New owner and worried

Kobe's Mom said:

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Hello all! I am a new Sully mom. His name is Kobe. I have had him since May 8th. I did a lot of research before purchasing him. I have read a lot of articles on here as well as watching videos. I have yet to see him eat anything. I have been doing daily soaks and recently switched to baby food soaks with warm water and carrots or butternut squash baby food. I have seen him get rid of urates once about a week after I got him. Today in his soak was a gray blob (hoping it was a poop of some kind, if it would have been brown or black I would have been sure). I have seen him with black lipstick once. The cool side of his cage is 78-82 degrees. The hot side is 98-110. He has a log that I soak for one of his hides but he prefers the plastic ivy to hide in. There is also a basking rock on the hot side as well as a water dish that I refill 2-3 times a day. His food bowl has been turned upside down to make it easier to reach for him. I started with grass pellets (crushed), I now have started adding grass cutting from my yard and have given him spring mix if we happen to be having salad (I share), I do still include the grass pellets and calcium. His substrate is Coco Coir. I use a dual heat lamp with 75W heat bulb and a 5.0 UVB reptisun bulb ( it's a compact florescent, not coiled but straight). I thought I had everything right but now I'm not sure. If I saw him eat or poop I would be much happier. After I soak him I put him in the food dish, he smells everything then walks away and naps. He is moving a lot more since the baby food soaks began. I now know the place I purchased him from wasn't care for him correctly at all. I'm hoping I just need to continue the extra TLC to overcome their mistakes. Thank you for any advice. I really hope I'm doing what is best for him and not doing more damage. Sorry for the long post just concerned.
Sarah

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Kobe's Mom said:

I got rid of the rock. I switched back to the mazuri grass pellets and dark greens. I ordered a new UVB bulb. I also moved my lights inside tank and covered top to keep it warmer and more moist. What other changes do I need to make? I thought I was on the right track but I apparently misunderstood my readings. I appreciate the help. I just want to do what's best for Kobe.

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1. Basking bulb. I use 65 watt floods from the hardware store. I run them on a timer and adjust the height to get the correct basking temp under them.
2. Ambient heat maintenance. I use ceramic heating elements or radiant heat panels set on thermostats to maintain ambient above 80 degrees day and night for tropical species like sulcatas or leopards.
3. Light. I use florescent tubes for this purpose. Something in the 5000-6500K color range will look the best. Most tubes at the store are in the 2500K range and they look yellowish.
4. UV. If you can get your tortoise outside for an hour 2 or 3 times a week, you won't need indoor UV. If you want it anyway, get one of the newer HO type fluorescent tubes. Which type will depend on mounting height. It helps to have a UV meter to test and see what your bulb is actually putting out at your mounting height.

Tom said:

Hello and welcome Sarah! The following may sting a bit, but my sole intention is to help you better understand what is going on and fix things. Unfortunately, most of what is written about baby sulcatas is wrong and leads to problems, so "research" from multiple sources leads to a lot of confusion and the wrong care info. Let's get started on fixing some things:

When you say "basking rock" are we talking about a flat rock under the heat lamp, or are we talking about a hot rock that you plug in and it generates its own heat. The former is good. Surface temp on that needs to be about 95. 110 is too hot and will desiccate the carapace too much and lead to pyramiding.

Best to feed them in a sunken terra cotta saucer. Coco coir is messy and feeding on a flat rock is going to allow him to push the food into the substrate and eat a bunch of it. I prefer orchid bark and the saucer will keep the food better contained. This is just my personal preference.

Anytime I've tried to use plastic plants, they try to eat it. This can cause an impaction which would cause them to not eat.

Your 75 watt heat lamp? Is that a reptile spot bulb? If yes, that is not good. Spot lamps concentrate too much IR-A into too small of an area and dry out the carapace. Use a regular flood lamp from the hardware store. Stop talking to the people at the pet store. They have no idea what they are doing and those products are no good.

