So, in all honesty this is NOT how I wanted to get another tortoise. Especially a baby. I have lost 6 babies over the past 8 years.
The first 2 where 8 years ago. One was a Sulcata and the other was a leopard. They where both hatchlings, and they both died in the first 3 months of life. To be honest the first month of their lives I was using the dry way of raising them as I had not found this site.. the breeders told me how to raise them... ??♀️ then when they started to be lethargic I looked for help and found you guys ?. Even though I figured it out rather quickly the damage was done. And it wasn’t long before they passed.. it took me 7 years to get more tortoises as I was heartbroken.
The most recent group I had really broke my heart. I got 4 babies. 2 leopards 2 sulcatas very very young for my 28th birthday last September. Bought online and shipped to me. I had 4 closed chamber temperature and humidity controlled environments. Only issue ever found by you guys was the MVBs I had in their environments (8 years ago they where recommended so I didn’t know that we now know they are bad) they where removed though, after only a week or two of use. Still slowly all of these babies showed signs of illness. After 4 months they all passed away.
This time I knew I didn’t do it, it wasn’t my fault that they died. They all had perfect regularly checked environments. They all had healthy food, soaking, misting and water available. Still heartbreaking but at least I knew it wasn’t all me.
My best guess was that this time the breeder also raised them dry at first.
This time I was all set to buy from Tom, but I can’t drive at the moment and shipping wasn’t possible due to my location (they get delivered late in the day) so I was going to wait to get one when I can drive to pick it up.
But then one of my family friends needed to rehome a 4ish month old leopard tortoise that they had. They had a family emergency and the mother needed to focus on her ill 2yr old daughter and couldn’t take care of the tortoise at this point. They brought this tortoise from their home in Florida to CA, so he was bred and raised in Florida until about 3 weeks ago. As they truly needed help with this situation I didn’t feel right turning them away. So my sister brought him to me last night. I already had a closed chamber set up and that’s where he is now. He was already on 1 soak a week and mazuri once a week. He was also outside a lot in both Florida and California. He seems really healthy but I’m seriously stressed about the what-if’s.. pictures attached please let me know if you think I can help stop the pyramiding already showing and if there is anything extra I can do to help with that. I was also told he’s a really really picky eater, he only eats Romain lettuce and Mazuri... he Apparently Ate the grass and weeds in Florida but wouldn’t touch the grass/weeds at the California house. Advice will not be unheard by me because I really really really don’t want to lose another baby. ?
The first 2 where 8 years ago. One was a Sulcata and the other was a leopard. They where both hatchlings, and they both died in the first 3 months of life. To be honest the first month of their lives I was using the dry way of raising them as I had not found this site.. the breeders told me how to raise them... ??♀️ then when they started to be lethargic I looked for help and found you guys ?. Even though I figured it out rather quickly the damage was done. And it wasn’t long before they passed.. it took me 7 years to get more tortoises as I was heartbroken.
The most recent group I had really broke my heart. I got 4 babies. 2 leopards 2 sulcatas very very young for my 28th birthday last September. Bought online and shipped to me. I had 4 closed chamber temperature and humidity controlled environments. Only issue ever found by you guys was the MVBs I had in their environments (8 years ago they where recommended so I didn’t know that we now know they are bad) they where removed though, after only a week or two of use. Still slowly all of these babies showed signs of illness. After 4 months they all passed away.
This time I knew I didn’t do it, it wasn’t my fault that they died. They all had perfect regularly checked environments. They all had healthy food, soaking, misting and water available. Still heartbreaking but at least I knew it wasn’t all me.
My best guess was that this time the breeder also raised them dry at first.
This time I was all set to buy from Tom, but I can’t drive at the moment and shipping wasn’t possible due to my location (they get delivered late in the day) so I was going to wait to get one when I can drive to pick it up.
But then one of my family friends needed to rehome a 4ish month old leopard tortoise that they had. They had a family emergency and the mother needed to focus on her ill 2yr old daughter and couldn’t take care of the tortoise at this point. They brought this tortoise from their home in Florida to CA, so he was bred and raised in Florida until about 3 weeks ago. As they truly needed help with this situation I didn’t feel right turning them away. So my sister brought him to me last night. I already had a closed chamber set up and that’s where he is now. He was already on 1 soak a week and mazuri once a week. He was also outside a lot in both Florida and California. He seems really healthy but I’m seriously stressed about the what-if’s.. pictures attached please let me know if you think I can help stop the pyramiding already showing and if there is anything extra I can do to help with that. I was also told he’s a really really picky eater, he only eats Romain lettuce and Mazuri... he Apparently Ate the grass and weeds in Florida but wouldn’t touch the grass/weeds at the California house. Advice will not be unheard by me because I really really really don’t want to lose another baby. ?