Help with a Baby Leopard Tortoise

[EamonP]

Hey Everybody,

Just looking for some help with a baby Leopard Tortoise that I just got. Firstly, the little guy is about 4 inches from head to tail, but I've no idea what age he is, anybody able to tell me how old the guy is?

Secondly, I've had my tortoise for about 4 weeks now, at 1st I had a lot of trouble getting him to eat. I bought him ZooMed Natural Grassland Tortoise Food, which the guy hasn't touched. So I tried some grasses from the garden, which he also didn't touch. After 2 week he finally started eating grass directly from the garden. The problem is: now he refuses to eat anything unless he can can eat it out of the back garden.

As he is a baby and I live in Ireland it's not practical to leave him outside for long periods of time, nor can he be unsupervised cause of cats and the like. I try to let him out in the back as much as possible whenever I can supervise him but obviously I can't be there every single day. I came home today however after being out for an hour and the poor guy had managed to flip himself onto his back in his enclosure as he was so anxious to get out.

Basically I'd appreciate any help that people could offer my with regards to getting him to eat something other than the fresh grass in the back?

Also any advise on how to set up his indoor enclosure to make him more comfortable, at least until he is big enough to be safe from other animals outside, would be a big help?

Cheers

 

[Yvonne G]

Hi Eamon: I hatched out my first leopard baby 4 years ago and I kept him. He is just about an inch longer that yours, so maybe yours is around 3 years old. Do you have packaged lettuces in Ireland? We have here a product called Spring Mix. It's a mixture of young leaves from various greens and pretty healthful and palatable for young tortoises. I'm not a big fan of feeding prepared tortoise pellets. I would only offer the ZooMed food once a week. Just buy him some dark, leafy greens from the grocery store or try to find a packaged mixture of greens for him.

Yvonne

 

[EamonP]

Hi Eamon: I hatched out my first leopard baby 4 years ago and I kept him. He is just about an inch longer that yours, so maybe yours is around 3 years old. Do you have packaged lettuces in Ireland? We have here a product called Spring Mix. It's a mixture of young leaves from various greens and pretty healthful and palatable for young tortoises. I'm not a big fan of feeding prepared tortoise pellets. I would only offer the ZooMed food once a week. Just buy him some dark, leafy greens from the grocery store or try to find a packaged mixture of greens for him.

Yvonne

Seriously? I thought they guy was only a baby! I'm really serprised to find out that he's probably 3!

Thanks for that I'll try the Spring Mix stuff, I'm sure we've something similar here.

Anybody have any ideas about making him more comfortable indoors, I'd really appreciate it?

 

[Millerlite]

3 is still young, tortoies live a long time, so 3 is nothing, lol.. ITs actually good hes 4 inches, he would be easier to start with and has lots of growing to do. try the mix greens, and i have to run now but i will come back and let you know about tortoies tables

 

[Maggie Cummings]

Hi Eamon, welcome to the group. You will get lots of good advice here. I will attach a couple of links for care sheets to help you out.
You are going to need a container to keep him in, add substrate so he can dig around in it. He'll need a hide, that's someplace small dark and safe for him to sleep in at night inside the habitat. In Ireland especially you'll need a UVB light that you will want to keep on for about 12 hours a day. You can feed him packaged lettuces. Spring Mix is what we feed here, so maybe you have something like that in Ireland. As for having your baby outside, he is too small to be out alone. You can build a frame with no bottom and just sides for times when you want to put him out. You'll need to put wire or something like that for a lid to protect him against predators.
I put something in the corners of my habitats so the tortoise can't get into the corner and tip over. Please continue to ask questions, HTH


http://africantortoise.com/

http://www.chelonia.org/Articles/pardaliscare.htm

http://www.chelonia.org/Articles/Mistypardaliscare.htm

 

[terrypin]

