Yolk Sack Healing

[Desiré_tortoise_mom]

Hi everyone!
So, yesterday a lady contacted me and said she has a baby tortoise that desperately needs a home as that the owner wants to get rid of.

I’ve named the tortoise Harley, she arrived at my house today. She is very small and still has residue (not sure what the term is) from the yolk sack.
I’m trying to get in touch with Harley’s previous owner to find out when she hatched.

When I got my first tortoise, Rosie, she was a little bit bigger and the yolk sack was completely healed. (Rosie is doing fantastic by the way, and growing wonderfully😁🥰).

Harley has a dried brown piece where the sack was.
Can anyone please give me some advice on how to care for her while this heals… should I leave it alone? Should I put something on it? Probably make sure the humidity is high.
I also don’t know whether the dried part is normal?

Please, any help! This is a first for me.

Here is a picture of little Harley’s belly.

 

[Tom]

Hello and welcome. At this stage, there isn't much to be done about it. House, heat and light the baby correctly and it should be fine.

Most of the care info you find online on FB and YT is all wrong. Soak the baby daily, keep it warm and humid on damp substrate. Here is all the correct care info and there is a leopard tortoise care sheet near the bottom:

Info For New People. Please Read This First.

Hello and welcome to tortoiseforum.org! We are all glad you are here! There is no other forum like this anywhere. We have tens of thousands of members from all over the world ranging from kids with their first tortoise to people who have been breeding and keeping high end tortoises since the...

tortoiseforum.org

 

[Desiré_tortoise_mom]

Hello and welcome. At this stage, there isn't much to be done about it. House, heat and light the baby correctly and it should be fine.

Most of the care info you find online on FB and YT is all wrong. Soak the baby daily, keep it warm and humid on damp substrate. Here is all the correct care info and there is a leopard tortoise care sheet near the bottom:

Info For New People. Please Read This First.

Hello and welcome to tortoiseforum.org! We are all glad you are here! There is no other forum like this anywhere. We have tens of thousands of members from all over the world ranging from kids with their first tortoise to people who have been breeding and keeping high end tortoises since the...

tortoiseforum.org

Hi Tom! Thank you so much for your speedy response! Thank you for also sharing the link.
I appreciate it!🙏🏻😁

 

[Tom]

Hi Tom! Thank you so much for your speedy response! Thank you for also sharing the link.
I appreciate it!🙏🏻😁

You are very welcome. Please ask as many questions as you want. We are all here to talk tortoises.

You are also welcome to post lots of pictures because there are many leopard tortoise fans here and we seldom get to see wild ones in their home range.

We don't need specifics, but what general region of the RSA are you in. I'm very familiar with the whole Cape Town area, spent some weeks up in George, and a couple of weeks around Johannesburg. Different advice for Southern Cape Town vs. Durban...

 

[Desiré_tortoise_mom]

You are very welcome. Please ask as many questions as you want. We are all here to talk tortoises.

You are also welcome to post lots of pictures because there are many leopard tortoise fans here and we seldom get to see wild ones in their home range.

We don't need specifics, but what general region of the RSA are you in. I'm very familiar with the whole Cape Town area, spent some weeks up in George, and a couple of weeks around Johannesburg. Different advice for Southern Cape Town vs. Durban...

It’s amazing that you’ve been in South Africa! It’s so beautiful. And George is amazing! Knysna is close to George and just as beautiful, you’ll love it. Where are you from?

I live in Vereeniging in the Gauteng Province, close to Johannesburg. Most people I know of that have tortoises here only have Leopards. But I’ve been trying to educate them as far as I know, very few people have knowledge of how to provide proper care.
I’ve had my trials with Rosie, but I learnt a lot with her and I’m happy to now give Harley the same treatment and love.

Harley has had her first soak tonight in her new home. She is sleeping now. And she went for a little stroll on the grass this afternoon. I’ll add a picture.

I’ll be happy to post lots of pictures! It’s so much fun to engage with other tortoise owners and I really appreciate this platform.

 

[Tom]

It’s amazing that you’ve been in South Africa! It’s so beautiful. And George is amazing! Knysna is close to George and just as beautiful, you’ll love it. Where are you from?

I live in Vereeniging in the Gauteng Province, close to Johannesburg. Most people I know of that have tortoises here only have Leopards. But I’ve been trying to educate them as far as I know, very few people have knowledge of how to provide proper care.
I’ve had my trials with Rosie, but I learnt a lot with her and I’m happy to now give Harley the same treatment and love.

Harley has had her first soak tonight in her new home. She is sleeping now. And she went for a little stroll on the grass this afternoon. I’ll add a picture.

I’ll be happy to post lots of pictures! It’s so much fun to engage with other tortoise owners and I really appreciate this platform.
View attachment 368918

We went to Knysna and also the Wilderness Area while in George. The whole country is beautiful. I came very close to selling everything here and becoming and African American. I'm from Southern California here in the USA. My job has taken me all over the world. I filmed a Mercedes commercial near Johannesburg with baboons, and it was a dog movie that brought me to Cape Town and George. I saw wild leopard tortoises down at the Cape Nature Preserve, near the Lighthouse, and also at Table Mountain. We had a wild leopard stalking our empty dog pens at night in the area where we were filing in George. The security guards saw him nightly. I only saw him once.