New Baby tortoise leopard tortoise

[JDDV97]

Hello I recently lost my baby leopard tortoise last month due to breeders failure syndrome. It was sad and tough but I recently purchased another leopard tortoise from reputable breeder. His name is Mbappe and is a yearling what the breeder told me.

I’ve started touching up his greenhouse but need to install my T5 at Acadia and add more obstacles and elevation for him. I want to add plants but scared if the plant nursery uses pesticides. Might use tall fake plants for looks and he can’t bite them.

Current reads are
99F & 78 Humidity warm side
90F & 88 Humidity cool side .

He’s only ate spring mix so far , no grass, hay, clovers or pellets. He has a water dish , basking spot rock ,humid hide , cuttlebone. I give him a 30 minute soak in the mornings 85-90F water.

I give him about 90 minutes of supervised backyard sunlight. And is on a 12 hour light cycle with the CHE set to 83F.


Any advice or suggestions & thank you .

 

[JDDV97]

@Tom @wellington @Littleredfootbigredheart @Tortellini0000 @Alex and the Redfoot @Yvonne G

 

[Daffodil]

No advice, but he's adorable!

 

[Littleredfootbigredheart]

Can’t tell you how happy I am to see you try again with a healthier baby! He looks great! I wouldn’t worry about feeding hay until he’s older, he’ll start getting used to new foods as time goes on, keep offering a nice variety, everything else sounds great!I truly wish you all the best with this little one and look forward to seeing updates on how he’s getting on! Keep us in the loop

 

[wellington]

Get the temp down. 80F all over day and night, with 95-100F basking.
He likely won't eat hay or grass at this age. You can try to keep doing the grass, not the hay.
You need to get him to eat better. Chop up all food tiny, mix with what he will eat also chopped up tiny and spritz with water. He will have to eat the better stuff to get to what he likes best. As he eats this slowly stop with spring mix.

 

[Littleredfootbigredheart]

Get the temp down. 80F all over day and night, with 95-100F basking.
He likely won't eat hay or grass at this age. You can try to keep doing the grass, not the hay.
You need to get him to eat better. Chop up all food tiny, mix with what he will eat also chopped up tiny and spritz with water. He will have to eat the better stuff to get to what he likes best. As he eats this slowly stop with spring mix.

I’m presuming temp wise the warmer reading was referring to their basking temperature? But yeah 99f over a larger area is a bit too warm, so try have have it so that’s just the reading you have under your basking bulb

 

[wellington]

I’m presuming temp wise the warmer reading was referring to their basking temperature? But yeah 99f over a larger area is a bit too warm, so try have have it so that’s just the reading you have under your basking bulb

Yes, I got that. Warm side is 90, basking would be the 99.
90 too high for warm/all over sides.

 

[Littleredfootbigredheart]

Yes, I got that. Warm side is 90, basking would be the 99.
90 too high for warm/all over sides.

Oh I’m with you sorry I can see I misread the op slightly

 

[Tom]

Hello I recently lost my baby leopard tortoise last month due to breeders failure syndrome. It was sad and tough but I recently purchased another leopard tortoise from reputable breeder. His name is Mbappe and is a yearling what the breeder told me.

I’ve started touching up his greenhouse but need to install my T5 at Acadia and add more obstacles and elevation for him. I want to add plants but scared if the plant nursery uses pesticides. Might use tall fake plants for looks and he can’t bite them.

Current reads are
99F & 78 Humidity warm side
90F & 88 Humidity cool side .

He’s only ate spring mix so far , no grass, hay, clovers or pellets. He has a water dish , basking spot rock ,humid hide , cuttlebone. I give him a 30 minute soak in the mornings 85-90F water.

I give him about 90 minutes of supervised backyard sunlight. And is on a 12 hour light cycle with the CHE set to 83F.


Any advice or suggestions & thank you .

The nursery plants will be grown with systemic pesticides, unless they are intended for human consumption. I just keep them potted and the pesticides dissipate after a few months. My tortoises have all always tried to eat plastic plants, so do be careful with that.

I think the ambient temp rising to 90 during the day is good for babies of tropical sun loving species. I think 90 is getting too hot for a RF. I have good results with sulcatas, leopards, stars and others with low 90s during the day and 80-ish at night. I don't think you need to change that.

Hopefully you'll get your baby eating better stuff soon.

I'm happy for you and I hope this one works out great and gives you many happy years of tortoise enjoyment.