Hatching Tortoise Without the Shell

Joined
Jun 17, 2018
Messages
12
Location (City and/or State)
Texas
OKAY you guys are experienced I have some questions tonight my tort weighed in at 55 grams but earlier this morning wasn't 58 O.O and his hide he sleeps in is humidity 80% I'm thinking my digital scale got screwed up when I left it near the CHE heat >< cause he did eat yesterday and today's but not tonight he just wanted to walk around then go back to sleep -.- baby hatchlings scare me like I weigh it before it soaks after it soaks then let it eat and weigh it again after it eats should I just stop doing that and go to once a week cause his her weight gains and drops are making me so nervous lol
New momma btw for tortoises it's sbout 4 months old and I got it 6/5/2018
Does anyone else relate to what I'm going through any advice or encouragement
 

Chloebark

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Joined
May 22, 2018
Messages
71
Location (City and/or State)
Northern Indiana
OKAY you guys are experienced I have some questions tonight my tort weighed in at 55 grams but earlier this morning wasn't 58 O.O and his hide he sleeps in is humidity 80% I'm thinking my digital scale got screwed up when I left it near the CHE heat >< cause he did eat yesterday and today's but not tonight he just wanted to walk around then go back to sleep -.- baby hatchlings scare me like I weigh it before it soaks after it soaks then let it eat and weigh it again after it eats should I just stop doing that and go to once a week cause his her weight gains and drops are making me so nervous lol
New momma btw for tortoises it's sbout 4 months old and I got it 6/5/2018
Does anyone else relate to what I'm going through any advice or encouragement

I too am a new mama to a 3 month old leopard I got in May, so I am learning too! I would definitely say weigh less often! I weigh mine once every other week. I’m not an expert but it sounds like you have an active tortoise and that is a good thing! Wait for input from someone a lot more experienced from me though....
 

EllieMay

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Jun 23, 2018
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9,603
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I’m right there with y’all! I keep checking on them every five minutes! Constantly creeping the web, googling pics of growth & other inclosures, etc ... it really is a TORTOISE OBSESSION! :p I think that just means that we care and will be great moms.
 

Av8ersperk

New Member
Joined
Jul 2, 2018
Messages
16
Location (City and/or State)
Houston TX
OKAY you guys are experienced I have some questions tonight my tort weighed in at 55 grams but earlier this morning wasn't 58 O.O and his hide he sleeps in is humidity 80% I'm thinking my digital scale got screwed up when I left it near the CHE heat >< cause he did eat yesterday and today's but not tonight he just wanted to walk around then go back to sleep -.- baby hatchlings scare me like I weigh it before it soaks after it soaks then let it eat and weigh it again after it eats should I just stop doing that and go to once a week cause his her weight gains and drops are making me so nervous lol
New momma btw for tortoises it's sbout 4 months old and I got it 6/5/2018
Does anyone else relate to what I'm going through any advice or encouragement

Babies are delicate and needs to be soaked a few times a week. Daily is even better especially when it’s hot outside. Try different vegetation, kale, romaine, cactus pad, grassland Tortoise food, wheatgrasss, strawberry, etc. I put mine outside in a locked cage with shade, during the daytime. I bring them in every night. The cage is open aired, not too accidentally get them too hot in a glass or plastic box. Open air cage with shade & shallow dish with water.
 

Av8ersperk

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Joined
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Messages
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Location (City and/or State)
Houston TX
Babies are delicate and needs to be soaked a few times a week. Daily is even better especially when it’s hot outside. Try different vegetation, kale, romaine, cactus pad, grassland Tortoise food, wheatgrasss, strawberry, etc. I put mine outside in a locked cage with shade, during the daytime. I bring them in every night. The cage is open aired, not too accidentally get them too hot in a glass or plastic box. Open air cage with shade & shallow dish with water.

When you weigh them, verify your scale is checked for the tare weight or is removed or accounted for. Use the same tray.
 

Melis

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Joined
Aug 9, 2017
Messages
509
Location (City and/or State)
Maryland
Babies are delicate and needs to be soaked a few times a week. Daily is even better especially when it’s hot outside. Try different vegetation, kale, romaine, cactus pad, grassland Tortoise food, wheatgrasss, strawberry, etc. I put mine outside in a locked cage with shade, during the daytime. I bring them in every night. The cage is open aired, not too accidentally get them too hot in a glass or plastic box. Open air cage with shade & shallow dish with water.
Welcome to the forum!
Have you read through our care sheets? Some of the information you have provided goes against the common practices of the experienced members of the forums. I encourage you to take some time and read through our caresgeets, especially surrounding food and humidity requirements for hatchlings. Lots of new meme era come here for advice and it can be confusing for them when told different things.
 

wellington

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Babies are delicate and needs to be soaked a few times a week. Daily is even better especially when it’s hot outside. Try different vegetation, kale, romaine, cactus pad, grassland Tortoise food, wheatgrasss, strawberry, etc. I put mine outside in a locked cage with shade, during the daytime. I bring them in every night. The cage is open aired, not too accidentally get them too hot in a glass or plastic box. Open air cage with shade & shallow dish with water.
Hatchlings should not be left outside all day. A good rule is one hour per inch. If they are under six months I don't put them out at all.
Hatchlings should also be soaked daily if not twice a day. When they reach around 6 months I do daily and sometimes every other day until around 2 years then you can cut it a little more.
 

