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Old 21-05-2014, 12:09 PM   #1
ben_e71
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Default Wonder if expectations were different

Hi,

had my torts for three years for the oldest who is 7 and 1 year for the youngest who are 4

They have a nice indoor table and various versions of the outdoor enclosures as I have moved house etc....

I am always disappointed that in the outdoor enclosure where they have a variety of hides, a insulated greenhouse type area and food and hills and rocks that if the hides aren't in there they tend to wander and eat, then find a corner and go to sleep. If the hides are in there they tend to go in the hide most of the day.

However, having read an excellent website called "life in the wild" I wonder whether a few hours a day activity is what I should expect in England in the outdoor run.

What seems to happen is we have a few nice days and then like this week the weather turns again and they get a bit cold or the skies cloud over and they hide.

Maybe they are being active its just not when I'm looking - the idea of a webcam has crossed my mind.

SO those of you with Hermanns that live outside what levels of activity are you seeing?
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Old 21-05-2014, 01:58 PM   #2
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My adult Ibera would spend most of the day wandering, eating and sleeping but they were big, Torts must feel vunerable to attack from above when they are small so might have an inbuilt instinct to not be in the open for to long, so I'd imagine that they are just behaving normally. Perhaps as they get bigger they will feel more confident.
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Old 21-05-2014, 04:06 PM   #3
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My female Herman is very active, she always has been . She's a live outdoors all her life tortoise and hibernates every winter, she has even escaped a couple of times and hibernated herself. She's quite hardy, maybe that's why she's the one still charging around on quite cool days. But my Marginated are a different story, I have pampered them, when I got them as 2 year olds, I became more knowledgable and pampered them, they're not as hardy, and whimp out on cooler days. But I do think people expect tortoise to be more active and actually in the wild they only really active at just the right temps , too hot and the hide, too cold and they hide.
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Old 21-05-2014, 05:28 PM   #4
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My group are not very active unless it is sunny out. They went to bed early today as it started to rain, even though they have their own conservatory that is dry.
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Old 25-05-2014, 12:39 AM   #5
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Quote:
Originally Posted by mediterraneansuze View Post
My female Herman is very active, she always has been . She's a live outdoors all her life tortoise and hibernates every winter, she has even escaped a couple of times and hibernated herself. She's quite hardy, maybe that's why she's the one still charging around on quite cool days. But my Marginated are a different story, I have pampered them, when I got them as 2 year olds, I became more knowledgable and pampered them, they're not as hardy, and whimp out on cooler days. But I do think people expect tortoise to be more active and actually in the wild they only really active at just the right temps , too hot and the hide, too cold and they hide.
Yes I'm with you on that suze, although my horsfields are very hardy.....the golden Greeks I would say are wimps lol, no sun = bed time lol x
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Old 25-05-2014, 09:53 AM   #6
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My female iberas are really lazy and will spend most of the day either eating or basking. Where as the males will be wandering around looking for females or food. They do bask but not as much as the females:0)
Each species of tortoise will be different, as they come from different parts of the world, under far different temps etc.
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Old 26-05-2014, 11:19 AM   #7
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My Horsfields will lie out in a hailstorm and I' the one who gets the wettest transferring them back in the greenhouse! My Spur walks 1 metre to basking area and 1 metre back into his house even though he has a huge area to explore and on the way may pick at a dandelion may not. If no sun like today he doesn't even lift his head out!
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Old 26-05-2014, 05:22 PM   #8
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My Germans male never stays still and is active in all weather's. However the females can be lazy unless gravity. Sometimes if I didn't turn their lamps off I think they wouldn't move. My margins are active. But all of mine have heat and lamps I suspect it would be a different story otherwise.

(Sorry predictive text! Looks like a mutter wrote this lol) nutters!
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