soft shell

[Lconticello]

I am new to this forum. I got my daughter a Hermann tortoise for her bday. Everything was great and then he seemed to become very lathergic and would not eat. I notice his shell became very soft. His bedding was a coconut fiber substrate looked like dirt. I noticed it looked wrapped around tail. I figured maybe he was backed up. After reading I now know he has a bad case of MBD. I cannot get him to eat. We changed diet to romaine lettuce squash and zucchini. Prior he ate cucumbers and various spinach and lettuce. We did sprinken calcium couple times a week along with a cuddle bone. Right now I am trying to get him to make a come back. He seems to do much better out in real sun not the UVB light. I have been soaking him in calcium water couple times a day since his body is lacking it. I increased the heat to 90-100 degrees. He looks white because calcium water. Any suggestions? Please help.

 

[Yvonne G]

Since you're in Florida, it would be good for your baby to get real sunshine as often as possible. The calcium needs the sun in order to make strong bones and shell. Also, spinach binds calcium so it just gets excreted and not used in the body. So spinach should be used sparingly.

In order to get him feeling better, and get a few nutrients into him, you can soak him in Gerber strained carrots daily for about a half hour each time. Mix strained carrots half and half with warm water and just leave him soaking in it. But his problem seems to be UVB and calcium.