Brian the Hermann needs a new home
 

Hi All,

Admin - I couldn't find anywhere to email you first about adding a rehoming post so hopefully you will see it this way?

I have a 8 year old Hermann's tortoise called Brian. I have concluded after much effort and expense at building him lovely outdoor enclosures for the summer, that he is a house tortoise. Unfortunately I don't have the sort of house that can cope with a tortoise indoors all year round as his existing tortoise table is getting a bit small for his interest and I have a small child so can't just let him wander free as I used to.

So, sadly I am looking to rehome him. He's a very interested perky tortoise - he's been hibernated fine for the last 2 winters. Eats well, not fussy at all!

We live in Shropshire and would like him to go to an experienced home.

I can send photo's if you are interested.

Thanks!

There is no such thing as a house tortoise. They are free roaming animals and need to do so. In the wild they dont live in a house:0)
Not that this should stop you from rehoming, but he needs someone with an outside space for the Summer months. My tortoises are outside 24/7 with housing outside for them:0)

Brian the tortoise
 

Hi,

Thanks for your comment - I really agree with you! I have built him numerous enclosures, I even this year bought a greenhouse to put him in but regardless of how warm he is or how much interesting shade and cover I give him, when he's outside he just buries himself and doesn't get up in the morning!

Every day i'm getting him up and putting him under his lamp, bathing him, feeding him etc. Yet if I bring him in the house which is where he is for the winter he is doing laps of his tortoise table, scratching, climbing stuff. It's like he's voice activated with people around!!

If you have any good ideas about what I can try then i'd be very happy to hear them as I feel like he's not having a very good time outside. If i leave him, he'll just stay dug in and end up losing weight etc.

Thanks, Anna

It can take quite a while ( a few weeks) for a tortoise to get used to a new enclosure or revamped one. They dont like change just like us. They will hide away.
I would just leave him outside for a few days to really see if he stays buried, or whether you are stressing to much (they do that to us:0) ).
When I first put my tortoise outside, I put them into the greenhouse (it has a hole so they can come and go as they please) it took them a week of me finding them at night and putting them into the GH. They eventually get the message:0)
Now if I block my GH off for cleaning, they try everything to get back into it:0)
Give a go at just leaving him to it, as long as you monitor where he is (generally this is where the last rays of sun are, and he probably just buries down there) and put him back at night. Dont feed him, so he has to look for food, they can go weeks without food, its just us that think they need feeding everyday:0)
With tortoises you need a lot of patience, just like having a child:0)

I vote Brian to stay with you ! it sounds ideal and as Sandy says Tortoises should really be outside if they can free roaming. Are you sure he is a hermanns and not a Horsfield ? Horsfields love to bury down even if sun is full out. I think if you don't expect much of him he is probably just living his life as he would in the wild. Some of mine I don't see from sun up to sun down but do know they may have come out or they may have stayed in. Plus the weather is pretty up and down at the moment. First we are told it will be a heatwave over BH and now may as well be in Alaska by the sounds ! good luck, and keep us posted. If you really do wish to rehome don't let us put you off but honestly sounds as if you don't need to for the reasons cited, CB

I have one male tort who doesn’t much like the sun. He’ll disappear just as soon as he can into his little house and stay there, despite all the others basking away. But it’s important to me he has his outdoor enclosure so the option is there for him to dig down, have a wander, take up residence under the shrubs and scoff through his weeds. Very occasionally he pops his head out and has a look about but he’s never hard to find. :lol:

I agree, give him time to get used to his enclosure, and don’t make any more changes for a while. Keep him, he will be fine outside.