Update on Blastoise (need feeding tips)

Etherealheart

Member
Joined
May 25, 2021
Messages
23
Location (City and/or State)
Paignton
Hey there guys,

So, obviously it's been a few weeks, we have made changes to his enclosure and overall he's seeming a lot healthier, his eyes look less sunken, his skin looks less dry, and his plastron has even hardened a bit. As well as this his egg tooth is now gone.
However it is quite alarming that he seems to have lost weight. Within the week after the changes he'd gained 1g however recently he's been losing about 1g a week, and he is now 25g.
The humidity is consistently above 80% and the temperature has varied between 26-30°c depending on time of day.
We bath him everyday for 15-20 minutes.
We feed him mostly chopped up grass and weeds twice a day, however he does not eat much of it, and he can be quite picky, seems the only thing he will eat a lot of is dandelion leaves, which we are running low on supply of and I've read they shouldn't be the staple of their diet.
Also we bought him some calcium powder and he refused to eat the food it was on so we bought him some cuttlebone but he never eats any of it.
He spends his time either sleeping or circling the sides of the enclosure, so we thought maybe he was bored and so we moved things around a bit, but he is still doing it.
He doesn't spend much time under his heat lamp until the evenings as well for some reason. He has also recently started sleeping in random places in the enclosure rather than just in his hide. But he is a little more active in general.
If anyone has any ideas how we can help the little guy to eat more or just in general be happier and healthier I'd be ever so grateful.
 

lyingcat8

Member
Joined
Oct 29, 2019
Messages
45
Location (City and/or State)
Indianapolis
I’ve had success leaving them in their soak longer. Like, a lot longer. We soak ours for no less than 45 minutes every morning. We keep the tub on a heating pad, and continuously check the temp / add / change water. @Tom told me it’s like their little treadmill, and they should use it to gain an appetite and encourage digestion / bathroom time.

What really helped turn it around with mine was yellow squash, cactus pads, and mazuri.

Also, hiiiiiiiighly recommend Nutribac Dietary Supplement. It’s a powder, we put a little sprinkle on their food — it’s essentially a probiotic meant to stimulate appetite. Between Tom’s advice and this stuff, I got our bb out of the danger zone.

Good luck!!
 

Etherealheart

Member
Joined
May 25, 2021
Messages
23
Location (City and/or State)
Paignton
Hey there guys,

So, obviously it's been a few weeks, we have made changes to his enclosure and overall he's seeming a lot healthier, his eyes look less sunken, his skin looks less dry, and his plastron has even hardened a bit. As well as this his egg tooth is now gone.
However it is quite alarming that he seems to have lost weight. Within the week after the changes he'd gained 1g however recently he's been losing about 1g a week, and he is now 25g.
The humidity is consistently above 80% and the temperature has varied between 26-30°c depending on time of day.
We bath him everyday for 15-20 minutes.
We feed him mostly chopped up grass and weeds twice a day, however he does not eat much of it, and he can be quite picky, seems the only thing he will eat a lot of is dandelion leaves, which we are running low on supply of and I've read they shouldn't be the staple of their diet.
Also we bought him some calcium powder and he refused to eat the food it was on so we bought him some cuttlebone but he never eats any of it.
He spends his time either sleeping or circling the sides of the enclosure, so we thought maybe he was bored and so we moved things around a bit, but he is still doing it.
He doesn't spend much time under his heat lamp until the evenings as well for some reason. He has also recently started sleeping in random places in the enclosure rather than just in his hide. But he is a little more active in general.
If anyone has any ideas how we can help the little guy to eat more or just in general be happier and healthier I'd be ever so grateful.
Well, he's gained weight and is eating now again all of a sudden...
I’ve had success leaving them in their soak longer. Like, a lot longer. We soak ours for no less than 45 minutes every morning. We keep the tub on a heating pad, and continuously check the temp / add / change water. @Tom told me it’s like their little treadmill, and they should use it to gain an appetite and encourage digestion / bathroom time.

What really helped turn it around with mine was yellow squash, cactus pads, and mazuri.

Also, hiiiiiiiighly recommend Nutribac Dietary Supplement. It’s a powder, we put a little sprinkle on their food — it’s essentially a probiotic meant to stimulate appetite. Between Tom’s advice and this stuff, I got our bb out of the danger zone.

