Help!!! My leopard tortoise's shell is softening!

[Kota62]

I am in Las Vegas NV... he gets outside time 1-2 times a week, but will be increasing now. Got him from my local exoctic pet shop not sure how he was brought up but when I bought him he was in a larger setup with a bunch of other little ones. They had big soaking areas and they seemed to be on a moist substrate

 

[Tom]

I am in Las Vegas NV... he gets outside time 1-2 times a week, but will be increasing now. Got him from my local exoctic pet shop not sure how he was brought up but when I bought him he was in a larger setup with a bunch of other little ones. They had big soaking areas and they seemed to be on a moist substrate

I'm going to post this because its a common thing with leopards and sulcatas. There is no way for me to know if this thread applies to your baby or not, so I'm just going to give you the info and let you decide where you want to go from here:
http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/hatchling-failure-syndrome.23493/

See also #1 on this thread:
http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/beginner-mistakes.45180/

And this is how your baby should have been started:
http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/how-to-incubate-eggs-and-start-hatchlings.124266/

 

[Kota62]

Thank you for all of the information... I'm going to begin building him a closed cage tomorrow and look into getting other uv light sources. I am hoping that since he is still active it has something to do with the uv and is not the failed hatching syndrome like you mentioned. Thank you all for the quick and caring responses. I will keep you all updated on his progress.

 

[Fredkas]

Remember to update it.
It is a mystery for me how can this happens to you.

 

[Gillian M]

A very warm welcome to the forum!

Please post pictures of your tort as well as his enclosure.

 

[sue white]

To hang lamps I used one of those wheel around clothes rack and small chain to hang the fixtures with That way I can easily change the height of the lights

 

[surfergirl]

you can build a rack above the enclosure out of pvc pipe and hang you lights off that. then you can cover the top of the rack with plastic to keep the humidity in. I use a florescent long tube fixture for uvb attached to the longest side of the tub wall under the screens. As a dbl safety feature for the basking heat lamp and the heat emitter for cool nights, I put screens under those. you could secure the fixtures to the rack and completely remove screens though if using a uvb mecury bulb heat /basking lamp where uvb will be blocked from absorption by the tort. I am just over doing it with the screens.

 

[sue white]

Nice idea! Looks more compact then the racks which would be great.

 

[Average-Joe_15]

I think everybody could provide more help if you gave us a few nice clear photos of your terrarium set up; a broad view of the whole home. From there we can better provide more precise advice and form constructive criticism~