Recent content by Kat99

The vet was very knowledgable about Russian tortoises and gave specific recommendations in line with what I’ve learned here, about temperature gradients, UV light, etc., including supplementation only once or twice a week, since I am feeding endive, escarole, and dandelion greens as well as...

Baby moved to a new habitat yesterday, with UVB lighting, endive and escarole with vitamins, a heat gradient and — so you can appreciate the scale — a Bonne Maman jar top for a water dish. After a long nap under the substrate, he/he started chowing down and basking! So far, so good… though...

The little guy is doing fine, eating and exploring the brooder box. He/she likes to spend time in the little water dish…. A very shallow amount of water in a shallow dish. Hope that’s normal and not a sign of any issue! Umbilicus seems to be healing.

Thank you for the comment on the umbilicus healing. Doing my best and hoping all will be well. The little guy is pretty active, climbing around, exploring, resting. 🙏🤞 About the heat spike issue…maybe sulcatas can handle heat better than Russians?😢 But the heat did not seem to affect the second...

Online vet says this is just a residual nub. Since Hildalgo is active hopefully this will heal up on its own as long as I keep him in the right conditions. 🙏🤞

This is not good. I am online with a vet right now.

This morning I took the new baby out for a bath while I cleaned up the brooder box. There were two faint pink bloodstains on the paper towel. I turned the baby over and noticed a little blood on one side of the yolk sac scar. No yolk sac was visible. Could he/she have been injured while...

Update: the second baby hatched out today, had a little bath and is doing ok in the brooder box. 🤞🙏

Thanks, Tom. I appreciate that. And I’m glad the sulcatas made it!

The temp might have been a bit higher, and it might have been for longer. Hard to recall exactly as I was pretty frantic.

Pip still hasn’t moved. The temp may have gotten higher than that, but the other baby seems to be okay, so I cannot be sure…

Egg #2 still mid-hatch. Yesterday I accidentally left the temperature sensor hanging outside the incubator and it caused a temperature spike up to about 91 F for an hour or so. Poor Pip was agitated but I got the temps stabilized back at 86 F as fast as I could afterward, and then he/she went...

I have not inspected the poop just yet. Got too excited about the second egg hatching! But I will take a close look at it. And yes, thanks for the advice about switching to vermiculite! 👍

Another exciting development today: Pip’s first poop! 😊

Pip is one week old and doing well… and the second egg is finally hatching! 😻 Thanks for all your support and advice!