# baby DT hatchling story... get a tissue...



## spikethebest (Sep 4, 2010)

Re-printed from a different tortoise group, by Don Williams:


Sitting here looking at a baby desert tortoise that I picked up from Mojave 
last evening.
Was found on K St. there about a month ago, the **** who found it contacted 
me for permit application.
I tried via seven!!!! e-mails to get them to understand that they could not 
put it in an aquarium, with only a heat lamp, no thermometer, no 
microclimate, feeding "broccoli, carrots and lettuce tomatos and rarely some 
watermelon dandielions and mustard greens too" and taking it out onto the 
grass a couple of times a week there in the apartment complex they lived in 
and allowing it to wander the grass and flowerbed (where the management 
assures me they spray weekly - denied by the **** I got the tortoise from - 
for bugs and weed killer for the grass.
Original photo of the little baby tort was a beautiful healthy baby, bright 
eyes, wonderful coloration.
What I picked up was a jello cube, so soft I can't pick it up normally or 
the sides collapse in.
No beautiful dark/light coloration left, just a dull gray with the top 
vertebral scutes and the four on the sides of them a dark black looking 
opaque set of scutes. So weak and skinny it only laid in the box for me 
until late this afternoon, eating with great difficulty as if taking all 
it's energy to try to bite off small pieces of grape leave and cut up 
bermuda grass.
I did get it to finally eat some dried older tortoise scat, which it chose 
over other items of graze, telling me it "KNOWS" it needs some friendly 
bacteria to try to heal itself.
I don't hold out a lot of hope for it but have had a couple of these that 
are in the process of eating up their bone trying to buffer toxins in their 
blood pull out of it and can only hope.
This is coming on hatchling time, so please, everyone, if you hear of anyone 
finding baby desert torts or having them hatch in their yard, try your best 
to get them to understand that they need:
Sunshine for UVB, but also lots of shade to escape that heat, dappled 
sunshine works
Burrows for the life saving moisture retaining microclimate with protection 
from all predators
Natural graze foods of grasses/weeds/leaves with flowers as treats only
NO cabbage, broccoli, kale, spinach, fruits and no heat radiating glass 
aquariums
NO calcium sands or pure sands, dirt is natural
The privilege of being loved and cared for properly, with respect for their 
natural cycles of life.

I have successfully reared 159 out of 161 hatchling desert tortoises in the 
last few years (mostly from rescues and eggs hatching from said rescues) and 
every single one of them was allowed to brumate and ingest friendly bacteria 
(innoculation utilizing healthy desert tortoise scat) and live outdoors 
grazing, with little burrows.
It can be done, is done all the time, and in my opinion, those of us who 
know should attempt to be responsible to pass on the methods that work in 
nature and work in our backyards too.
Thanks for letting me vent on this a bit, just real frustrating when I get a 
jello cube in and have to try to save them.
Thank you Creator and Great Mystery for helping me.
Don Williams, (Moderator: CTTC Turtle and Tortoise list ; Gopherus;
Vets_for_herps; TortoiseNutrition)
*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*
May You Walk in Beauty
Don :~)> and his desert torts in Bakersfield, CA.
www.Donsdeserttortoises.com
http://tortoise-aid.org/
www.KernCTTC.org


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## Becki (Sep 4, 2010)

Poor baby! I'm glad he's in your hands now. Please let us know how he's doing.


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## Yvonne G (Sep 4, 2010)

Cory: I hope you don't mind, but I added a line at the beginning of your post so our readers would understand that the writing is by Don Williams.


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## Candy (Sep 4, 2010)

This is such a sad thing to happen. Thank God for people like Don who take them and know what to do with them.


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## Tom (Sep 4, 2010)

Terribly sad story, and this little tort was obviously not cared for correctly, but there is nothing wrong with glass tanks. I use them BECAUSE they hold in heat and restrict desiccating air flow. This helps me to more closely simulate burrow conditions in their indoor enclosure and use a much lower wattage, energy saving bulb. Of course, they still need a proper outdoor enclosure too.


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## Isa (Sep 4, 2010)

Sad story  I am so happy he is in good hands now. What is even more sad is there are so many more that will never be saved and will spend their lives in horrible conditions


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## Madortoise (Sep 4, 2010)

jello cube..... too sad....


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## Angi (Sep 4, 2010)

Oh that is so sad. Poor little guy


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## armandoarturo (Sep 5, 2010)

omg, that just happened to me today!
I went to my friends aunt house. (an old lady with a big yard and 7 big mature DTs)... I guess you can imagine how many baby dts, she gets every year..
she has a big yard, so she finds baby DTs every once a while..
right now she has 24!! babies inside a little box, with newspaper sheet, and beeing fed just lettuce!!
can you imagine that?
some of them where soft and weak, it was just so sad!, I taught her how to give a proper care for them, and what they should eat.
She told me she was going to take care of them, because she does loves them, but she just didnt know what they needed.
I told her I was going to stop tomorrow in the afternoon, and help her build a safe place outside for them, and give her some food.
She tought it was nice from me, and gave me 5 little dts  , I'll keep them under quarentine in a big box outside, I dont want them spreading stuff around with my healthy DTs!
And Also I just did what spike said, giving them some healthy tortoise scat. 

Its good to hear that the little tortoise got a second chance! It feels amazing when you get to save this little creatures


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## Laura (Sep 5, 2010)

Education is the key... awsome.. I hope it helps..


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