Is my baby tortoise still fine?

Netsu

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I have had a baby sulcata tortoise for around 7 months now, a month ago I moved it from enclosures, it has heat lamp, food bowl and water dish. Since I've moved it into the new enclosure, I have not seen it eating or drinking (please note this is my first time keeping a baby tortoise). I have seen it eating before I moved it to the new enclosure, but only once. How do I know it is eating and drinking? The food looks like it decreases, but I can't quite tell if it really is. I've seen it climb into it's water dish a few times, so it's probably drinking then? Most of the time when I look at it, it's sleeping, so I don't know if it ate or not. It is winter here, but the enclosure should be warm enough to not let it need to hibernate... When I hold my tortoise, or put it down on my bed, it seems to still have enough energy to run around, but I am just unsure if it is happy and well...
 

Maro2Bear

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Greetings. I see/read a lot red light warnings in your short post. You SHOULD see it eating! Yes, they sleep a lot as hatchlings, but they should wake up, have a good warm water soak (by you), then devour the food in front of them.

How are your temperatures? Day, night, ambient basking? I’m going to guess your enclosure is too cool/cold.

You say that the enclosure “should” be warm enough. . ? ? You should know all of the temperatures inside your sulcata”s enclosure. Do you have an IR temp gauge? and other gauges to measure humidity & temps? Does your enclosure have a lid? Fully enclosed? Nice damp/moist substrate? A humid hide? Good lighting?

You reference...”hibernate”. Sulcatas don’t hibernate. If they look like they are “hibernating” it usually means they are too cold, can’t warm up enough to eat, and shut down. = not good, potentially fatal if not remedied.

You shouldn't be putting your tortoise down in your bed to run around.

Try to upload some pix of your enclosure. Lighting, substrate, water dish. What are you feeding? Are you daily soaking in nice arm water?

Here’s the bible on Sully raising - https://www.tortoiseforum.org/threa...se-a-sulcata-leopard-or-star-tortoise.181497/

Good luck. Check your temps & lighting & humidity & soaking!
 

Ray--Opo

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Like Mark said, by reading your post brings back memories of when I first got my sully. I had everything wrong. I went by information from a pet store. They sold me everything that I didn't need. When I found this forum I got Opo on the right track.
Send us pics of your enclosure. We can guide you to set up a safe healthy environment.
 

Markw84

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Greetings. I see/read a lot red light warnings in your short post. You SHOULD see it eating! Yes, they sleep a lot as hatchlings, but they should wake up, have a good warm water soak (by you), then devour the food in front of them.

How are your temperatures? Day, night, ambient basking? I’m going to guess your enclosure is too cool/cold.

You say that the enclosure “should” be warm enough. . ? ? You should know all of the temperatures inside your sulcata”s enclosure. Do you have an IR temp gauge? and other gauges to measure humidity & temps? Does your enclosure have a lid? Fully enclosed? Nice damp/moist substrate? A humid hide? Good lighting?

You reference...”hibernate”. Sulcatas don’t hibernate. If they look like they are “hibernating” it usually means they are too cold, can’t warm up enough to eat, and shut down. = not good, potentially fatal if not remedied.

You shouldn't be putting your tortoise down in your bed to run around.

Try to upload some pix of your enclosure. Lighting, substrate, water dish. What are you feeding? Are you daily soaking in nice arm water?

Here’s the bible on Sully raising - https://www.tortoiseforum.org/threa...se-a-sulcata-leopard-or-star-tortoise.181497/

Good luck. Check your temps & lighting & humidity & soaking!
Please - read the great care sheet here and compare to how your tortoise is being kept. Come back with any and all questions. It certainly sounds like your tortoise is too cold and probably not the correct lighting.

 

Netsu

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Greetings. I see/read a lot red light warnings in your short post. You SHOULD see it eating! Yes, they sleep a lot as hatchlings, but they should wake up, have a good warm water soak (by you), then devour the food in front of them.

...

Hello! Sorry for the late reply, I've been very busy...

In terms of temperature, it is under the 25-30 (Celsius) that I read up about, so I am working with my dad to buy a better heat-lamp, so I know that heating is a problem and I will be fixing it and no, I do not have any temperature meters as of yet. I do spray the substrate with water every 2-3 days to keep it moist...

His diet consists of mainly carrots and lettuce, we also started offering rabbit food, the pet store said they like to eat that as well.

As for heating and other more-expensive stuff will be worked on at the end of the month...

Also, another thing. I caught it soaking in its water today, should I threat? Or is it OK for them to soak?

