Is my baby leopard tort dying?

[Jadding]

Hi! I've read the posts for a few months and have a fear that my leopard tort may be dying. Everything seemed fine, but he's slowly eating less and sleeping more. He's still drinking when he does he bath/soaks every other night, but tonight when we picked him up, he felt softer. Some background on him (I don't actually know if it's a him). Purchased from a reptile pet show in October, kind of on a whim but I feel we're responsible pet owners and prepared as much as we could. He started in a glass aquarium tank and then was moved to a larger wood box. We feed him weeds, endive, collard greens, succulents. Here's a picture. Thoughts?? Is it too dry? Did we fail him? Thanks in advance!

 

[Grandpa Turtle 144]

Hi

What posts have you been reading for the last couple of months ? Where are the pics of the tort ? What are the 4 temps ?

 

[Stuart S.]

Hello and welcome!

How old is your little one? What are you temps and humidity? Your baby needs to be warm and his enclosure needs to have high humidity. It looks like with the open top it'll be hard to keep his enclosure warm and humid. When these babies are too cold, they'll slow down, as does their eating. It is normal for babies to sleep a lot but if something is going on, sleeping could be happening more than normal. You've come to the right place, these folks saved my neck when we first got our baby tort!

 

[Stuart S.]

Check out these caresheets:

http://www.tortoiseforum.org/index....ealthy-Sulcata-Or-Leopard,-Version-2.0.78361/

http://www.tortoiseforum.org/index.php?threads/Leopard-Tortoise-Care-Sheet.63792/

 

[BILBO-03]

The enclosure needs to be totally closed either using plexiglass or a mini greenhouse. He needs humidity and hydration to grow properly. I would remove the all those white rocks and the bad food. Do you soak him? What are your temps do you have a warm side and a cool side?
Also ditch the red light they aren't good for your tortoise.

I know this is a lot to take in but we're all here to help you

Also read all the links posted above they are really helpful!

 

[Tidgy's Dad]

Hello, and a very warm welcome to Tortoise Forum.
Good advice given above.
It may be that he was started badly by the breeder/ dealer, in which case it's not your fault, he was already damaged when you got him.
It is encouraging that he is still active some of the time and eating something, but very worrying he's feeling softer.
Follow the links above and make sure your temperatures and humidity in particular are spot on.
And http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/beginner-mistakes.45180/
is essential reading, too.

 

[Yvonne G]

Hi, and welcome to the Forum!

". . . but tonight when we picked him up, he felt softer."

This has everything to do with lights and calcium. Tortoises get calcium from their food or from a supplement you provide on the food. The calcium is ingested, and if the tortoise doesn't also get UVB on his skin either from a good light or from the sun, the calcium just goes right on through the animal and is excreted out in the waste. So - do you have a GOOD UVB light? I'm not talking one of those crummy curly-shaped bulbs, but a GOOD light like a Mercury Vapor Bulb:

Or a GOOD UVB fluorescent tube:

Without this type of light (or real sunshine), your baby soon grows soft, develops Metabolic Bone Disease (soft shell and bones), and dies.

So if your baby is showing signs of soft shell, it is imperative you get him out into the sun on warm days, and get a good UVB light over his habitat right away.

Also, the screen you're using looks to have big enough openings for the UVB to shine through, but screen has been known to filter out the UVB, so it might be good to either get rid of the screen, or cut a hole under the light.

 

[Pearly]

