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Weight & Poo
Posted: 02/06/2010 by Bushby

Hi all, im new to all this, wanted to know ive got a hermann tortoise (george) he is 18 months old and weighs 49g, is this an ok weight for his age? he dosen't seems to eat alot. Also, (now im gonna sound really stupid) do tortoises really do a solid hard poo or just a egg white one normally in water. I picked George up 10 days ago and have only seen him do a watery egg white poo in the water 3 times now, again is this ok? any advice will be great. thanks xx

 

Re: Weight & Poo
Posted: 02/06/2010 by TPGDarren

Click and drag me down to the editor to the group Click and drag me down to the editor

The white substance he/she is passing is called urates and it is completely normal. He should pass solid stools too?

May I ask a few questions please before going into things in more detail?

 

Where did you obtain him from?

Did you receive a license with the tortoises and what is the country of origin on the license?

What housing are you using?

What heating/lighting are you using?

What are you feeding him?

 

Sorry for so many questions. Usually people have to restict what a tortoise eats, as they eat readily (usually too much), so I hope you don't mind the questions before answering more fully?

 

HTH
Kindest Regards

Darren

 

Re: Weight & Poo
Posted: 03/06/2010 by Bushby

We bought him from a friend who had spilt from her partner and needed to move in with her mother, her mother did not want her to bring the tortoise with her so we bought him off of her.

We did get a licence with him, its yellow in colour and says on it, Country of origin-Macedonia.

Holder, In coloumn 1-  Monkfield Nutrition, Herefordshire.

 

At the moment he has an open air top viv, I know this is not ideal, so I have ordered an completely open table for him from pets at home and its due in at the weekend. The viv is 100x45x50 in size, the one I have now.

Lighting- he has a UVB light that runs all the way along the tank, and a ceremic heater which has a red bulb in colour, It never seems to get any hotter than 20 c. I think its because the tank is too far away from him, so once the new open air house comes in I will be changing it all.

He goes outside every day and last weekend I made him an outdoor run made out of a vegetable box, I also made a strong lid with a lock as I have cats and dogs.

I noticed the lady we bought him off of was feeding him cucumber. I have now read that this is wrong, so he no longer has it. He seems to love strawberry plant leaves and weeds in the garden. I have also placed a cuttlefish in there also but his not keen on it. He seems to be more lively now that the weather has warmed up today. I just want to do the best for him. Thanks, Louise x

Re: Weight & Poo
Posted: 03/06/2010 by Bushby

Also forgot to say I have measured him, he is 6 cms long. I have also purchased some weed and flower mix packets off of ebay. so he can have a munch on these when they grow.

 I also grow some veg, is there any leaves from these veg that he can eat? Courgette, peppers, cabbage, etc...thanks

Re: Weight & Poo
Posted: 18/06/2010 by VivTPG

Hi , no he cant eat the plant leaves mentioned, here is a link to a brilliant plant site, that specialises in foods that are suitable/unsuitable for torts, http://www.thetortoisetable.org.uk/site/tortoise_home_1.asp

Hope this helps, Vivienne

 

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