Worried About My Baby

[DeadlyPurpleBunny]

I recently received a baby Greek Tortoise. She is very young, roughly six months old and we are fairly sure she is female. As such we have names her Morla. My mother got her from a pet store near where we live and we are fairly sure she wasn't properly cared for there. She came to us rather lethargic and unwilling to eat. Her shell was also quite soft. This is what I am worries about now. I am not sure if she just has baby shell or she has a problem. Her carapace is firm around the edges, nearest to her head and limbs, but the middle is quite soft and looks rather deformed. I will be including pictures. We have been taking good care of her now, keeping her humidity ad temp in line, feeding her the right things, giving her vitamin powder, and bathing her daily in carrots and water to keep her from drying out and giver her more vitamins, She is so much better now then when we got her and she eats plenty, has more energy, and has a curious and spunky personality to her.My only worry is her shell, which is as soft as ever in the center. This would not worry me if it looked normal but it doesn't. She IS my first tortoise and I don't want to loose her or something. Any help?

Deadly <3

 

[Yvonne G]

Hi, and welcome to the Forum!

Baby tortoises do have a little bit of a 'give' to their shell, but you notice it most on the plastron (bottom shell). I want to say don't worry about it, but I'm not seeing and feeling the shell on my own.

Soak the baby in warm water daily. Because of the heat and lights we have over our babies, we have them on 'slow cook.' So a daily soak to keep them from drying out inside is good.

Put a tiny pinch of calcium powder over the food about every other day. Do you have a UVB light? But not the coiled bulbs...they're hard on babies' eyes.

 

[DeadlyPurpleBunny]

Hi, and welcome to the Forum!

Baby tortoises do have a little bit of a 'give' to their shell, but you notice it most on the plastron (bottom shell). I want to say don't worry about it, but I'm not seeing and feeling the shell on my own.

Soak the baby in warm water daily. Because of the heat and lights we have over our babies, we have them on 'slow cook.' So a daily soak to keep them from drying out inside is good.

Put a tiny pinch of calcium powder over the food about every other day. Do you have a UVB light? But not the coiled bulbs...they're hard on babies' eyes.

Thanks. I have been using those care instructions as stated. My biggest worry is the fact it looks deformed and sort of... odd. I attatched pictures of the bottom of her shell, which is what is making me a little nervous. I will try to get an uncoiled UV light. the people at Vetpets gave my mom a coiled one.

 

[Yvonne G]

Your baby look just fine to me. When baby tortoises are inside the egg they are pretty scrunched up in there, almost like they're folded in half. It takes a few months for that wrinkle in their plastron to smooth out.

Turn off that coiled light immediately and don't use it. If you can buy the T5 fluorescent tube type fixture, those are pretty good for UVB.

 

[DeadlyPurpleBunny]

Thanks so much! I will tell my mother what you said about her UV and turn it off.