- Joined
- Mar 15, 2010
- Messages
- 903
for those of you who don't know, ayana is my smallest sulcata hatchling. she's around a year old and 2 inches. she has no growth rings between her scutes. she may be partially blind, and she may have been bullied by mos in her old home. she has no parasites which i believe may be preventing her from being able to properly digest her food which is causing her to not get the nutrients she needs, thus causing the lack of growth... basically to possibly end in starvation, even though she's eating daily. now she's in her own container and she's doing a little better, believe it or not, i've been hand feeding her since it seems she has a hard time with finding her food.
she's been in there for a few days now. first day she hid all day and barely moved from the place i set her down. the next day she ate baby carrot food from a spoon i was holding for her. the next day she ate some cactus fruit and a small piece of kale that i also held for her. yesterday she wouldn't eat any of the greens even though i kept waving them infront of her face, and touching her nose with them, she just kept going around me. today i fed her some more cactus fruit which she gobbled up... all by herself! she didn't need me to hold it for her!
but yesterday is what upset me, she wouldn't eat the greens. normally, i would say "tough love" for a healthy tortoise, but yana hadn't eaten for a few weeks probably before i put her in her own pen. now, i don't know what's up with her other than my observations, but i don't believe cactus fruit sprinkled with vits and calcium is going to give her all she needs to become healthy again. i put bird vitamins in her water and in her morning soak, i also put a small amount of baby carrot food in her morning soaks as well. sometimes she drinks, sometimes she doesn't.
so, what should i do about her feeding regime? i know she's really delicate right now and i really am worried about starving her to get her to eat what she's given. i feel as though that will only make a bad situation worse, but i have absolutely no experience with sick tortoises. i barely have experience with healthy ones lol!!
any advice?
she's been in there for a few days now. first day she hid all day and barely moved from the place i set her down. the next day she ate baby carrot food from a spoon i was holding for her. the next day she ate some cactus fruit and a small piece of kale that i also held for her. yesterday she wouldn't eat any of the greens even though i kept waving them infront of her face, and touching her nose with them, she just kept going around me. today i fed her some more cactus fruit which she gobbled up... all by herself! she didn't need me to hold it for her!
but yesterday is what upset me, she wouldn't eat the greens. normally, i would say "tough love" for a healthy tortoise, but yana hadn't eaten for a few weeks probably before i put her in her own pen. now, i don't know what's up with her other than my observations, but i don't believe cactus fruit sprinkled with vits and calcium is going to give her all she needs to become healthy again. i put bird vitamins in her water and in her morning soak, i also put a small amount of baby carrot food in her morning soaks as well. sometimes she drinks, sometimes she doesn't.
so, what should i do about her feeding regime? i know she's really delicate right now and i really am worried about starving her to get her to eat what she's given. i feel as though that will only make a bad situation worse, but i have absolutely no experience with sick tortoises. i barely have experience with healthy ones lol!!
any advice?