All cfl type bulbs are potentially harmful. They are also not effective UV sources. Further, the 5.0 type emit almost no UV even from a few inches away. They are useless and potentially dangerous. This is an example of the pet store info I referred to above.

I saw no mention of night heat or a thermostat.
There are four elements to heating and lighting:

1. Basking bulb. I use 65 watt floods from the hardware store. I run them on a timer and adjust the height to get the correct basking temp under them.
2. Ambient heat maintenance. I use ceramic heating elements or radiant heat panels set on thermostats to maintain ambient above 80 degrees day and night for tropical species like sulcatas or leopards.
3. Light. I use florescent tubes for this purpose. Something in the 5000-6500K color range will look the best. Most tubes at the store are in the 2500K range and they look yellowish.
4. UV. If you can get your tortoise outside for an hour 2 or 3 times a week, you won't need indoor UV. If you want it anyway, get one of the newer HO type fluorescent tubes. Which type will depend on mounting height. It helps to have a UV meter to test and see what your bulb is actually putting out at your mounting height.

Babies can't eat mature grass blades like that. They need tender young grass and it needs to be cut up and mixed into the other foods. Further, few breeders take the time and effort to introduce the "right" foods, like grass. You are trying to feed the right stuff, and that is fantastic, but because of the breeder's failure, your tortoise doesn't recognize that stuff as food. You will need to find out what this tortoise was eating before, get him started on those items, and then slowly introduce this new better stuff over weeks and months in very small amounts. The grass will need to be finely chopped and mixed in with other greens. When your tortoise is 12" long, it will mow down the coarsest nastiest older grass like nothing, but babies need soft stuff to start with.

A soaked half-log, does not a humid hide make. Your baby needs the whole enclosure to be humid, and it needs a real humid hide.

Your baby has had a dry start. The one pic tells me volumes about how your baby was started. The urates are another clue. You bought from the wrong source. See that big notch between the scutes? That is a sign of dryness, and this baby is already on its way to pyramiding. The dryness can have other serious side effects too which might be why the tortoise won't eat and isn't growing. At this point, this tortoises future is pretty well set in stone. If the damage done is too severe, it won't make it. No amount of vet care or money can change this. If the damage is not too severe, and you set up the environment correctly, your baby should pull through, be fine, and live for decades. Only time will tell.

I know this is frustrating, but at least now you know. We will help you as much as we can.
Your questions are welcome.

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Kobe's Mom said:

Tom,
Yes this did sting a little but only because I was trying so hard and thought I was doing the right things. I knew in my gut something was wrong and that's how I came across this forum. I really wish I had found this first. I did get my information from multiple sites and from the "reptile specialist" at the store. I greatly appreciate the help. I am by no means offended. I just feel like a jerk because I may have hurt the poor guy. When I got home from work today I moistened his tank, put a terracotta pot in for a hide and added moss to it. I also checked to see what they were feeding him at the pet store. they fed him a reptile veggie mix. I did stop and picked some up. I mixed the mazuri grass pellets and spinach with it. I chopped the leaves up fine and moistened the crushed pellets. I turned his bowl back over and dug it into the ground a bit to make it easy for him to get in and out. I got his baby food bath which seems to help, he drinks the water and is very active afterwards.
Also I do have thermometers in the tank, one on the cool side and one under the heating light. I will be changing the heating light and getting the heaters you mentioned for night time. The changes I made today were just what I could do quickly and with stuff I had at the house. I plan on getting the flood light tomorrow. I also covered the entire top to keep the heat and moisture in. I also got rid of the plastic plant.
You mentioned notch between his scutes and I wondered about that, I even asked before buying him. "Oh that's normal, every tortoise is different".
I am so glad I found this group. I just hope it wasn't to late.
Thank you so much.
Please provide any other information you think is helpful. product names, brands.

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Kobe's Mom said:

Just an update...Kobe is eating several times a day now. He's very active and has even figured out how to ask for food. He's such a different tortoise now. Thank you guys again. View attachment 274243 Eating his breakfast this morning

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