Thank you for being so kind and willing to help, I do appreciate it

Here are images attached of the enclosure:

t1.jpgt2.jpgt3.jpgt4.jpg
 

Netsu

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Please - read the great care sheet here and compare to how your tortoise is being kept. Come back with any and all questions. It certainly sounds like your tortoise is too cold and probably not the correct lighting.

Thank you, I'll be reading through it today and see what I can do :)
 

Ray--Opo

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Thank you, I'll be reading through it today and see what I can do :)
I hate to say it but you are getting wrong info from the pet store.The soaking in the dish is great. But once a day soak him in a small tub of warm water not hot.Dont let the water cool down. The water level should be up to were the top and bottom shell meet. The enclosure is to small. You can buy a big plastic tote box or if your dad can build you a bigger box that you can completely enclose to keep heat and humidity in. Get a CHE (ceramic heating element) for night time heat. It needs to be completely dark at night. He needs a small plastic box upside down or a small tunnel closed off on one end for a hide to sleep in. When you by a temp/humidity gauge get a digital one like this one. Dosen't have to be that brand. Place low in the enclosure so you get temp/ humidity readings at your torts level. Carrots are not good for them. They contain to much sugar. So that also means no fruits. The rabbit pellets are suspect to me. Maybe someone else can answer that. @Tom Iceberg lettuce is no good it contains hardly a vitamins in it. Use romaine lettuce, but read the caresheets for other foods.
I know this is alot to take in. But hang in there. We will give you the help you need to get things right.
 
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ArmadilloPup

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A high quality Timothy rabbit food like Oxbow wouldn’t hurt as a snack, but it won’t have the right levels of what a reptile needs, like calcium, vitamins A and D (which bunnies don’t need a lot of). Pet stores still live in the 1970s. Usually they will hawk the cheap stuff as bedding, which is made out of a lot of wheat and alfalfa.

Animals (especially herbivores) need a varied diet to get all of their nutrition/fiber and foraging is in their natural instincts. My favorite suggestion is dandelion, it’s one of the easiest of nutritious greens to buy/grow because it grows all over the world. As you introduce new foods, you might have to finely chop or mush with water to get your buddy to try them.
 

Tom

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Hello! Sorry for the late reply, I've been very busy...

In terms of temperature, it is under the 25-30 (Celsius) that I read up about, so I am working with my dad to buy a better heat-lamp, so I know that heating is a problem and I will be fixing it and no, I do not have any temperature meters as of yet. I do spray the substrate with water every 2-3 days to keep it moist...

His diet consists of mainly carrots and lettuce, we also started offering rabbit food, the pet store said they like to eat that as well.

As for heating and other more-expensive stuff will be worked on at the end of the month...

Also, another thing. I caught it soaking in its water today, should I threat? Or is it OK for them to soak?

Thank you for being so kind and willing to help, I do appreciate it

Here are images attached of the enclosure:
The pictures are small and blurry, but I'm not sure you have a sulcata.

If you do have a sulcata, it is not likely to survive unless you make changes IMMEDIATELY to the way you are housing it. They come from a very warm part of Africa and they cannot survive the cooler temperatures that your local species can tolerate.

That enclosure is way too small, that substrate is going to cause impaction, dampness with cool temps is sure sure way to make it sick, cool temps in general will make it sick, and the diet you are offering is completely wrong.

Please stop talking to the pet shop people. They are ignorant and giving you the wrong info. This is true of pet shops the world over when it comes to tortoise care. The info you need to keep this baby alive and healthy is in the care sheet linked for you.
 

Toddrickfl1

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Hello! Sorry for the late reply, I've been very busy...

In terms of temperature, it is under the 25-30 (Celsius) that I read up about, so I am working with my dad to buy a better heat-lamp, so I know that heating is a problem and I will be fixing it and no, I do not have any temperature meters as of yet. I do spray the substrate with water every 2-3 days to keep it moist...

His diet consists of mainly carrots and lettuce, we also started offering rabbit food, the pet store said they like to eat that as well.

As for heating and other more-expensive stuff will be worked on at the end of the month...

Also, another thing. I caught it soaking in its water today, should I threat? Or is it OK for them to soak?

Thank you for being so kind and willing to help, I do appreciate it

Here are images attached of the enclosure:
That doesn't look like a Sulcata. Has the Tortoises shell been painted?
 

Toddrickfl1

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The legs look like a sully but it has that triangle scute by the head like a box turtle.
It's hard to tell but I think it's a Sulcata someone painted.
 

Toddrickfl1

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Wait this person is in South Africa. I'm guessing this is a "Homopus Areolatus" Padloper tortoise.
 

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