Another newbie (& Happy Christmas)

[Hilary]

Hi
Just joined, but been looking for the last few days.
We bought a couple of Tortys last year (not sure but think they are Hermans or Horsfields - perhaps I'll put some photys on & some kind person can elnlighten us - also we were told they were girls but now think they may be boys).
My husband had had a torty for about 40 yrs, from when he was a baby (so he wasnt the primary carer - his Dad was), so we thought we weren't complete beginners, but as this was already adult, we had never had babies before.

Dont scream at us but:
We were told by the shop to keep them in a vivarium, with wood based cat litter substrate, & feed them lettuce & fruit. We were also told not to let them hibernate for a couple of years (they were supposedly about a year old, born in Britain, but they didnt give us any kind of certificate). As we had a 3 ft fish tank spare they sold us an underfloor heat pad & a reptile UV tube for the lid.

They seem to be healthy (the vet checked them out & said they seemed fine), but we noticed lately that the shells were a bit lumpy. Searching the web we found the site & think we have the beginnings of pyramiding.

So, we have had a radical re-think of what we have been doing:
The fish tank is gone.
Timmy & Tommy are now in a big Guineapig/rabbit cage (120x60cm) to make a tortoise table - doubled their play space for exercise.
Substrate is sterilised topsoil - now they can dig & bury each other.
We also put in areas of pebbles and small rocks to help keep the nails trimmed down (they looked a bit long).
Underfloor heating is gone, replaced with an overhead heat lamp at one end of the cage, but the UV tube is still attached.
The lettuce has been replaced with the mixed salad leaf supermarket bags, but we have also planted some winter pansies in the play run.
We got some limestone flour & also a vitamin supplement powder (couldnt get Nutrobal at short notice so the 2nd best was the Repti-something we found in the pet shop) to sprinkle on the leaves & salad.
We gave them a cuttle fish - they now drown out the TV with crunching noises all evening!
Altogether, they now look much happier & less bored with life.
Hopefully we're not on the right track.
I just hope the shells will recover with time. They weren't soft - just a bit bumpy.
Any advice welcomed...(still got to read through all the back postings on here, which should help).

Hilary

[linda]

hi hilary
a big warm welcome from me
sounds like you are doing a great job
start having a nosey in our weed and diet section

[TortMad]

Hi Hilary

Welcome to SW

You have made some great changes to Timmy and Tommy's life so well done you

Have a good look around the forum and ask as many questions as you need to

[Hilary]

Dont know if this will work as I've never uploaded pikkys before (seems ok on preview), but:

This should be the new torty table

& this should be a close up of Timmy (Tommy is buried at the top of the photo).
Any suggestions welcome (including species &/or boy/girl if possible).

We were thinking of going to the vets after Xmas to get the nails checked out - I think they are a bit overgrown - hopefully the pebbles & cuttlefish will fix it from now on. What do you think? Or will they sort on their own?

Hilary

[sky]

Hi Hilary, glad youve joined the mad world of tortoise's. You have 2 horsfields, well thats what they look like to me, mind I haven't got my glasses on!!!! Glad you have got rid of the viv, weeds and more weeds if you can find them.
Good Luck and Hello from me
Kayx

[Lolly8]

Hi from me! You've done great job with your 2 lovely horsfields!Their enclosure looks nice.It's great you are going to visit vet as it's good to check them for worms and general health.As you said,their nails look a bit overgrown so one more job for vet to do.You can find a lot of good information from this site so good luck with keeping your torts happy!

[Paulg1]

Hello and welcome from me. Sounds like you're really on the right track. The mixed salad greens will not be good either. Start weening them off the supermarket stuff and start getting them weeds. Like Linda said, take a look at the identification pics of what's edible and what's not.

[lindso3000]

2 gorgeous horsfields!

[cassie333]

hi and welcome hilary, and good on yer for changeing your torts habitat for the better, and i agree with comment about weeds, weeds and more weeds, (but remember not to pick them from the roadside) the most natural diet is the best diet, by the way i love the way you planted the pansies......mine love these too!! hope you had a nice xmas.

[Hilary]

The change to the supermarket mixed greens was just a Xmas bodge 'till we can get something better going on.
I had a look on the site & made a list of what can & cant be eaten.
I've tried a bit of Christmas cactus (not interested) & a bit of another cactus (without spines - also not interested).
Found a few dandelions, but these went floppy very quickly & they weren't really very interested.
The pansies went down like a house on fire. Trouble is there wasnt much on them - sorry looking specimens really. They do seem to recover well tho after someone has been sitting on them for a while.
No flowers left on them now (the first bits to be eaten) & we rotated the spare ones in too.
Think we'll have to go off looking for more when the garden centres re-open again (maybe later today) - & get some seeds going on window ledges.
Had a close look underneath after looking on the site & I think they're both boys (the shop said girls, but we didnt think they were right, hence the boys names) - long tails bent right across on each.
At least now, thanks to everyone, we know they're Horsfields - we weren't sure between those & Hermans from looking at pictures, & the shop had sold them as Hermans.

One thing I can't seem to find out though - do you think the bumpy shells will correct in time, or will it stay now it's there - it's more pronounced on the big one as I tried to show in the photos?

Hilary