Hi and welcome from Texas. I keep the Redfooted torts and mine are omnivorous, so diet is very different than yours but other than that care of all baby torts is rather similar. They ALL need to be kept WARM AND HUMID (temps no lower than 80F and humidity best if real high, like in the 80's%. They all need to be HYDRATED! A lot! I soaked mine daily their first year. They all need good diet with enough calcium and UVB rays to process it for strong shells and bones. As for your enclosure, I 2nd what Yvonne just said, also noticed couple things you may want to consider further investigating: 1) the little pebble rocks, I'd make sure that none of them would fit into your baby's mouth (they are like human toddlers, explore new things by putting them in their mouth) and if uncertain, get the rocks out. I use flat river rocks in my tank too but mine were almost as big as my babies' shells. 2) also noted dried up greens (weeds?) of some sort. I'd get some herbivorous tortoise diet pellets, try couple different brands, baby torts are often picky especially when unwell. Soak the pellets in water and try to mix the in with finely chopped greens, or chop your greens and put a little pile of pellet mash on top of that green salad, see what he likes. Those commercial tort diets despite some questionable ingredients that they all have (like grains) are still mostly designed by crews of animal nutrition specialist who know the torts' dietary requirements such as vitamins, microelements. I rotate different commercial foods (throughout the week there is a different one every day) and add a little scoop if it soaked with every meal of fresh greens and other things(again, mine can eat fruit, veggies, animal protein, yours is strictly HERBIVOROUS) I had a thread on this forum here somewhere about getting a picky/unwell baby tort to eat with lots of puctures. I'll try to find and attach it here for you. If your baby is sick enough she/he will take himself off food completely. If that happens (and we want to keep it from happening!) we advise people to implement Gerber Baby food- carrot soaks. But in short, until we help you sort the whole thing out: HYDRATE! HYDRATE! HYDRATE! Keep nice and WARM and HUMID, get out in the SUN and get good UVB lamp for the indoors. The tube light is about ½ price of the MVB but still little pricey, I know. I is a MUST though for all indoor kept torts. If you can't get one of those immediately, take your baby outside (and keep warm if it's cool) for sunbath for at least 1 hr a day. Less may or may not be ok, I'd do more rather than not enough. Get cuttle bone for your baby to munch on when he feels like it, just keep it in his enclosure. I have never supplemented calcium, instead I have invested in several different brands of commercial pellets that are designed for my tort species which mine DO EAT with their salads. I'm also confident in my tort nutrition practices, that mine get such huge variety of stuff, they are bound to get what they need from between the fresh and commercial food. If i didn't have that level of confidence I'd be definitely using calcium supplements. There is another aspect of baby torts' wellbeing: their exercise! In the tank their space and reasons for them to walk are very limited. Not that there is anything wrong with raising baby torts in big fish tank (I do that as well) Babies bones get stronger much faster when they get them moving. Just think of making things where they imitate your tort's natural habitat. I was getting mine out of that tank every single day and between myself and family members we made sure they got to WALK for at least 30 min. Of course the more the merrier, but my time is very limited to pay undivided attention to baby reptile who will get into lots of trouble if you let him out of your sight even for split second. This was before i had safe space for them in my garden. I'd take them outside on my driveway or sidewalk and just let them walk back and forth. And they DID! Boy! They can walk fast once they get going! They'd reach the end of their route and I'd pick them up and bring back to the beginning, and on and on luke that. My neighbors probably thought i was nuts bringing out my folding chair in front of the house that always gets lots of sun and has lots of space of clear view. Which is important bcs those lil boogers are masters of camouflage and they will disappear on you! Very quickly! That's all i can think of sharing with you right now. I'll look for that feeding thread for you now, hopefully you get some ideas from it. Best of luck and keep us posted

 

[Pearly]

Hi! I've read the posts for a few months and have a fear that my leopard tort may be dying. Everything seemed fine, but he's slowly eating less and sleeping more. He's still drinking when he does he bath/soaks every other night, but tonight when we picked him up, he felt softer. Some background on him (I don't actually know if it's a him). Purchased from a reptile pet show in October, kind of on a whim but I feel we're responsible pet owners and prepared as much as we could. He started in a glass aquarium tank and then was moved to a larger wood box. We feed him weeds, endive, collard greens, succulents. Here's a picture. Thoughts?? Is it too dry? Did we fail him? Thanks in advance!

View attachment 201071 View attachment 201072

@ Grandpa Turtle 144
Grandpa you can see the baby tort on the first picture, in lt. upper corner

 

[Pearly]

Here is my old feeding thread. Have a look and maybe you can use some of my ideas. http://www.tortoiseforum.org/index.php?threads/Pearly's-tips-to-feed-picky-eater.139381/

 

[Grandpa Turtle 144]

@ Grandpa Turtle 144
Grandpa you can see the baby tort on the first picture, in lt. upper corner

Your right but I cannt see the throw the screan if it has red blotches. Can you ?

 

[Stuart S.]

Your right but I cannt see the throw the screan if it has red blotches. Can you ?