Hi Eamon, welcome to the group. You will get lots of good advice here. I will attach a couple of links for care sheets to help you out.
You are going to need a container to keep him in, add substrate so he can dig around in it. He'll need a hide, that's someplace small dark and safe for him to sleep in at night inside the habitat. In Ireland especially you'll need a UVB light that you will want to keep on for about 12 hours a day. You can feed him packaged lettuces. Spring Mix is what we feed here, so maybe you have something like that in Ireland. As for having your baby outside, he is too small to be out alone. You can build a frame with no bottom and just sides for times when you want to put him out. You'll need to put wire or something like that for a lid to protect him against predators.
I put something in the corners of my habitats so the tortoise can't get into the corner and tip over. Please continue to ask questions, HTH


http://africantortoise.com/

http://www.chelonia.org/Articles/pardaliscare.htm

http://www.chelonia.org/Articles/Mistypardaliscare.htm

hi i keep and breed leopard tortoises the youngest hatched in february this year.salad mixes are only good as part of a mixed diet and they need a large proportion of coarse weeds and grasses.from day one i feed coarse weeds like ribwort and hoary plantain mixed with sowthistle and hawkbit as an example .to this i add at first about 50% chopped lawn grasses .if fed after their daily bath they seem more willing to eat the grasses and once recognised as food will be taken readily when they are older.if you find you have serious problems getting them to consume grasses then allow them time to graze short cut lawn grass naturally outdoors.
terry.

 

[EamonP]

Hey Everybody, thanks for all the info. I have a much better idea what Barry needs now. I'm going to have to do quite a bit of work to set up his new environment!

I'll be sure to post pics when it all set up. Thanks Again!

 

[EamonP]

Hey I've a load of random questions after reading through some of the replies here. As I said I got a 3 y.o. (so I'm told) Leopard Tort about 2 months ago. I live in Ireland so the weather is pretty miserable.

1. I've been letting Barry roam around my garden for at least 1hr - 2hs a day, as all he eats is the grass in my back, refuses anything put in front of him in the indoor enclosure. My Q is: Even though it's pretty cold out, is it ok for him to be out there, regardless of weather? I mean I warm him straight back up afterwards and he really seems to like it out there regardless of the weather.

2. How do you know if he's sick? The reason I asked the 1st Q is that I think he's gotten ill since his garden adventures. For the past 3 days a bubble has been appearing on his nose for a very short period of time. Today there is also a little discharge from his nose too. Also about 2 days ago he appeared to sneeze a number of times, though this hasn't been repeated since.

3. Is a strictly grass diet enough for the little guy, will he get all his requirements from that?

Thanks in advance for any help and advice offered.

 

[Maggie Cummings]

*generally* speaking bubbles from the nose means a respiratory infection. In my opinion, it is alright for him to be in your garden for a little bit in cold weather. Except not now. If he has a resp infection I would suggest that he be kept inside and I would increase the heat in his habitat. Can you grow some grass inside for days he can't go out? I know Ireland has crappy weather but I think if you are creative he can have the best of both worlds, inside and out. Can you build some sort of a small structure that you could move around your yard that is made out of clear plastic...that would protect him against the cold and he could still graze. Keep in mind that the ground is cold too.
I would buy some terramycin powder and soak him in it for a couple of weeks. If he has a resp infection that would help. I am assuming you don't have access to a reptile Vet...
I have bags of that powder and use it on sick animals with mostly good results...I wouldn't do without it. This is what I am talking about...

http://www.petsupplies4less.com/Ter...ZTER478?utm_source=google_base&utm_medium=cpc

 

[Maggie Cummings]

I should have mentioned also that they can have a bubbly nose if they are kept too dry. So it's up to you to figure out if he's sick or just too dry...you might moisten the substrate and see if that helps...

 

[K9KidsLove]

Hi...My husband made me a rectangular baby tortoise box with wire attached to the bottom that has 1" holes and a removeable lid covered with wire with 1/2" holes. The 1" holes allow grass to poke thru the holes so he can graze, and secures the baby in case a dog, or hawk or whatever should try to get it. I usually set a piece of tile on one end of it to make shade. And of course I check on them several times while they are out.

Also, you might want to get some under-bed totes and plant them with mixed grasses & weeds and just set him in it a few times a day. Or if you make a lid for it, just let him live in it so he can eat when he wants to.

All of my guys started eating much better after I got their outdoor pens built so they could graze. I also put store bought food for them as well so they won't forget that it is food when they have to be in for the winter.
My Leopard is about 3 years, but is small...less than 4".
Good luck
Patsy