for light/heating and hiding. It is essential that they are kept in an open environment to maintain adequate air circulation and provide the correct thermo gradients.
A basking area of (approx 30-35º Celsius) should be provided. Night time temperatures can fall to 17—20º Celsius.
The best for your tortoise is natural sunlight but in our climate this is very restricted.
It is therefore essential to provide a UVB tube (10% reptiglo uvb) and Exo terra sun glo spot bulb basking lamps should also be provided. Thermometers and humidity gauges should be used to ensure that your tortoise is being kept under the correct conditions. The best substrate suggested is a 50/50 mix of sterilised soil and sand. This mixture needs to be of a reasonable depth.
Maintenance
Substrate needs to be spot cleaned and changed on a regular basis. Warm new substrate to room temperature before using. Never use cold damp substrates.
Daily water changes should be made. The enclosure should be thoroughly cleansed
weekly using a suitable solution.
These tortoises need access to water for soaking. If in doubt soak your tortoise
twice a week in a suitable container (eg. a cat litter tray or similar). You will see your
Tortoise drinking and allow approximately 10-15 minutes. Make sure your tortoise is dried thoroughly afterwards.
Feeding
Be aware of over feeding—feed the right kinds of foods but not too much of it. This tortoise needs an herbivorous diet which is high in fibre, low in protein and rich in calcium.
The ideal diet is leafy greens (dandelions, clover, weeds). Avoid over feeding on supermarket greens and recreate their feeding requirements on their natural habitat.
Use suitable calcium supplements such as (Nutrobal) this and the correct UV spectrum allows them to produce Vitamin D3 to help prevent metabolic bone disease. Cuttlefish bone can also be put in the enclosure for them to bite on to keep their beaks trimmed.
DO NOT FEED ANY MEAT PRODUCTS.
High protein plants such be avoided such as peas,
Beans, sweet corn—this will definitely cause pyramiding.
Lettuce, cucumber and cabbage are ok as occasional foods but should NOT form part of their daily diet. These are very low in nutritional value.
Fruits such as tomatoes, melon should be avoided as these foods can often cause certain irritations within their gut which is detrimental to your pet’s health.
We strongly reccomend you to read the feeding guidelines on the
Tortoise Trust Website and also this booklet is invaluable for keeping your Tortoise healthy.
Tortoise Trust Taking Care of Pet Tortoise
Mediterranean tortoises should really be viewed as “goats in a shell”, and are similarly adapted to do best on what at first sight may appear to be a very “low quality” diet.
In captivity, a high fiber, low fruit content, low protein and calcium rich diet will ensure good digestive tract function and smooth shell growth.
thgought this would be good for me to revert back too as he is a different breed from what i was getting .x
Sat Aug 18, 2012 6:24 pm