Look at the 2nd picture, bottom right

 

[Tom]

Hi! I've read the posts for a few months and have a fear that my leopard tort may be dying. Everything seemed fine, but he's slowly eating less and sleeping more. He's still drinking when he does he bath/soaks every other night, but tonight when we picked him up, he felt softer. Some background on him (I don't actually know if it's a him). Purchased from a reptile pet show in October, kind of on a whim but I feel we're responsible pet owners and prepared as much as we could. He started in a glass aquarium tank and then was moved to a larger wood box. We feed him weeds, endive, collard greens, succulents. Here's a picture. Thoughts?? Is it too dry? Did we fail him? Thanks in advance!

What are you using for UV?
Are you using a colored red bulb?
What are your four temps? Warm side, cool side, basking area, overnight low?
What heating and lighting equipment are you using to maintain those temps?
How often do you soak the baby?

 

[Grandpa Turtle 144]

Look at the 2nd picture, bottom right

The first time was quit , but now your looking like a kid ! You help them you seam like your smart !!

 

[teresaf]

The tortoise looks pyramided so not humid enough. Problem with just dumping water in their to raise the humidity is if the temps ANY where in his enclosure are lower than 80 degrees he'll get a respiratory infection. If you close the enclosure off to trap heat and humidity you'll need an ACCURATE temp/humidity gauge that can be mounted outside of the enclosure so humidity doesn't get inside the mechanism and screw with the numbers. I have had good experiences with the one pictured and it's only $12 on amazon!

 

[Pearly]

Your right but I cannt see the throw the screan if it has red blotches. Can you ?

Yes, the lil tortie is there under that screen. I can't see details either. You see Pap my eyes are not that sharp anymore, I am right up there with you agewise lol

 

[Pearly]

Look at the 2nd picture, bottom right

Hah! And i didn't see that!!!! Getting old sucks!!!!

 

[Pearly]

The tortoise looks pyramided so not humid enough. Problem with just dumping water in their to raise the humidity is if the temps ANY where in his enclosure are lower than 80 degrees he'll get a respiratory infection. If you close the enclosure off to trap heat and humidity you'll need an ACCURATE temp/humidity gauge that can be mounted outside of the enclosure so humidity doesn't get inside the mechanism and screw with the numbers. I have had good experiences with the one pictured and it's only $12 on amazon!

Good eyes Teresa! Those ACCURITE hygrometers have thermometers built in them so you get both. Home Depot and Lowes (home improvement type stores) have them for 9$. Back in my beginnings while having this same "temp/humidity struggle" got 4 of them and just sat them on substrate in 4 different areas of the enclosure which gave me pretty dang good insight into what things are like down there at substrate level at any given time. You learn what works what doesn't as the numbers do not lie. And establish pretty good routine that works. For the hides I was using the probe thermo/hygrometers with probes secured inside the hides. That's how i learned (for sure!) that my substrate level temps inside the hide that's directly under my CHE is ALWAYS 79F and that is where both babies like to go sleep most of the time. Outside the hides substrate level temps are never lower than 80F. So i loved my little ACCURITES! And of course the gun thermometer is a MUST! At this time the gun is really the only one that i use consistently but I've been "at it" for almost 2 yrs and have a pretty good idea of how things work in there. It just takes time that's all. So until you and every new member gain that level of confindence in their tort keeping skills, please ask questions and follow suggestions given here. You can't go wrong! I seriously believe that the collective knowledge and willingness to share it of this forum has saved my little Tucker's life already twice. First time when he was a failing hatchling and second time when we had lost him outside and he was gone for 4 weeks in February (cold!!!!) as a 6-7 month old baby tort!!! It's only bcs people on here gave me their suggestions , he had stayed alive for a whole coldest month in Texas until we had found him. I can never express enough gratitude for all the support I had come to rely on here. We are anxious to hear about your baby tort. How is he/she?

 

[Stuart S.]

Hah! And i didn't see that!!!! Getting old sucks!!!!

No, no..it didn't load at first on my screen, it's the tortoise version of where's Waldo

 

[Stuart S.]

The first time was quit , but now your looking like a kid ! You help them you seam like your smart !!

No sir, You guys are the experts! I just try and help until you guys show up!