NEWBIE here, baby tortoise isnt doing too good, PLEASE HELP!

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mrspatti

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Hi My name is Elizabeth (mrspatti), I am a NEWBIE here, and tried to post something and it didnt show up in the treads, can you please read my email below, im really concerned about this baby tortoise i just rescued yesterday, thank you,
I have alot of questions about my lil tortoise,
My situation with this lil one, was an unexpected adoption, i love her/him , but i pretty much rescued it from the place she/he was at.... so i am making due with what i can right now in the way of bedding, and bought some veggies from the grocery store until i get paid in 2 weeks, but she/he isnt active like i think they should be, she was born in October of 2010, in fact I helped her and her sibblings break the ground all the way, that night it was raining and i could see the dirt moving, so i lightly moved the dirt/ clumps of semi-hard dirt away, and ended up discovering not one, but a total of 21 that night. The crazy thing about this litter is that in August 2010, 2 months prior to these 21 coming to surface, only 2 babies broke ground, and we just figured that either the neighbors dog may have got them, or they all are okay and on their own... so anyways, i am not sure exactly what type of tortoise this one is, but i am thinking a Sulcata??? I made her a little home in a tuperware/organizer bin, the size of the bin/home is 11 inches (W) X 16 inches (L) and 6 inches (D). I cut up into tiny pieces a little bit of a red apple, a little romaine lettuce, and a few carrots that i put thru a cheese gratter/shredder first. I even cut a Lg.size yogurt container in half length wise to use as a make shift little dome/den for her. I got her last night around 4pm and I put her into some luke warm water 2 seperate times to soak, for about maybe 15 minutes each time, and nothing happened, and she still hasnt eaten anything either. Its like she just wants to sleep, she is smaller than the palm of my hand, is that even a normal size for her age?? (she will be 3 years old in October). I love this little creature, and its so sad just knowing how she was living before i rescued her, ---- Her old home: they had her in the coldest room of the house, no water, no heating lamp, big broccoli pieces that were hard as a rock, and they like totally forgot they even had a Tortoise, until I one day last week was looking for my dart that missed the dart board, and there was this aquarium under-neath 2 big windows and this little tortoise ... how sad... I gave her fresh waater and NEW little pieces of broccoli flourettes, and then yesterday- i offered them $11.89 in exchange for the lil girl (tortoise), I dug in my purse searching for every last penny, so now I am broke,lol but the lil baby isnt cold and abandoned and hungary. Im worried about the soaking in water though, i read that it helps them to relax and do their #2, so has this lil baby been blocked up and not going????? Please help me or try to give me some sugesstions on what i should do, Im going to go out into my front yard and pull some grass for her, so her little home will kind of be a little more comfortable for her. would it be okay to put like a hand towel underneath the newspaper then some grass on top of the towel, just so its a little more cushiony?
sorry i ended up writing a darn novel here, but i think i got out all of my questions and concerns right now.
Thank you for your time and help,
Elizabeth (mrspatti)
 

mctlong

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Welcome to the forum Elizabeth. In order to give you advice on what the little tort needs, we'll need to know what kind of tort it is. Can you please post a picture?
 

pfara

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Also, your first five posts won't automatically show up until a moderator approves it. And yup, pictures would help immensely. Welcome to the forum!
 

Yvonne G

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Hi Elizabeth, and welcome to the Forum!!

Because of the size of the litter, you are probably correct that it is a sulcata. But for us to be sure, can you please post a picture.

The kindest thing you can do for this baby right now is heat, heat and more heat. Do you have a light over the habitat so the baby can warm up to at LEAST 80F degrees, and warmer is better. It should be around 100 directly under the light, and fading down to around 75 at the far end away from the light. Soak the baby in warm water every day for about 20 minutes. You can add a few drops of liquid bird vitamins to the soaking water.

Start of offering chopped up grocery store greens. Things like packaged Spring Mix with some of the spinach removed, turnip greens, escarole, endive, etc. To this you can add some grass cut in small pieces, edible weeds and flowers.

He needs a hiding place and a waterer that he can climb in and out of.
 

Laura

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Soaking!!! and pics...
where was this nest? in a back yard? do they have other tortoises? just moved in back then? I would not have paid them!
 

wellington

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Hello and Welcome:). Wish it was under better conditions that we get to meet you. Good luck with the little one. To answer your question on size. If it is a sulcata, then it is really small for its age. Check out Toms threads below in my post. Although they are for hatchlings and upto approx. two years old, it might benefit you to house yours in this manner, seeing it is really small for its age. A picture would really help though, for us to be sure your getting the proper suggestions. Keep us posted.
 

EllieN

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Assuming it's a sulcata, they really aren't supposed to eat vegetables. The good news is that they can eat just about any weeds and grasses you can find around, and that's free! You want to pick weeds and grasses that haven't been treated with any non-organic fertilizers. Once you have some money again you could get some greens from the grocery store as Yvonne said. The little one will probably be more willing to eat the grocery store greens than the grasses since he/she isn't used to eating grasses.
 

mrspatti

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thank you to all of yyou that responded , i have 4 photos of my tortoise but cant figure out how to upload them
also how can you tell if they are boy or girl? I named mine Flower and it wouldnt be to masculine if she turned out to be a he, lol
 

pfara

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mrspatti said:
thank you to all of yyou that responded , i have 4 photos of my tortoise but cant figure out how to upload them
also how can you tell if they are boy or girl? I named mine Flower and it wouldnt be to masculine if she turned out to be a he, lol

There should be an attachments box at the bottom of the screen when you make a post. If the pictures are on your computer or phone then you should be able add them into your post. To determine gender, we'd need to see pictures of the plastron/tail area to help with identifying.
 

Lannen

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Hi Mrspatti, You are wonderful for doing what you can for this little tort. Reading over this forum and learning all you can will be the biggest and most positive step you can take. From here you will learn all the little nuances of your tort once you learn what kind of tort he/she is!

Warmth, moisture, natural grasses and weeds, some hiding places and a good owner equal a happy tort!
 

Lilyloveslettuse

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Hi!-
Welcome!!!!! Make sure you are giving it soaks in a little tub. It needs to stay in there for about 20-25 minutes. Make sure you don't give it Iceburg lettuce. Make sure he/she is warm enough and it has a UVB light.

-lll


Sorry to have two posts but Sulcatas ARE vegitarians!!!!! They are made to have a large amount of veggies.
-lll
 

Mangito

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Try soaking every day and then maybe let it roam the backyard under very careful supervision.. Keep all dogs and cats away.. And birds.. But they like a lot of space to stretch their legs... Give it space and see if it starts moving around more.. Plus the sunlight and warmth are good for digestion / shell growth
 
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