hiya i just been to a pet shop and brought too  2 year old  tortoise  hermanns  they are so lovely   i just not too sure on all the foods they eat i brought  a few bits and i read all the care sheets but it dont say  about all the  foods and do you bath  hermans every day ? sorry for asking  lots,anyway hope too here from someone soon 

Hi

Until someone from TPG can speak to you, have a look at the care sheet from TPG site link below, it will give you all the information you need . Depends on which area you live, but at the moment in Northampton I can still get Dandelion leaves, heads and plantain, or you can give Floretti salad to tide you over. I have a 2.5 yrd old and I bath her every day to make sure she drinks.

http://www.tortoise-protection-group.org.uk/site/files/Hermanns%20care%20sheet%20May%202008.pdf

Good luck
Jane

As Jane says, if you look to the left of this page you will see a dark green section called 'The Tortoise', if you click on there you will get options for care sheets, depending on what species you keep.  You can download and print off the hermanns care sheet.

You may have been given incorrect info from the pet shop, sadly this is often the case so well done on finding our website so quickly <g>.

Any questions, queries or concerns, please don't hesitate to ask........and thanks for joining the TPG

Jo

Hi Sherri, and congratulations on getting your two tortoises! I'm sure you'll find that they will win your heart in no time at all (although it sounds as if they've done that already). People have directed you to our care sheet, which I hope you'll find useful, but you're bound to have lots more questions, so fire away.

If you like, you can tell us how you are keeping your torts (what kind of enclosure, what kind of lights, what substrate you are using, what the temperature is at the hot end and the cool end of their enclosure, etc.

Regarding the food -- it can be a little hard this time of year to find weeds, but there are usually some dandelions about, and there is plenty of narrow leafed plantain that doesn't die off in the winter. In a pinch there is a salad you can buy in most supermarkets called Floretti Crispy, and all of the leaves in that are OK. Do you have a calcium and vitamin supplement (like Nutrobal) to give them? Just give us a brief description of your set-up, and we can reassure you that all is well, or suggest alternatives.

Re the baths, I would bathe small torts every day, or every other day (in a container they can't see out of -- like a washing up bowl -- in warm water up to their chin -- or where the top shell meets the bottom shell) for about 15 minutes, changing bits of the water to ensure it stays warm. An added advantage of this is that they usually poo and wee in the bath, so there is less to clean out of their enclosure!

Cheers,
Nina