Thoughts on cause of redfoot death

I purchased a baby redfoot at Daytona last Saturday from a breeder I purchased my original cherry head from. When we brought him home I put him in a quarantine enclosure alone temps are 83 F 24/7 humidity is 70% 24/7 using 5.0 strip bulb and lined with repti carpet that is changed out every 3 days so we can closely monitor output. We noticed he wasn't very active and wasn't eating almost immediately. We decided to give him a chance since it was a new environment for him so we waited until Monday and contacted breeder and he told us this is normal to keep an eye on him and I spoke to another breeder and she suggested V8 and warm water soaks we did that and the breeder we got him from told us to use warm Gatorade soaks. We soaked him several times a day alternating between Baby food soaks, V8 and plain water. I emailed the breeder on Wednesday and still haven't heard from him and sadly yesterday the little guy passed away. I'm trying to figure out if there is anything else we could have should have done differently. Any help would be appreciated in case we see this again in the future. We also noticed his plastron was sunken in.

I am very sorry for your loss.
He doesn't look the right shape to me.
Could have been born with problems, but my bet is he was raised too dry.
http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/hatchling-failure-syndrome.23493/
Not your fault, the damage was done before you got him, i expect, there was nothing you could have done to save him.

So very sorry. I had lost a hatchling too and it was devastating. There was probably nothing you could have done differently. My Vet called my case as failure to thrive - very common for new born hatchlings. Sending a hug.

Very unfortunate, I see nothing in your care based on what you've mentioned above that would've made it nosedive like that.

I am so sorry for your loss. I'm not sure about the carpet, though the idea of monitoring output makes sense. I think if this baby had few places to hide, in the enclosure, carpet would have been fine. If you are sure your temp readings are correct then that should have been ok. I'd keep humidity even higher than 70%. 80 and higher (in warm enclosures, never below 80F at substrate level) is best for babies. Another thing- soaks in v8. Most of us have heard of gerber baby food carrot for soaking. The reason is gerber baby being "natural" free of chemicals/preservatives/bad stuff. I haven't heard of using v8 for it, not saying v8 is bad, I don't ever buy it so not sure of the content. Also gatorade.., we typically recommend Pedialyte- the colorless kind (not sure if they have flavorless, never used it myself for my torts nor my children. Don't really buy Gatorade in my house either so not sure about the contents there. That's all the "what if's" i can think of right now

So sorry for your loss!

What is V8 (except a type of engine)? Why would anyone soak a tort in gatorade... isn't that a kind of soda drink?
I'm from Sweden, I don't know these things?

Thank you all for you kind words and advice. The breeder actually let us pick another baby out and my little nephew the "Tortoise Whisperer" has claimed it and named it Mario so fingers crossed Mario thrives. And V8 is a vegetable drink.

That's great he replaced the little guy and hopefully this one is healthy. Make sure you do daily soaks to ensure hydration and good luck!!

Last i checked, decades ago, V8 (a canned juice of 8 veggies) was very SALTY.
And Gatorade is junk.

Hi Stacie
That's why I try to get people to buy torts from The TFO members ! And I really don't like that word " Breeder " cause : Any body can watch to torts having sex , watch the tort lay eggs, and some of the eggs will hatch ! But that don't make them " Breeder"!
And I'm sorry about your first tort !
PS
I'm a collector not a breeder but some of the members here are ! Have a better day !

I'm sorry about your baby and glad you got another one.
Personally, I would not soak a tortoise in V8 juice. It's loaded with dehydrating salt. I've never heard of anyone soaking in Gatorade.
I have heard of people soaking a sick tortoise, in carrot baby food.
A healthy baby should only need soaks in water.
Good luck.

We compared the V8 juices and decided on low sodium for that very reason. I should have said that in my original post. The gentleman we got him from has been raising tortoises for over 30 years and has been very successful.

So sorry for your loss. I agree, probably nothing you could have done.
Someone raising torts for 30 years does not mean they do it right. Not saying this breeder doesn't, just saying a lot of experienced breeders won't except the newer better ways of hatching and raising torts.
I too never heard of Gatorade or V8 and would not have used it. If ever in need again, I hope not, but use the baby food carrots and piedialyte.

I think your tortoise was sick and dying when you got it, not your fault at all.
Best of luck with the other one, let us know how he is doing and send up some pics!
Remember to give the new one new stuff and clean habitat so there is no possibility of anything bad being spread from the first sick one having been there too.

This is Mario mazuri face.

Sorry for your loss... The only thing I notice, is that he looked very young. From the plastron shot it seems like the yolk sac hardly has been absorbed, like he was only 1-2 weeks old ? And the new growth lines on his carapace seems a bit "deep", like he has been kept too dry ? I might be wrong here, but personally I never sell any hatchlings until they are at least 2-3 months old so I can be sure they are healthy and gain weight enough as they should ? Sorry again for your loss, hope you have better luck with the new one, good luck

Geochelone_Carbonaria said:

Sorry for your loss... The only thing I notice, is that he looked very young. From the plastron shot it seems like the yolk sac hardly has been absorbed, like he was only 1-2 weeks old ? And the new growth lines on his carapace seems a bit "deep", like he has been kept too dry ? I might be wrong here, but personally I never sell any hatchlings until they are at least 2-3 months old so I can be sure they are healthy and gain weight enough as they should ? Sorry again for your loss, hope you have better luck with the new one, good luck

Click to expand...

Agreed...I'm always cautious about re-homing hatchlings.

@StacieJ - Sounds like you did everything you could. I doubt V8 did any harm, especially if you were doing water soaks. Like stated, its quite normal for a new tortoise to be timid and not eat the first day or so. I've had new adults that behaved this way. But, this doesn't mean there wasn't a preexisting condition. Once a hatchling goes down hill, it's hard to bring them back.Your new hatchling looks great.