Some concerns with cherry head hatchling

SMK

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Was just reading an older thread here, someone had 2 hatchlings; one was thriving and eating, the other was not. All kinds of advice was given, but she died. It's as if she was a runt and failed to thrive. The lack of appetite is an indication that something is amiss.
I pray that's not true in my case. Very disheartened. ☹️
@ZEROPILOT
Bringing my last remark forward so you can see what my worry is. The person in the above-mentioned post said her hatchling was also awkward with food, kept missing it when trying to bite. Mine does this also. You say a healthy animal won't starve itself; but maybe this isn't a healthy tortoise hatchling.

I feel very worried and disheartened. I wouldn't trust my so-called exotic vet with her. I'm becoming suspicious that her extreme pickiness is a sign of something wrong. Should I simply let her have what she will eat, and let nature take its course, and see if she makes it?
 

jsheffield

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Newbie disclaimer: I probably don't know what I'm talking about ....

Maybe try blending the foods she likes with just a bit of the foods she needs to build her up, then try to shift towards a more balanced diet for her over time.

My Darwin loves eating while taking a warm bath ... I like to think it stimulates his appetite.

Jamie
 

SMK

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Didn't mean to be so negative. Just became very anxiety-ridden after reading that thread. Apologies. Will continue to try and offer only the proper items.

@ZEROPILOT
 

SMK

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Newbie disclaimer: I probably don't know what I'm talking about ....

Maybe try blending the foods she likes with just a bit of the foods she needs to build her up, then try to shift towards a more balanced diet for her over time.

My Darwin loves eating while taking a warm bath ... I like to think it stimulates his appetite.

Jamie
Thanks very much. I will certainly try that!
 

Relic

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First off, you are a meticulous record keeper, which is good. It will keep you focused and confirm you have tried everything. Not only keep trying various food items, but various feeding scenarios: early morning, late evening, before soaks, during soaks, after soaks, food under the bright light, food away from the bright light, food out in the open, food inside a hide, food where it's warmest in the enclosure, food where it is coolest. You get the idea. Just keep slogging away and hopefully this will all have a glorious resolution and a 12 pound tortoise.

And if you don't have one, get an electronic food scale that can measure weight in grams to keep track of your tortoise's weight. It will reveal progress that is difficult to detect otherwise.
 

SMK

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First off, you are a meticulous record keeper, which is good. It will keep you focused and confirm you have tried everything. Not only keep trying various food items, but various feeding scenarios: early morning, late evening, before soaks, during soaks, after soaks, food under the bright light, food away from the bright light, food out in the open, food inside a hide, food where it's warmest in the enclosure, food where it is coolest. You get the idea. Just keep slogging away and hopefully this will all have a glorious resolution and a 12 pound tortoise.

And if you don't have one, get an electronic food scale that can measure weight in grams to keep track of your tortoise's weight. It will reveal progress that is difficult to detect otherwise.
Thanks very much. Yes, I do have a kitchen scale. I will indeed keep slogging away. Excellent suggestions; my thanks again.
 

Pearly

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Wow, I’m just catching up on your thread! Wow! Feels like a deja vu for me! Ans @Relic, excellent suggestions! Everything you have said is EXACTLY what I’d be trying/WAS trying with mine. Get every single brand of onnivirous tortoise or boxturtle commercial pelleted food you can get your hands on. Soak couple of pellets 2-3x day, rotate them. This worked for me. Mazuri is by far THE FAVORITE. If you want to pm me your mailing address I’ll send you some of the Mazuri (all time favorite tort food, that you can buy in 30lb bag as the smallest size. For your baby I lb will be a lot. All you need for her is probably just couple pellets per feeding. And... you might not realize that, but you are already one step ahead! You already know her favorites!!!! Dice the shrimp or whichever of her favs very very finely and add just a tiny bit of ... say, collard green (also diced VERY FINELY). Mix it in and NO CALCIUM POWDERS! Many babies will reject even their favorites when there’s powder mixed in there. For calcium just place cuttle bone in her enclosure and she will nibble when she needs/wants to. Start recording her weight. She should not be losing any. Do you have a temp gun? If you don’t, get one. Amazon has tons of them, the cheapesr i saw was 9 bucks. I ended up buying couple. One by the patio door to keeptrack of temps outside in their garden and another by the bath tub to keep their bath water temps where I need them to be (I don’t let the water get any cooler than 95F, and no higher than 105f) I also often spot check their shell temp. One can learn a lot about how the exothermic animal of that size reacts to the temps of their environment and how quickly they can warm up, as well as cool down. Your little tortoise is very lucky to have you as her keeper. I can tell, you are persistent, so now just try to be patient. It’s a tortoise. Things with them can take time. For as long as you worry about her, try to soak her and put her in front of her favorite food with growing in small increments amt of healthy stuff. Check often the temp on top of her carapace. If she is more then 80f she’ll be more likely to eat. Best time to check how warm inside she really is, would be right after the soak. Do not get discouraged. You are on the right track.
 
