New Burmese black mountain tortoises

[Jsoluent]

I received two of the above tortoises eight days ago. They are 2013 hatch and have been endoscopes to be male and female. I mixed up sweet potato, eggplant, lettuce, broccoli, mushroom, bell pepper, carrot, cantelope and anything else I could find at Sprouts. I processed it all into small chunks. I served it with a little mazuri (soaked) and have been feeding it to them daily. They have not been eating. Today I also put out a banana half and a mushroom and some tomato. For the first time, they ate a little. I hope I can continue the trend. Maybe I should not be feeding a mixture, but individual veggies. I was getting extremely worried about them. I hope this is the beginning of a trend.
Also, yesterday was the first time they were observed walking about on their own. Another good sign I hope.
As a side note, my Hermanns loved my mixture, so it has not gone completely to waste!

 

[MichaelaW]

Misting stimulates eating and sometimes they prefer to eat in their hides.

 

[Jsoluent]

They are where my sprinkler system hits their entire enclosure every day and I have been soaking them twice a day. I will try feeding them in their hide. Thanks for the suggestions.

 

[MichaelaW]

Soaking once a day is fine. They stress with too much handling and stop eating sometimes.

 

[Jsoluent]

Okay, less handling. I live in the Phoenix area and wanted to make sure they didn't dry out. But I am sure with the sprinklers going I am probably being overly obsessive. Thanks for the advise.

 

[MichaelaW]

You're welcome, just make sure they have lots of shade.

 

[teresaf]

Pictures? I have two 13 month olds... I love seeing pics of these guys.

 

[Morob7]

I just got two Browns a few weeks ago. Your mixture may have overwelmed them. I would suggest giving them a romaine leaf, a sliced mushroom and maybe a little sweet potato and let them pick what they want. Mine started slow but are really starting to eat. I give them Mazuri on Saturdays only with some calcium and vitamin powder mixed in. I always have either collard green or romaine available to them. I can see they are growing since I got them. I usually give them a late afternoon soak, let them walk around the yard and then return them to their tub which has been cleaned and food replenished. They have recently started to eat with people present. For a while they would stop eating and hide if you walked up while they were eating. Congrats on the Meps!

Just realized this thread is 4weeks old.

 

[Jsoluent]

Thanks to both Morob7 and Teresaf for replying. I don't mind that you are replying to my two week old thread.
They do seem to be eating more. The mushrooms and romaine seem to be their favorites. I hove offered corn on the cob and they have eaten some of it. My female will stop eating and start to move away when I come up. The male just stops and then resumes eating after checking me out. One of the pictures are of him eyeing me. They do seem like tortoise in slow motion.
And now for the pictures.
I suppose I don't have to say which one is male and female.

 

[Jsoluent]

Clearly I am having issues with attaching pictures!

 

[Morob7]

They look great. What do they mark them with? I would guess it will wear off.

 

[Jsoluent]

I have no Idea what was used to mark them. I would like to know though, as I have some box turtles I would like to distinguish. Anybody know what is safe to use for turtles/tortoises?

 

[teresaf]

I used a spot of nail polish on mine. Just be careful to place the spot in the middle of a chute...the chutes don't grow very much so it wouldn't hurt their growth.

 

[Marcuslcarson]

I want a pair in the future.

 

[teresaf]

I want a pair in the future.

a pairs not a good idea unless you're going to keep them separate. you would want 3 or 4 if housing tj together with a LARGE enclosure. I got a pair before I joined the forum. I got a pair in case one died because I didn't think my husband would let me get another to replace it if it died. I found out that Pairs don't do well together of most tort species. they seem to get along fine at first and then you'll notice that one of them won't grow as fast. even though they seem like they're still getting along fine and being buddy buddy a very subtle bullying will happen( sometimes not so subtle)and the other won't get as much food, won't want to wander around as much. it'll become shy. Withdrawn. then one day you're soaking them in the kitchen sink as a good tort mommy will and one will actually stretch over and try to eat the others face....with no provocation. thank God I was there to stop that from happening! They are cool little dudes. I'm glad I got them. Warning though. They are humongous PIGS! At every stage of theIr life...