Hello Everybody

[badger16]

Hi everyone. I'm new to the site, and recently became an owner of a few baby tortoises. I've got 2 baby Sulcatas, a baby Greek, and a yearling black Burmese. I'm working on a little better humidity for the Burmese At the moment, and should have him a little happier by tomorrow. The Sulcatas and Greek are very happy and healthy and thriving. The Burmese appears to be having a bit of a rough time unfortunately thus far, but I'm taking measures to fix that. It is the only one I recieved through the mail, and it arrived very stressed out, and hasn't eaten much since. (that was 2 weeks ago) It also is getting puffy, goopy eyes, that are crusting up. I've been soaking him every day and keeping it warm, but it hasn't shown much improvement. Hopefully addressing the humidity levels tomorrow will do the trick. Any other suggestions advice would be welcome. Their names are as follows: Sulcata #1 = Egon, Sulcata #2 = Tokka, Greek = Greedo, and Burmese = Zoidberg. Looking forward to being a part of this community. Thank you for help and pointers in advance.

 

[dmmj]

Welcome
I see we have a ghost buster, star wars and futurama fan.

 

[Jacqui]

Welcome! You told us everybody's name, but your own. Are these your first tortoises?

 

[dmarcus]

Hello and welcome to the forum...

 

[badger16]

Lol, sorry, my name is Pete. Yes these are my first tortoises, but my girlfriend, who lives with me, and is a co-caretaker, has had a Burmese before.

 

[ascott]

Welcome to the Forum The We LOVE PICS

Are you soaking your tortoise everyday especially since they are young? You mention humidity for the Burmese....how is the humidity for your other babies? We would love to see pics...and especially pic of your little crusty eyes friend....maybe we can offer suggestions....

What type if heat and uv ray lights are you using? What temps are you keeping their individual enclosures at?

 

[DSaenz]

Welcome!

 

[Utah Lynn]

Welcome Pete, Girlfriend and Torts.

 

[badger16]

Well, I'm am soaking the Burmese every day right now, and the other 3 about every other day or as often as possible. Right now they have 10.0 UVB full spectrum fluorescent lamps for their uv purposes, and a 150w heat lamp for basking, and a 125w infrared lamp for nighttime/overall warmth. They've all got about 95 degrees in their basking area to about 70 degrees on their cold side. The humidity for all of them is only about 40% right now. I've got some cypress mulch and sphagnum moss arriving tomorrow to get the humidity levels higher for the Burmese as I am aware that 40% is nowhere near appropriate for it. I've also got a couple under tank substrate heating mats arriving tomorrow to help keep that cold side closer to 75 or so. I will also work on pics as soon as I can. I will need to get home and to a pc to handle that.

 

[Yvonne G]

Hi Pete:

Welcome to the Tortoise Forum!!

May we know where you are?

The Asian tortoise can get by with low light. It might do better with a light way off to the side, or even the ambient room lighting, but with a CHE over the habitat to maintain the temperature. Also, lots of leaf litter to burrow into. Everyone in my Asian habitats love to shove leaf litter up into a pile for nesting/sleeping, even the males. For getting him to eat, try chopping up some Spring Mix into very tiny pieces, then drizzle some Gerber baby food fruit over the top. Not a whole lot, just enough to make it smell. If you have access to a banana tree, the leaves (chopped up) or pieces of the trunk will be eaten by them. I also feed my Asian tortoises all the veggies I can afford to buy...zucchini, bell pepper, bok choy, cucumber, etc. If you have an Asian food market you can go to, buy produce from them. The Asian tortoises can eat a wide variety of plants that other tortoises can't.

 

[badger16]

Well I am in the bay area, CA. I will have to try to baby food idea. Thus far I've been feeding them mostly collard greens, and I try to mix in a little shredded carrot and mazuri. I believe the breeder was feeding them exclusively mazuri. This week we bought a large variety of fruits and vegetables to try and find something the Burmese will eat. (the other 3 go to town on the collards, carrots, and mazuri. So far this week I have tried mushrooms, berries, mango, and tomatoes with no luck for the Burmese. I still have a couple different kinds of squash, apples, as well as a couple other things that are eluding me right now, to try. I'm trying to find something, anything that the Burmese will eat. Im becoming worried. I think until I get him feeling better and over it's sickness, that it's kind of a futile effort.

 

[badger16]

Oh, and I'm sorry for the ignorant question, but what does CHE stand for? And what exactly constitutes as leaf litter?

 

[badger16]

They also have live succulents and grass growing in sections in their enclosures that they munch on occasionally.

 

[ascott]

Yay...was hoping Yvonne would be one to offer up goodies on the asian tortoise and may I also suggest bumping your humidity on your other babies....since they are babies they can truly benefit from the higher humidity....look forward to seeing pics

 

[Yvonne G]

Hi Pete:

I'm getting the feeling that you have all these tortoises in the same habitat together. This is not a good idea.

The Asian tortoise comes from the rain forest...a pretty shaded, hot and moist environment.

The sulcata comes from a very hot and dry area, and babies stay hidden in a moister, more humid environment, but not anything coming near to the rain forest.

I don't know about the Greeks, but I'm assuming they don't come from a rain forest area either.

In my opinion, you need three different habitats for these tortoises.

Leaf litter would be anything you can rake up in the yard that hasn't been sprayed or treated with pesticides or herbicides. I have a mulberry tree and I use the leaves off it for my Asian tortoise babies to burrow into.

CHE stands for Ceramic Heat Emitter. It screws into a light fixture, but is only porcelain with heat elements embedded in it and no light.

 

[badger16]

Emys, you are right, unfortunately I made the mistake of trying to house them all together. Fortunately I built their custom table very large for their size. It is 4'x5' and I have made the arrangements and purchased the equipment I need to section it off in to separate areas to accommodate them appropriately. Ive got my fingers crossed that this will make the difference that is desired and deserved by these little guys. I am highly committed to doing things correctly and I appreciate any and all advice I can get. Do you suggest a CHE instead of a basking lamp? Can the Burmese get too much UV light?

 

[Yvonne G]

Because they're black, they get over heated quite easily. My Asian tortoises hardly ever go out into the sun. And once they've gone out there, they don't stay very long. For my two baby habitats, I have the MVB (mercury vapor bulb) way off to one side so its only partially shining over an edge of the habitat. They do much better in low light.

 

[badger16]

I will set up a roof of sorts over a portion of the Burmese's section then to provide a nice shady area to escape the light, as well as hold in some moisture. Do you think this will suffice? I have a 3ft lamp and a 4 ft lamp running the perimeter of the enclosure, if possible I would like to keep them, as I'm led to believe that the Sulcatas benefit from the amount of light, and don't want to take that away from them. Will the Burmese regulate itself if I provide the area to escape the light?

 

[pdrobber]

Another Pete on the forum, welcome!

 

[ALDABRAMAN]

Welcome.