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Pearly

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Just thought of something else. Stress. Is her enclosure too bright maybe??? Are there few places for her to hide? She is a prey animal. Many baby torts end up on larger animals’ menu bfr they grow bigger and stronger. And even then, their only defense in their shell, but the best are their camouflage and abiliy to wedge themselves into places one would never think to look for them there. My RFs are 11” & 12” now but to this day I often spend little time looking fir them at sunset to collect them for their nightime routine (bath, food, betdime in their dark very humid, warm beds inside) At this size they should/could be living full time outdoors but their house needs to be done right first (good insulation, dependable heatsource, weatherproofing) so we are still at the back and forth every day. One thing I started changing recently is bath every other day or 3x wk only instead of daily. I believe my babies have grown so well and healthy thanks to those daily baths for their first 3 yrs. Maybe an overkill but with my little Tucker’s difficult beginnings I would rather take any precaution. I believe your perseverance will pay off but if your baby tort truly has some type of impairement it may take a long time to get over that. That challenge is what makes your bond with your pet even stronger. I’m rooting for you over here! Keep us posted
 
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Pearly

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One more thought. Mushrooms!!!! But not the white ones or portabellas, see if you can get your hands on Chantarelles, oyster myshrooms, or any other wild foerst ones. Some farmers markets of whole foods, or gourmet food stores will often have some. Some are EXPENSIVE! I.e. 64$/1lb, chararelles are the cheaper ones i think 39$/1lb but for your baby you only need tiny littpe mushroom to entice your tort to eat. Or edible flowers? Like oansies, snap dragons, marigolds, dianthus and others. Get creative
 
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SMK

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Wow, I’m just catching up on your thread! Wow! Feels like a deja vu for me! Ans @Relic, excellent suggestions! Everything you have said is EXACTLY what I’d be trying/WAS trying with mine. Get every single brand of onnivirous tortoise or boxturtle commercial pelleted food you can get your hands on. Soak couple of pellets 2-3x day, rotate them. This worked for me. Mazuri is by far THE FAVORITE. If you want to pm me your mailing address I’ll send you some of the Mazuri (all time favorite tort food, that you can buy in 30lb bag as the smallest size. For your baby I lb will be a lot. All you need for her is probably just couple pellets per feeding. And... you might not realize that, but you are already one step ahead! You already know her favorites!!!! Dice the shrimp or whichever of her favs very very finely and add just a tiny bit of ... say, collard green (also diced VERY FINELY). Mix it in and NO CALCIUM POWDERS! Many babies will reject even their favorites when there’s powder mixed in there. For calcium just place cuttle bone in her enclosure and she will nibble when she needs/wants to. Start recording her weight. She should not be losing any. Do you have a temp gun? If you don’t, get one. Amazon has tons of them, the cheapesr i saw was 9 bucks. I ended up buying couple. One by the patio door to keeptrack of temps outside in their garden and another by the bath tub to keep their bath water temps where I need them to be (I don’t let the water get any cooler than 95F, and no higher than 105f) I also often spot check their shell temp. One can learn a lot about how the exothermic animal of that size reacts to the temps of their environment and how quickly they can warm up, as well as cool down. Your little tortoise is very lucky to have you as her keeper. I can tell, you are persistent, so now just try to be patient. It’s a tortoise. Things with them can take time. For as long as you worry about her, try to soak her and put her in front of her favorite food with growing in small increments amt of healthy stuff. Check often the temp on top of her carapace. If she is more then 80f she’ll be more likely to eat. Best time to check how warm inside she really is, would be right after the soak. Do not get discouraged. You are on the right track.
Thanks VERY much for your encouragement.
It's most appreciated.
Yes, I just received my temperature gun from Amazon, will be unboxing with my other items today.
Yes, I got her a calcium tortoise block. Hope she'll use it!
Thanks for your kind offer; However do in fact have Mazuri pellets, and have offered them many times soaked in warm water or natural apple juice, to no avail.:(
I will continue trying.
Thanks again for all.
 

