cochransrc
Member
I have a baby Hermann tortoise, that was born in August. He was doing great when we first got him (1 October) but now he stopped eating and isn’t moving around a lot. I went out of town and had my mom taking care of him and he still wasn’t getting better, so we decided he needed to go to a reptile vet. But now I feel like a vet is giving us information that differs from what our breeder/this forum suggested to keep him alive. Please help! Has anyone had any luck, keeping their baby alive when they stop eating? Any luck with tube feeding? I need some positive stories
The vet gave him a vitamin B shot, and started tube feeding him every couple of days along with a dewormer.
The breeder said this causes a lot of stress from the shot and tube feeding him, never ends up saving the little guys....
I cant Just sit back and watch him starve to death. And I don’t believe in hatchling failure syndrome...I know that there’s got to be a reason he’s not eating. There’s no other outward appearances that he is sick. His shell on the bottom of him, is a little soft but considering his age that should be normal. I’m debating if I should invest in a whole new set up for him and changing out the types of lights that were using maybe a new substrate inside of a plastic container...or would this stress him out more????
Currently we are using the mercury uva/uvb bulbs. Originally he had access to the whole set up, but we divided it in half and made it more “simple”
His temperatures are 85 and 95 in the hot spot. 80 in the cool area and at night, 70-80 (we just purchased him a heat lamp for night time because it used to dip to 68-70.
Substrate is coconut and top soil mixed.
We were feeding him dandelions and Spring mix and a couple times a week, softened commercial food. Along with succulents and calcium, multivitamins.
We have been keeping his lights on for 12-13 hours a day, so now I’m increase them to being on for 14 hours a day.
In The pictures below- I tried putting his food on a calcium block to attract him, there is a before picture (when he had full access to roam)
The vet gave him a vitamin B shot, and started tube feeding him every couple of days along with a dewormer.
The breeder said this causes a lot of stress from the shot and tube feeding him, never ends up saving the little guys....
I cant Just sit back and watch him starve to death. And I don’t believe in hatchling failure syndrome...I know that there’s got to be a reason he’s not eating. There’s no other outward appearances that he is sick. His shell on the bottom of him, is a little soft but considering his age that should be normal. I’m debating if I should invest in a whole new set up for him and changing out the types of lights that were using maybe a new substrate inside of a plastic container...or would this stress him out more????
Currently we are using the mercury uva/uvb bulbs. Originally he had access to the whole set up, but we divided it in half and made it more “simple”
His temperatures are 85 and 95 in the hot spot. 80 in the cool area and at night, 70-80 (we just purchased him a heat lamp for night time because it used to dip to 68-70.
Substrate is coconut and top soil mixed.
We were feeding him dandelions and Spring mix and a couple times a week, softened commercial food. Along with succulents and calcium, multivitamins.
We have been keeping his lights on for 12-13 hours a day, so now I’m increase them to being on for 14 hours a day.
In The pictures below- I tried putting his food on a calcium block to attract him, there is a before picture (when he had full access to roam)