Good luck!!
Ok, thank you so much!! I will get that powder and start bathing him longer. Will also see if I can find those foods anywhere. Within these last couple days he's already started eating a bit more after we put his food directly under his heat lamp, and blocked off his bed area during the day as he was spending all day in there and we thought he wasn't getting enough UV exposure in there. (Sorry I keep switching between pronouns, my brother and I look after him together) I hope to be updating you with good news in time
 

lyingcat8

Member
Joined
Oct 29, 2019
Messages
45
Location (City and/or State)
Indianapolis
Well, he's gained weight and is eating now again all of a sudden...

Ok, thank you so much!! I will get that powder and start bathing him longer. Will also see if I can find those foods anywhere. Within these last couple days he's already started eating a bit more after we put his food directly under his heat lamp, and blocked off his bed area during the day as he was spending all day in there and we thought he wasn't getting enough UV exposure in there. (Sorry I keep switching between pronouns, my brother and I look after him together) I hope to be updating you with good news in time
Ours went through the same thing, they were 46g at “8-10months” // continuously went up and down for a little bit and then just kept going up once we got their conditions ideal // we also don’t know their gender yet and always say they/them, so people keep asking if we have more than one lol

They are now over 300g, but it took a ton of adjustments until I found this forum. Soooo much misinformation out there. Our local vet told me humidity didn’t matter! ??

Hang in there. Pepperoni and I will be rooting you on and checking for updates on Blastoise.

I’m not sure where you’re located, but some ethnic food stores carry the prickly pear cactus pads, you can also maybe find it online — I buy it off Amazon as a very last resort. It’s Pepperoni’s favorite.
240A2B66-AF87-4509-A442-4E9F2E456E0A.jpeg
 

wellington

Well-Known Member
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10 Year Member!
Tortoise Club
Joined
Sep 6, 2011
Messages
49,658
Location (City and/or State)
Chicago, Illinois, USA
Basking needs to be 95-100F or they can't digest the food properly and will stop eating
The rest of the enclosure over all temp needs to be 80F day and night.
Get the basking spot up and don't let temps drop below 80F
 

Tom

The Dog Trainer
10 Year Member!
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Joined
Jan 9, 2010
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Southern California
Hey there guys,

So, obviously it's been a few weeks, we have made changes to his enclosure and overall he's seeming a lot healthier, his eyes look less sunken, his skin looks less dry, and his plastron has even hardened a bit. As well as this his egg tooth is now gone.
However it is quite alarming that he seems to have lost weight. Within the week after the changes he'd gained 1g however recently he's been losing about 1g a week, and he is now 25g.
The humidity is consistently above 80% and the temperature has varied between 26-30°c depending on time of day.
We bath him everyday for 15-20 minutes.
We feed him mostly chopped up grass and weeds twice a day, however he does not eat much of it, and he can be quite picky, seems the only thing he will eat a lot of is dandelion leaves, which we are running low on supply of and I've read they shouldn't be the staple of their diet.
Also we bought him some calcium powder and he refused to eat the food it was on so we bought him some cuttlebone but he never eats any of it.
He spends his time either sleeping or circling the sides of the enclosure, so we thought maybe he was bored and so we moved things around a bit, but he is still doing it.
He doesn't spend much time under his heat lamp until the evenings as well for some reason. He has also recently started sleeping in random places in the enclosure rather than just in his hide. But he is a little more active in general.
If anyone has any ideas how we can help the little guy to eat more or just in general be happier and healthier I'd be ever so grateful.
I wouldn't bother with grass for a regular leopard unless you are using it to add fiber to grocery store greens. They usually are not all that keen on grass. Weeds, leaves, flowers, opuntia pads, and original Mazuri should all work great.

If the tortoise refused the food with calcium on it, you probably used too much. You just need a tiny little pinch. It should be barely noticeable.

What type of UV bulb are you using?

I would not block of access to the hide. That will greatly increase stress. Babies need to feel safe and secure. Make sure it is warm enough inside the hide.

The sad truth of the matter is still: If this baby was started incorrectly and too much damage was done, nothing you or anyone else does will save it. All you can do is try. Time will tell. Where did you get it and how was it started?
 

