Hello, back in June this year I was given a pair (1 male/1 female) Hermanni tortoise who apparently have always been together, their previous owner was very elderly and couldn't care for them anymore,and is no longer living so I cant ask him anything more about them.When I first got them the weather was very hot and they both seemed happy especially the male,sexually very active shall we say, he's 455 grm by 13 cms and called H, the female who is called M weighs in at 700 grams by 14.5 cms,they have quite a good sized garden completely secured, area leads to greenhouse which they can access through a hole just big enough for them, we have converted the greenhouse so they have all mod cons, UVB strip light, Heating/Basking lamp,water, sandy area, muddy area, and a nice warm bedding Hide. My worries are that  M the female has become less active only stays under her lamp, doesn't even venture out for food, I have been feeding her by hand, secondly the male H has started burying himself completely, he was buried all day yesterday and today I dug him up,which after a hour he seemed fine and went about his usual journeys back and to, but this afternoon he's buried himself again, is this normal and should I continue to dig him out or will he be ok left to his own devices.any advice will be good as I only have a basic knowledge and learning as I go and would be devistated if anything was to go wrong,    

hi, i am a novice at this but was just wondering what the temp was in the green house as you say you have a basking lamp and a uvb strip in there? i know that my horsfield daisy burys her self when it is really hot so maybe they do it too cool down. just an idea

Hi Cath,

Do you bathe them at all?
What are the temperatures under the lamp and the ambient temperature in the green house please?

TC
Darren

Darren,Thanks for your reply, ambient temperature min 10' at nite, rises to 85/90' max during the day, don't know temp under basking light , will test it tomorrow, its a 100wt bulb if that's any help, I was of the understanding if they needed to get away from the hot end they would, which they can, they can also go outside if they want, its as if they don't want to be outside.

Both get a bath for about 20 minutes once a wk, but when you see H after he's out of the soil, maybe he should be bathed each time, just worried as don't know whether I should be leaving them be or intervening, OH what to do may be a stupid question butt can a tortoise breath underground , thanks cath