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OK...Patton is finally here. He's a very small marginated tortoise from 2007. I've got him in an enclosure 6'x32"x16" high with the 100W (90 degrees) basking infrared light and a 5.0 UVB light. He's currently in his hide right now. Three questions:
1. How do I "show" him where his food/water is
2. How many days (or hours) after he's arrived should he be eating
3. Why do I soak him 20 min in lukewarm water every other day (per the care sheet)

I'm psyched! That's a quarter in the pic next to him!

What a cute little guy - I love his coloring!

old4x4 Wrote:He's currently in his hide right now. Three questions:
1. How do I "show" him where his food/water is
2. How many days (or hours) after he's arrived should he be eating
3. Why do I soak him 20 min in lukewarm water every other day (per the care sheet)

I wish I could bottle that "new baby tortoise enthusiasm"!! I would make a fortune!

With new babies, every time I walk by their habitat I put them in front of the food.

Some babies are so well adjusted that they start eating right away. Others take a few days to settle in. Just keep putting him in front of the food. He'll eventually eat.

When you have a very small tortoise in an indoor habitat with heaters and lights, you essentially have him on "slow cook." You soak him to keep him hydrated. He doesn't necessarily have to drink the water, but if you leave him in there long enough, he will absorb some of the water through the thin skin under his throat and the thin skin around the cloaca (vent in the tail). People used to think that tortoises also "drank" through the cloaca, this has since been disproved. But they will absorb water if you leave them soaking long enough.

What a cute little baby the General is (Patton)! I don't know anything about the Mediteranean tortoises, but you have a really cute little guy there!

Yvonne

Wow..fast responses! I'd like to put him in front of his food often, but he goes right for his hideaway and settles in the back of it. Should I still reach in and take him out or maybe just let him chill out for the rest of the day just to acclimate?

Very cute little guy you have there. Congrats!!

Congrats he is sweet!

Congratulations on a sweet looking shelled baby. I might give him the day to settle in before I'd pulled him out of his hide.

Update: He came out on his own and wandered around before pigging out on some cabbage I shredded for him. I'll probably get him some spring mix for the rest of the week.
I'm happy now that he ate.
Cute little bugger!

Now he's hiding. Even 3 hours after his light came on (the 100W IR bulb is 24/7). I'm kinda worried. He DID eat some more cabbage and a pea- yes, just one! Hope he comes out today!

Remember he is a baby and the world is big and frightening. We come out eat and drink, look around some and go back to security. He sounds normal to me.

old4x4 Wrote:Now he's hiding. Even 3 hours after his light came on (the 100W IR bulb is 24/7). I'm kinda worried. He DID eat some more cabbage and a pea- yes, just one! Hope he comes out today!

Baby tortoises are "prey" and as such, they tend to hide quite a bit. It's perfectly normal. Once he's used to having been snatched up out of his old environment and plunked down in a new one he'll be more sociable.

Yvonne