# The Babies Today!



## Tom (Apr 12, 2017)

We frequently talk about how best to start babies, so I thought I'd post a few pics and some explanation of what I do.

Here is where I soak the babies, as you can see the stacked tubs in the background of this pic. In the foreground, I've put in fresh paper towels, spritzed them, and I've sorted out the days food for each brooder box. I do this daily and rotate boxes. This ensures that the damp environment that I keep them in stays clean and free of unwanted bacterial or fungal growth. The damp paper towels offer good traction and cushion for their yolk sacs or open bellies.





On the menu today is grape leaf, rose leaf, rose petals, and some finely chop fresh grass. They also get their egg shells to nibble on for a few days. Here I've got the tops off of their boxes for a little sun and to take this pic:




I only like to have 5 or 6 to a box. It gets too crowded and messy with any more than that.




These babies all hatched in the last few days. They will stay in these boxes for about 7-10 days while they absorb any yolk sac and close up their umbilical scars. In the first day or two, they only nibble a little, but after that, they begin to chow down and I have to leave a surprisingly large amount of food in there for six tiny little hatchlings.




The boxes are kept in this large bird brooder during this part of the process. I don't like to keep the brooder boxes in the incubator because its always dark in there. In this bird brooder they can start to get used to the day/night cycles, and they can see what they are nibbling on.




It is during these first few day that a baby learns what to eat. If they don't learn what to eat and get a wide variety during this stage, they become the "picky" eaters that we hear so much about on our forum. Here is a partial sampling of the food my babies are fed in their first few days: Mulberry leaves, lavatera leaves and flowers, hibiscus leaves and flowers, mallow, sow thistle, thistle, milk thistle, prickly lettuce, bristle tongue, dandelion, broad and narrow leaf plantain weed, fresh grown alfalfa, clover, wild mustard, wild garlic, several grass species, spineless opuntia pads, Mazuri, spring mix, fresh grown arugula, fiddle neck leaves, hollyhock leaves and flowers, hens bit, hawks bit, Italian dandelion or chicory, radish tops, carrot tops, cilantro, celery tops, rose petals and leaves, grape leaves, and a whole bunch of other weeds that I don't know the names of. I feed them something different every day for weeks. Most days there are two or three things on the menu. Some days just one thing. The result of all this effort and my reward is when someone buys one of my babies and comments on how the baby will eat all the "right" foods and will eat anything. Contrast this to the typical breeder out there that drops in a handful of spring mix or romaine because its easier. A baby started that way has never even seen grass or weeds, much less eaten any!

Hope this helps. Conversation is welcome.


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## TammyJ (Apr 12, 2017)

Tom said:


> We frequently talk about how best to start babies, so I thought I'd post a few pics and some explanation of what I do.
> 
> Here is where I soak the babies, as you can see the stacked tubs in the background of this pic. In the foreground, I've put in fresh paper towels, spritzed them, and I've sorted out the days food for each brooder box. I do this daily and rotate boxes. This ensures that the damp environment that I keep them in stays clean and free of unwanted bacterial or fungal growth. The damp paper towels offer good traction and cushion for their yolk sacs or open bellies.
> View attachment 204634
> ...


This is wonderful, and very helpful to anyone with a little one of these...priceless information to get them started right!


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## Souptugo (Apr 12, 2017)

Nice! They look so happy and active.


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## Tortoisefanatic88 (Apr 21, 2017)

Great post Tom. Wish I could buy another.


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## Stuart S. (Apr 21, 2017)

That's great, thanks for sharing!


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## Alicia Hoogstra (Apr 21, 2017)

OH MY GOODNESS!!! I just want to live right there with all the little happy babies in one of the little boxes with them!! Tortoise HEAVEN


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## Greta16 (Apr 21, 2017)

They look great Tom!


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## bouaboua (Apr 21, 2017)

Great information and Thank you for sharing~~


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## Anyfoot (May 4, 2017)

Excellent information Tom. It's good see how others do it. 
Think you need to mix up your diet a bit though. 

Did you fall out with the idea of putting your babies on leaves instead of tissue. If so, why?


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## Tom (May 4, 2017)

Anyfoot said:


> Did you fall out with the idea of putting your babies on leaves instead of tissue. If so, why?



I use paper towels for the first day or two and then switch to grape leaves or plantain leaves for the bottom and put all sorts of other edible greens on top of those leaves. This has been working perfectly for me.


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## seanang168 (May 14, 2017)

Hi Thanks for sharing! Lovely babies! Do you need to clean them when they are out of the shell? How do we do it?

How did you get all kinds of weeds as food? I dare not feed my tortoise grasses from outside as I am not sure if they are edible. Also when my star tortoise is roaming in the house, they will start to munch on house plants leaves that has grown towards the floor. I usually stopped there as I am not sure if the leaves would be poisonous? I have this money plant (Devil's ivy) that they tends to want to munch on. I am guilty of buying vegetables from the supermarket to feed my tortoises. I am from South East Asia and the sample of the food you used is not available here except maybe carrots


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## Fredkas (May 14, 2017)

@Yvonne G this thread need a glue so it stick at first page


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