SMK

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Just thought of something else. Stress. Is her enclosure too bright maybe??? Are there few places for her to hide? She is a prey animal. Many baby torts end up on larger animals’ menu bfr they grow bigger and stronger. And even then, their only defense in their shell, but the best are their camouflage and abiliy to wedge themselves into places one would never think to look for them there. My RFs are 11” & 12” now but to this day I often spend little time looking fir them at sunset to collect them for their nightime routine (bath, food, betdime in their dark very humid, warm beds inside) At this size they should/could be living full time outdoors but their house needs to be done right first (good insulation, dependable heatsource, weatherproofing) so we are still at the back and forth every day. One thing I started changing recently is bath every other day or 3x wk only instead of daily. I believe my babies have grown so well and healthy thanks to those daily baths for their first 3 yrs. Maybe an overkill but with my little Tucker’s difficult beginnings I would rather take any precaution. I believe your perseverance will pay off but if your baby tort truly has some type of impairement it may take a long time to get over that. That challenge is what makes your bond with your pet even stronger. I’m rooting for you over here! Keep us posted
The first couple of weeks it was too bright as I was using a MVB for heat, light, and UVB.
I switched to a CHE and a small light due to the brightness.
Yes, she had a hide, some plants, and moss to hide under.
I really very much appreciate your kind words of encouragement.
 

SMK

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One more thought. Mushrooms!!!! But not the white ones or portabellas, see if you can get your hands on Chantarelles, oyster myshrooms, or any other wild foerst ones. Some farmers markets of whole foods, or gourmet food stores will often have some. Some are EXPENSIVE! I.e. 64$/1lb, chararelles are the cheaper ones i think 39$/1lb but for your baby you only need tiny littpe mushroom to entice your tort to eat. Or edible flowers? Like oansies, snap dragons, marigolds, dianthus and others. Get creative
I will try to find your suggestions; she's been offered white mushrooms several times but had no interest. Yes, I've actually been trying to find flowers. I'm about to order some cactus pads and herbs. Thanks once more for all your wonderful input.:)
 

ZEROPILOT

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Your animal is eating and seems to be of a good weight.
So do not be worried about the picky eating to the point that it upsets you.
I apologize for some of the short, Frank answers. The same issues seem to post up over and over and answering them the same way is what I normally do.
It sounds like you are doing a great deal of things correctly. And the issues are small.
Find the things that your tortoise will eat and let him eat. As long as it's an assortment.
FYI. Today I fed my tortoises some hibiscus leaves and flowers because i was busy.
That would not be a great daily diet if fed just that. But it was today's offering.
Tomorrow there will be something else. Mine have learned that what they see is what they get. And they will eat absolutely ANYTHING I give them. Julio, because she is 9 years old and has learned it. And the un named baby that is near 10 months that has never known any other way.
That's what I meant. They won't starve themselves. Once they know that that is food for today, they stop being picky. Or never start.
 

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SMK

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Your animal is eating and seems to be of a good weight.
So do not be worried about the picky eating to the point that it upsets you.
I apologize for some of the short, Frank answers. The same issues seem to post up over and over and answering them the same way is what I normally do.
It sounds like you are doing a great deal of things correctly. And the issues are small.
Find the things that your tortoise will eat and let him eat. As long as it's an assortment.
FYI. Today I fed my tortoises some hibiscus leaves and flowers because i was busy.
That would not be a great daily diet if fed just that. But it was today's offering.
Tomorrow there will be something else. Mine have learned that what they see is what they get. And they will eat absolutely ANYTHING I give them. Julio, because she is 9 years old and has learned it. And the un named baby that is near 10 months that has never known any other way.
That's what I meant. They won't starve themselves. Once they know that that is food for today, they stop being picky. Or never start.
Thanks. You've been very helpful and what you say makes a great deal of sense.
 

Pearly

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I originally had the LS, and she rejected those. Then I ordered this (see link)
and she rejected those too.:( https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01BOG8YU6/?tag=exoticpetnetw-20

Yes, this is for the herbivorous torts. Yours is OMNIVOROUS. ZEROPILOT asked what kind you had bcs some torts maybe picky, but the one we are using is not likely to be rejected. It’s formulated for torts that need animal protein. My torts are spoiled rotten and can be picky, but this „crocodilian Mazuri” diet is something that they will ALWAYS eat. And it seems to be well liked by most tortoises. IMG_6666.jpg this is what my bags look like. It even has RF pic on itIMG_6665.jpg I buy mine at a feed store close to my house. They order it for me when I run low but it lasts for a while with only two tortsIMG_6667.jpg as you see the bag is 25lbs in this formulation they don’t seem to have smaller bags. I will seriously send you some.
 

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