hi everyone

i finally got my first tortoise today a very cute hermann ive named him clifford and until i find out what gender he is the name could change to pansy haha.
i bought him from our local pet shop he came with a yellow documation says he was born in 08 so he is very small at the moment,
i will weigh and measure him tomorrow and of course get pictures.
cliff has explored his new indoor home (we keeping him indoors until he grows bigger but he will have daily visits outside) he has eaten some dandilions/lettuce a small bite of broccolli and clover and grass i also sprinkled some nutrobal over the food.
cliff is at present snoozing.

how long are they meant to sleep for?
is it true males grow to 5" were as females grow to 10"?
how soon will i know what gender tortoise i have?

he will have his first visit in our garden tomorrow hoping the grass has dried out though as at the moment its pouring down but still very muggy.

well off to explore the rest of this site for some helpfull tips and information.

bye for now
clair and of course lil cliff

Hi Clair

Looking forward to learning with you. There is lots of good advice and friends to help you out, as we are all still learning so much about our little torts. The TPG will soon have you up and running with confidence
Kind Regards
Jane- Keya & Molly

Hi Clair

Welcome to the site, and to Cliff as well, please take time to explore all the sections, we hope you will find lots of good information and advice here.  If you havant already found it, there is a care sheet written especially for hermanns here:-

http://www.tortoise-protection-group.org.uk/site/88.asp

To answer you questions, the amount of time they sleep tends to vary, depending on the temperature and other factors - your little tortoise is still settling in with you, so you may find that he is a little quieter than usual until he gets used to his new surroundings.   As he has come from a pet shop, it would be a good idea to have a feacal check done by a vet to check for worms.

It is really important to get him outside as much as possible at this time of year, as the uv they get from the sun is far higher than even the best bulbs can produce.  Do make sure though that his outdoor enclosure is secure from escape and from predators.  You will find photos of enclosures in the photo gallery to give you some inspiration.  Hermanns tend not to eat grass, and brocolli is not good for him, so try and stick to a weed diet.

Adutl size can vary a lot, the males do tend to be smaller than the females - my male is around 18cm, the females can be as small as 18cm up to around 28cm, although an average seems to be around 20 - 22cm.  You can generally accurately sex a tortoise at around 5 yrs old, but it does depend on size rather than age.

I hope this helps, and if you let us have a few details about your housing and lighting, we can just check that Cliff has everything he needs!

all the best

Arlene TPG

hi

cliff is housed in a large ferplast guinea-pig indoor plastic tank (will add piccies soon as i know how too will look once ive written this post.) he has his basking lamp just above and outside his house he hides and sleeps in and the uvb (10.0uvb) is above the whole tank,
ive just spent the afternoon re-doing his tank because i orginally had him housed with just straw now he has 2 trays full of sand/soil and some rocks to climb about also his lil water pond to bathe or drink whatever he wishes, he still has his straw about his sleeping home as he loves to burrow under it all, he also has a cuttle fish to nibble on but as of yet he doesnt bother with it.
cliff has been walking all around our garden he REALLY loves clover he has been hand feeding from me and my children he is so cute,
cliff is now in his newly done out tank he really loves it he has been in his pond walked all over the trays with the soil/sand and also has been climbing his rocks he looks a lot happier :O)

im now going to see were and how i add pictures

oo yeah i added piccies sorry there small..

just want to say the pictures of his home you can not see the lights as i have taken the roof/lid of the tank.

i would also like to introduce BORIS yes we went out and got the other hermann that my clifford was housed with in the pet shop,

so i now have 2 baby hermanns will need to take new pictures of them both together hahaha,
there both outside enjoying the sun at the moment :O)