Murphytheleo
New Member
Hi everyone,
I have a baby leopard tortoise (Murphy) who is about 5 months old (hatched in January). I’ve had her for 3 weeks. she (I call her a she) is from a great breeder and was not started dry.
the problem is that she isn’t gaining weight and today I noticed her plastron is quite soft. Not squishy, but pliable. The sides of her carapace are also a bit pliable. as I said, she was not started dry and has had great hydration in both her breeder’s and my care. She doesn’t bask by herself, she eats then goes back into her hide. She’s been around 26 grams since I got her, give or take a gram. I weigh her every day.
Here’s some info about her enclosure:
It’s a plastic bin that’s about 2.5 feet by 1.5 feet. Half is covered by a plastic lid. The covered area is her humid “hide” area, and has sphagnum as the substrate that I mist twice a day. The uncovered side has her basking lamp and the substrate is coco husk also misted twice a day. She has a mercury vapour bulb (solar glo 125), infrared light at night, a heat emitter over the covered hide and a heat mat to make the hide more humid.
I have the humidity in her “hide” (the covered half of her enclosure) around 80-100% at all times. The humidity in the other half usually sits around 50%. I soak her for 10-15 mins twice a day and have a water available for her at all times (she’s gone in herself before).
Her basking temp is 115-120F, the cool side is about 85F, the night time low is about 80, but she always sleeps closer to her heat emitter and infrared bulb so is about 89-95 at night.
she eats a lot, mostly a diet of kales, collards, dandelion, broccoli leaves, mustard greens and of course her favourite, cactus. She poops regularly.
She sleeps for most of the day and will rarely wake up by herself (maybe every couple days, but I have a routine and she’ll get up herself if I’m late with it) but is very active once awake.
if you have any advice please let me know. I love her very very much and all I want is for her to be healthy and happy for years to come. I’ve scoured this forum for advice, but none quite fits my situation.
Tom, please let me know what you think!
I have a baby leopard tortoise (Murphy) who is about 5 months old (hatched in January). I’ve had her for 3 weeks. she (I call her a she) is from a great breeder and was not started dry.
the problem is that she isn’t gaining weight and today I noticed her plastron is quite soft. Not squishy, but pliable. The sides of her carapace are also a bit pliable. as I said, she was not started dry and has had great hydration in both her breeder’s and my care. She doesn’t bask by herself, she eats then goes back into her hide. She’s been around 26 grams since I got her, give or take a gram. I weigh her every day.
Here’s some info about her enclosure:
It’s a plastic bin that’s about 2.5 feet by 1.5 feet. Half is covered by a plastic lid. The covered area is her humid “hide” area, and has sphagnum as the substrate that I mist twice a day. The uncovered side has her basking lamp and the substrate is coco husk also misted twice a day. She has a mercury vapour bulb (solar glo 125), infrared light at night, a heat emitter over the covered hide and a heat mat to make the hide more humid.
I have the humidity in her “hide” (the covered half of her enclosure) around 80-100% at all times. The humidity in the other half usually sits around 50%. I soak her for 10-15 mins twice a day and have a water available for her at all times (she’s gone in herself before).
Her basking temp is 115-120F, the cool side is about 85F, the night time low is about 80, but she always sleeps closer to her heat emitter and infrared bulb so is about 89-95 at night.
she eats a lot, mostly a diet of kales, collards, dandelion, broccoli leaves, mustard greens and of course her favourite, cactus. She poops regularly.
She sleeps for most of the day and will rarely wake up by herself (maybe every couple days, but I have a routine and she’ll get up herself if I’m late with it) but is very active once awake.
if you have any advice please let me know. I love her very very much and all I want is for her to be healthy and happy for years to come. I’ve scoured this forum for advice, but none quite fits my situation.
Tom, please let me know what you think!