wellington

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OKAY you guys are experienced I have some questions tonight my tort weighed in at 55 grams but earlier this morning wasn't 58 O.O and his hide he sleeps in is humidity 80% I'm thinking my digital scale got screwed up when I left it near the CHE heat >< cause he did eat yesterday and today's but not tonight he just wanted to walk around then go back to sleep -.- baby hatchlings scare me like I weigh it before it soaks after it soaks then let it eat and weigh it again after it eats should I just stop doing that and go to once a week cause his her weight gains and drops are making me so nervous lol
New momma btw for tortoises it's sbout 4 months old and I got it 6/5/2018
Does anyone else relate to what I'm going through any advice or encouragement
You are making it harder then you need too. Read the care sheets and make needed adjustments. It's good too weigh them but once a day is more then enough. I hardly ever weigh mine. If they are eating, drinking, pooping, heat and humidity are good and you see they have grown, then they are gaining weight. That's just me. But no need to weigh more then once a day and a couple times a week is fine too.
 

TechnoCheese

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Feb 20, 2016
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4,505
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Lewisville, Texas
Babies are delicate and needs to be soaked a few times a week. Daily is even better especially when it’s hot outside. Try different vegetation, kale, romaine, cactus pad, grassland Tortoise food, wheatgrasss, strawberry, etc. I put mine outside in a locked cage with shade, during the daytime. I bring them in every night. The cage is open aired, not too accidentally get them too hot in a glass or plastic box. Open air cage with shade & shallow dish with water.

Please give these a read-
How To Raise A Healthy Sulcata Or Leopard, Version 2.0 https://tortoiseforum.org/index.php...ealthy-Sulcata-Or-Leopard,-Version-2.0.79895/

For Those Who Have a Young Sulcata... https://tortoiseforum.org/index.php?threads/For-Those-Who-Have-a-Young-Sulcata....76744/

Beginner Mistakes https://tortoiseforum.org/index.php?threads/Beginner-Mistakes.45180/

*hatchling tortoises need to be soaked 1-2 times every day.

*hatchling and juvenile tortoises should never be kept in open air enclosures. There is no way to maintain proper humidity and heat, which they need to grow properly and thrive. They must have closed chambers.

*hatchling tortoises should never be kept outside all day. A few members have done side by side comparisons, and babies raised outside often do terribly, growing very slow and sometimes not surviving. The general rule of thumb is 1 hour outside per inch of shell, 2-4 times a week.

Please refrain from giving advice unless you are absolutely certain that the advice is correct, and will lead to a happy, thriving tortoise :)
 

Melis

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Joined
Aug 9, 2017
Messages
509
Location (City and/or State)
Maryland
Welcome to the forum!
Have you read through our care sheets? Some of the information you have provided goes against the common practices of the experienced members of the forums. I encourage you to take some time and read through our caresgeets, especially surrounding food and humidity requirements for hatchlings. Lots of new meme era come here for advice and it can be confusing for them when told different things.
Not sure who deleted the post, but nothing I said was meant to be rude. Just pointing new members to the care sheets. And pointing out that some of the info you shared is not a good practice, such as leaving hatchlings outside all day and in open air containers, as well as feeding strawberries. And just in case anyone read your post before it was deleted, there was inaccurate info in that as well, as pyramiding is the result of growing in a dry environment. When people make statements that go against the general practices of experienced members on the forum, expect people to point them out as to not confuse the OP.
 

Av8ersperk

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Jul 2, 2018
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Location (City and/or State)
Houston TX
Just because you are right doesn’t make me wrong. It had been pretty well assumed that excessive protein in the diet was the cause. Other factors including the ratio of calcium-to-phosphorus in the diet, temperature, access to natural light or UVB, dietary fiber and overfeeding were also cited as factors. There’s nothing wrong with a slow natural growth rate. In Houston writes the humidity is 80-90% and I soak them & leave access to water. They have a hide areas.
“They require a high-fiber diet rich in calcium. ... A small portion of the leopard tortoise's diet may include fruits, such as tomatoes, apples, papayas, cantaloupe, honeydew, watermelon, strawberries, raspberries, grapes, mangos and bananas. Fruitshould be no more than about 5 percent of the overall diet.”
 

Melis

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Joined
Aug 9, 2017
Messages
509
Location (City and/or State)
Maryland
Just because you are right doesn’t make me wrong. It had been pretty well assumed that excessive protein in the diet was the cause. Other factors including the ratio of calcium-to-phosphorus in the diet, temperature, access to natural light or UVB, dietary fiber and overfeeding were also cited as factors. There’s nothing wrong with a slow natural growth rate. In Houston writes the humidity is 80-90% and I soak them & leave access to water. They have a hide areas.
“They require a high-fiber diet rich in calcium. ... A small portion of the leopard tortoise's diet may include fruits, such as tomatoes, apples, papayas, cantaloupe, honeydew, watermelon, strawberries, raspberries, grapes, mangos and bananas. Fruitshould be no more than about 5 percent of the overall diet.”
I couldn’t really follow your post, so I googled your quotes.

Since my purpose was never to highjack the OPs thread, I will once again just encourage you to hang out here for awhile and read through all the great information here. This is such an active community and new things are being shared all the time through first hand experiences and experiments. When I joined a year ago I thought I was doing it all right too, but I wasn’t because I was following decades old information - information similar to the 12 year old quote you just posted as your rebuttal...
 
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