Etherealheart

Member
Joined
May 25, 2021
Messages
23
Location (City and/or State)
Paignton
I wouldn't bother with grass for a regular leopard unless you are using it to add fiber to grocery store greens. They usually are not all that keen on grass. Weeds, leaves, flowers, opuntia pads, and original Mazuri should all work great.

If the tortoise refused the food with calcium on it, you probably used too much. You just need a tiny little pinch. It should be barely noticeable.

What type of UV bulb are you using?

I would not block of access to the hide. That will greatly increase stress. Babies need to feel safe and secure. Make sure it is warm enough inside the hide.

The sad truth of the matter is still: If this baby was started incorrectly and too much damage was done, nothing you or anyone else does will save it. All you can do is try. Time will tell. Where did you get it and how was it started?
Ah ok, that makes sense, well we're feeding him dandelion and kale now, will be getting more foods yet.
The bulb is a uvb uva heat combi bulb.
Will try to put the calcium on thinner.
Ok, will unblock the hide.
I understand that but I'm willing to do anything to try and rescue him if possible.
We got him from a local breeder, we're not sure how she raised him. We're thinking it might be not as bad as some cases, as over here where I live we naturally have a really high humidity, but we can't contact her anymore as it was one of those freeads sites.
 

Etherealheart

Member
Joined
May 25, 2021
Messages
23
Location (City and/or State)
Paignton
Ours went through the same thing, they were 46g at “8-10months” // continuously went up and down for a little bit and then just kept going up once we got their conditions ideal // we also don’t know their gender yet and always say they/them, so people keep asking if we have more than one lol

They are now over 300g, but it took a ton of adjustments until I found this forum. Soooo much misinformation out there. Our local vet told me humidity didn’t matter! ??

Hang in there. Pepperoni and I will be rooting you on and checking for updates on Blastoise.

I’m not sure where you’re located, but some ethnic food stores carry the prickly pear cactus pads, you can also maybe find it online — I buy it off Amazon as a very last resort. It’s Pepperoni’s favorite.
View attachment 328165
Wow that is quite the story, at least they're doing better now! I'm so glad that you managed to save them.
Yeah vets, especially where I live, are not really experts on reptiles of any kind.
Thank you so much though!
Have found some cactus pads and will be ordering them in as soon as I get payed. I don't make much as its just from chores around the house, but my parents don't wanna help pay for any of the stuff because they think its "unnecessary" :/
 

Etherealheart

Member
Joined
May 25, 2021
Messages
23
Location (City and/or State)
Paignton
Basking needs to be 95-100F or they can't digest the food properly and will stop eating
The rest of the enclosure over all temp needs to be 80F day and night.
Get the basking spot up and don't let temps drop below 80F
The basking spot is already that temp, and we have a heater running to make sure the temps stay above 80F now.
Thank you so much!
 

Etherealheart

Member
Joined
May 25, 2021
Messages
23
Location (City and/or State)
Paignton
Ah ok, that makes sense, well we're feeding him dandelion and kale now, will be getting more foods yet.
The bulb is a uvb uva heat combi bulb.
Will try to put the calcium on thinner.
Ok, will unblock the hide.
I understand that but I'm willing to do anything to try and rescue him if possible.
We got him from a local breeder, we're not sure how she raised him. We're thinking it might be not as bad as some cases, as over here where I live we naturally have a really high humidity, but we can't contact her anymore as it was one of those freeads sites.
ps. His hide is heated, and we made sure the heat mat is above him so he's getting it from above and not below as ppl said that's important
 

Etherealheart

Member
Joined
May 25, 2021
Messages
23
Location (City and/or State)
Paignton
Hii -- Just checking in -- How are they doing?
Hey there, cactus pads haven't arrived yet, but he's been doing alright, hasn't lost any weight but hasn't gained any, seems he's gaining a bit of an appetite though. We pooled our money and bought him a super fancy humidifier which he seems to absolutely love. We have his conditions perfect and stable finally. We bath him for at least 45 minutes everyday. Also he's finally started to have some calcium powder, he decided he likes eating it out of a dish by itself. To me he generally seems at least a bit healthier than when we brought him home, although he probably still has a way to go before he's in perfect health, I'm hoping we can get him there.
Thank You :)
 

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