Worried about over all health and shell

[ahc1272]

Hello~
I have a baby sulcatta. Overall, he hasn't been very active but he does eat and poop (somewhat normally). He spends most of the time sleeping. He drinks avidly when I give him a quick soak, but the other day when I picked him up, I was surprised to see his underside midsection a bit softer than it has been...
He doesn't seem to be sick in any other way though...

I just wish he'd romp around more and chomp more too. -_-
When is soft, too soft? I've read some other posts... Tennisballish is what I read, but i think he's a bit (A BIT) softer than that.

Concerned.

Thanks in Advance.

 

[coreyc]

Hi where are you from? do you have him out side or inside If he is inside do you have a good MVB for him? can you give us some more info about him the more the better

 

[Yvonne G]

Hi AC:

Is the weather in Korea warm enough for you to put the baby outside in the sun? It sounds to me as if he's suffering from calcium deficiency. So feed him calcium-rich foods and sprinkle calcium powder over his food. If you can find cuttle bone in Korea, then you can grate some cuttle bone over the food. BUT...if he doesn't get the sun, then the calcium doesn't work. They need the sun in order to make Vitamin d3 so that the calcium works. Otherwise, it just gets pee'd out. So sunshine (or an expensive UVB light bulb) and calcium and you should see a remarkable difference in your baby in no time.

 

[ahc1272]

Sorry I wasn't able to reply; I got very sick myself, and it was all I could do to take care of my tort.
My tort is definitely not well; he's refusing to eat and he can't seem to open his eyes except when I soak him.
I've noticed he hasn't passed any urates in a while as well.
I know sulcatta hatchlings don't make it, but I'm really depressed.
-_-

I've kept a lot of animals (including herps like chameleons) before, so I have a good sense of what's healthy and what's not... I really want my tort to live but I don't think he's going to make it.... I did get him a UVB light... but at this point I don't think it's going to make a difference.

I don't understand what I did wrong.

 

[Tom]

They dehydrate very quickly and easily as hatchlings. It may be that he was housed too dry before you even got him. I used to keep mine way to dry in years past, before I knew better, but I got lucky and mine made it. Many of them cannot recover from the chronic dehydration they experience as tiny hatchlings and it causes the symptoms you are seeing. If you ever decide to try again, give this method a try. It has been working extremely well for me and many others.

http://www.tortoiseforum.org/Thread-How-To-Raise-Sulcata-Hatchlings-and-Babies#axzz1DZfUagIk

 

[Yvonne G]

I'm sorry, AC:

Its never easy to watch a little one fade. You can still try your best to make him well, though. Try to find some liquid calcium and put a couple drops in his mouth every day. Do they sell Gerber baby food in Korea? If you can find Gerber strained carrots, mix a whole jar in some warm water and let the baby soak for a half hour. Don't make it too deep...only up to the middle of his sides.

If you can't get baby food, then puree some carrots in the blender until they are totally smooth and mix that with a little warm water for the same soak as above.

Do this every day, and also every day a couple drops of liquid calcium in his mouth. But he MUST have UVB from either the sun or an expensive UVB light for the calcium to work.

I've seen babies recover from this. Good luck and keep us posted.

 

[tortoisenerd]

You have some great instructions, so give it a good try to turn his health around. Sadly, they really do need to have the consistent UVB and calcium, no breaks, or else they turn very quickly. Its tough but not impossible to turn the shell hard again. Good luck and keep us posted!