Tmichaels
New Member
Well it looks like we've gotten a few weeks down the road with our hatchling box turtle. She still rarely opens her eyes and has not eaten at all since we got her Sept.27 . She is about the size of a quarter and stays between 5 and 6 grams. The breeder said she was about 4-5 months old but also admitted (after we received her) that she was likely too young to be shipped. Here are the details:
1.) She definitely has problems with her eyes. By the second day we had her, she had one eye that wouldn't open as much as the other. We were using a coil bulb in the beginning and have concerns that could be the problem. As soon as we realized the bulbs were bad for them, we switched it out for a non coil bulb. She rarely has her eyes open, but does open them when we give her warm water soaks.
2) The set up is a 10 gallon terrarium with a shoe box size rubbermaid. She has a shallow terra cotta water dish to get in and out of (although she never gets in on her own), and a spot to hide. There is a straight UVB bulb that runs the length of the tank and low watt bulb for added warmth when necessary. The humidity varies between 60% and 80%. The temperature is around 80-85. We keep the light on for 12 hours. The substrate is a soil sphagnum mix.
3) We giver her a warm water soak each morning. She gets a baby food carrot soak in the evening for 20 minutes, and then is rinsed off in a warm water bath. We then put her in a bowl in the terrarium with red wigglers and mealworms. We leave the room and return 20 minutes later - none of the food is ever gone. We think the baby food carrot soaks are the only thing keeping her alive. We have tried feeding her worms in the water in her warm water soaks to no avail. The worms could be right in front of her and she won't ever even try eat them (we've even set a camera to watch her).
3) We have tried tortoise food soaked in water, beef heart, and soft cat food out of desperation. She shows no interest even when the food is right in front of her.
4) She moves around her enclosure some, but not a lot, and we mist the enclosure a few times a day.
5) We have applied terramyacin on her eyes for about a week now, with minor improvement in her opening her eyes after a soak. When soaking she still sometimes "paws" at her eyes.
Now the questions:
What are we missing?
What should we do different?
We are concerned she may be partially blind and don't know how to overcome the obstacle of her not eating.
1.) She definitely has problems with her eyes. By the second day we had her, she had one eye that wouldn't open as much as the other. We were using a coil bulb in the beginning and have concerns that could be the problem. As soon as we realized the bulbs were bad for them, we switched it out for a non coil bulb. She rarely has her eyes open, but does open them when we give her warm water soaks.
2) The set up is a 10 gallon terrarium with a shoe box size rubbermaid. She has a shallow terra cotta water dish to get in and out of (although she never gets in on her own), and a spot to hide. There is a straight UVB bulb that runs the length of the tank and low watt bulb for added warmth when necessary. The humidity varies between 60% and 80%. The temperature is around 80-85. We keep the light on for 12 hours. The substrate is a soil sphagnum mix.
3) We giver her a warm water soak each morning. She gets a baby food carrot soak in the evening for 20 minutes, and then is rinsed off in a warm water bath. We then put her in a bowl in the terrarium with red wigglers and mealworms. We leave the room and return 20 minutes later - none of the food is ever gone. We think the baby food carrot soaks are the only thing keeping her alive. We have tried feeding her worms in the water in her warm water soaks to no avail. The worms could be right in front of her and she won't ever even try eat them (we've even set a camera to watch her).
3) We have tried tortoise food soaked in water, beef heart, and soft cat food out of desperation. She shows no interest even when the food is right in front of her.
4) She moves around her enclosure some, but not a lot, and we mist the enclosure a few times a day.
5) We have applied terramyacin on her eyes for about a week now, with minor improvement in her opening her eyes after a soak. When soaking she still sometimes "paws" at her eyes.
Now the questions:
What are we missing?
What should we do different?
We are concerned she may be partially blind and don't know how to overcome the obstacle of her not eating.