Hey, just bought my second Herman Tort and everything on the checklist was all good but the certificate says that it's from a U.K. place but it's country of origin is Slovenia. Why did you say it's a bad thing? Is there cruelty involved or something?

On the plus side it's settling in nicely. The only problem is it's not used to the sand substrate that I have in the tort table. It keeps trying to rub the sand off it's face when it wanders into the water dish and then onto the sand. I may have to change my area around and just have small stones or bark close to the bowl so there's no posibility of messing up it's face. Don't know if it's male or female yet. It's very young. It has the curved out under shell that my first female tort has and I was led to believe that that means female. Am I right in thinking this?

Hi and to RFUK. Imported tortoises from Slovenia are usually captive farmed, there is nothing wrong with them but it's a good idea to have their poo checked for parasites and treated if need be. I'm assuming you've quarantined the new one safely away from your first tort until you know that's it's healthy (6 months minimum is recommended).

A sand substrate isn't a great choice for Hermanns as it is very dry, has been know to cause impaction and does indeed stick around their eyes. A better idea is to mix the sand (30%) with topsoil (70%) and water it daily to stop it drying out.

A curve on the plastron usually indicates male. If you start a new thread and post some pictures of the plastron and tail area of each tort people will try to tell you their sex... if they are old enough.

Ok, woah, I didn't know anything at all about the quarantine thing and I've spent hours on end looking up care sheets etc online about them. I didn't know and now they are in the same table together. I'm obviously more of a newbie than I thought. I've only had my first tort for a year and a half now.

They've spent a good few hour around each other now and I don't have room for another tort table unless I put some plastic glass down the middle to keep them apart. I got the new tort because I thought it was near cruel for Zenu to have her entire existence just basically in a box with food and water for life and that she needed a companion.

Is there any point in separating them now or has the damage been done? I'll obviously bring them to a vet now that I know the problem. I didn't know that the breeder was from outside the U.K.. I assumed "country of origin" meant the country the species normally comes from. The forms for both torts came with the British address and maybe I'm worrying too much but I may have been too naive with the second one.

As a side note, after reading through some of the other threads. I see that people like pics of the torts being posted, so here are two pics of Zenu when I first got her. She's gotten bigger and my hair has gone back to a more respectable level , and I'm obviously not actually kissing her in the second one, so don't call animal rights. Enjoy my baby.

I got real scared about this and I went back and got Zenu's papers and she's from Slovenia too. I don't know what difference that makes. I just thought it might be important to the admin staff who have so far been so helpful. I may be way too ignorant but if you buy them and they look healthy in all aspects (believe me I checked all the aspects of health) then are we just putting too much emphasis on making sure things are perfect? or am I being too lenianant (spelling)?

I'm just worried that I'm killing my torts now. (Ignorance is bliss LOL)

Sorry about the tripple posting.

Apologies for repetition.

Great pics... go and make a new thread with them in, most people don't tend to read the sticky's at the top and I'd hate people to miss out on seeing that second one.

As you haven't quarantined my advice to you would be to find a reputable tort vet (again ask in your new thread for people to recommend one in your area) and get them both checked and treated for parasites and protozao.

Don't worry too much about them being imports, it's amazing how many people don't realise until they've bought their torts. At the end of the day if you take good care of them it should make no difference to the torts in the long run.

Have a look through this thread, it has some links which should help you on tort care... feeding, housing, raising hatchlings etc...

MED TORTOISES... useful links

Anything you're not sure of people on here will try their very best to help.

I wish I had seen this before I purchased mt little one this year.
My cert does say slovinia. But I love her!
I will be able to educate others on the buying guide.
Thanks
Toni

Hi there,
I have just posted on the newbie advice, to ask the same question, I have just taken my horsefield tortoise out of his table, and as I approaced him he made a snuffly sound, like he has a cold
We have only had him for 6 days, but he hasn't made this noise before, he is alert and walking around, although he isn't eating.
Can anyone shed any light, im quite worried.

hello Im researching how to take care of a tortoise as I am thinking of buying one, I'm going to see a breader of a horsefield tortoise soon, and I am planning on buying one of these, so the guide to what to look for when deciding if the breader is looking after the tortoises is really useful, however I am boggled with information on the diet, are there any tips for me on what I should and should be feeding a horsefield tortoise?