Baby Sulcata is sleeping in his water dish. Can't tell if something is wrong or not.

[HaileyAndJeb]

http://imgur.com/RUXVPaR

Above is th picture of baby Jeb

Hello all, I just brought baby Jeb home yesterday. He(?) looks incredibly well, he's eating like normal and wandering around a bit but there seems to be a few things off. Although I know next to nothing about baby sulcata behavior so take that with a grain of salt (but I'm learning!.)

Im using a 100 watt Tera blue UVA basking spot lamp on one side of his enclosure(20 gal long tank.)
His walking in a mixture of wet and dry coco brick, and has been eating the green sides of Romaine until I can get him some yummy spring mix minus the spinach.

He's been soaking in his water dish a lot on his own, which is right under the heat lamp, and rubbing his eye a bit. I've heard bad things about him rubbing his eye but he also might just be washing his face. I'm just not sure. He's not spent a whole day in there but he's been napping in his dish all morning. He did it a bit last night as well. He also does this funny pulsating motion when I put food down Infront of him. I don't want to be scaring the scales off of him and I'm wondering if anybody knows this motion? He scrunched his head and legs back toward his shell and closes his eyes and pumps his legs a tiny bit and does this for a good minute.. Really strange.

Odd enough behavior or am I being super paranoid? Thank you!!

 

[Tom]

The behavior you describe sounds like normal breathing. The eye rubbing and sitting in the water all day is concerning.

What are your four temps? Warm side, cool side, basking area and overnight low? What are you using for night heat?

Check these out:
http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/how-to-raise-a-healthy-sulcata-or-leopard-version-2-0.79895/
http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/beginner-mistakes.45180/
http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/for-those-who-have-a-young-sulcata.76744/

 

[Yvonne G]

Hi Hailey and welcome to the Forum!

Tortoises don't need the UVA bulb. You want to get a UVB bulb for him. Also, are you using one of those coil-shaped bulbs, or a compact fluorescent bulb? Those are known to burn baby tortoise's eyes.

These are the two types of UVB bulb I choose from:

or this one:

I especially like the one in the second picture because it provides heat and UVB all in one bulb. But I only use a 100 watt bulb.

 

[Yvonne G]

Baby tortoises' arms move back and forth slightly when they breathe. Perfectly normal.

 

[dmmj]

my first thought is temperatures as well. the area under the lamp may be the warmest spot and that's where he wants to spend his time, the water dish just happens to be there.

 

[sibi]

Do you have a temp gun? If not, you'll definitely need one to register the 4 temps Tom asked you for. Also, the UVB bulb 100w should be at least 12" from yhe top of his shell; otherwise, it could be too hot for him. Also, you said you have a ceramic heat emitter. Is it 100 watts? If it's more, it may make the enclosure too hot. If using 100 watts, perhaps the heat isn't staying in the tank unless you have a cover (aluminum covering of sorts) over the top. Have you considered a closed chamber enclosure? Tom had a thread devoted to that. You may want to look at that.