A little concerned.

[jagsrule100]

Thanks for your help Tom, I went to this store because all they had was reptiles and even the people that work there said they have sulcata's at their house. Now that i think of it, Marty got her sulcata from this place and he passed away i wanna say a month or so ago. So i guess i won't be getting hatchlings from this place anymore.

They do have bigger sulcata's that are passed the "hatchling" stage, do you think they will survive?

 

[Tom]

In my experience, once they double or triple in size from hatchling, you can be pretty sure that they are okay. They usually hatch at 30-35 grams, so if they grow to 70-100 grams within a few months time, you can be pretty sure they will make it.

I would not give that store a single dime ever again, unless they learn from their mistakes and start taking better care of their hatchlings. There are lots of reputable breeders here on the site that start their animals out right. Tyler at http://tortoisesupply.com/ had some yearling for sale at the Pomona show. I don't know if he has any left or not. You can always check with Richard and Jerry Fife. They are at http://ivorytortoise.com/ KBaker here on the forum recently had hatchlings too. I think he sold out of them, but has more on the way. Any of these guys would be happy to sell you a well started baby that will LIVE. This problem will not go away until more people stop buying from these "keep 'em dry" breeders. Once that happens they will have to either change their ways or go out of business. Meanwhile, the people taking the time, effort and expense to do it "right" will prosper. I look forward to that day. You should tell the reptile store what you have learned about all this and let them know why you won't be doing business there anymore. Marty should have too. Print out a care sheet and take it to them. Josh can send you some TFO business cards. Its up to all of us to educate the rest of the tortoise world.

 

[tobibaby]

im so sorry about ur baby and what you are going through right now and you have had him for a while so i can imagine how attached you are to that little sucker cuz they are cute.. from what you are saying you are doing the right thing, when i got tobi i had no idea how to raise him and that was my fault cuz i was not expecting to get one, but thank goodness to this forum and i think tobi was just strong. his breeder told me that this clutch was super healthy babies and he was right. keep giving him love and attention and make sure he gets lots of sun. from the first day i got him and he was tiny 38.6 grams to be exact he was already outside exploring while i watched so he goes out everyday minimum 30 min in the sun except when it rains.. i soak him everyday and love him to death every second of the day good luck and keep us posted please

 

[Yvonne G]

Hi Jagsrule100 (I'm sorry, I don't think I ever learned your name):

Don't allow your vet to give the baby a Vitamin a,d,e shot. They sometimes want to use a,d,e to stimulate appetite, but an overdose of Vitamin a causes the skin to slough off, and its easy to overdose with an injection.

 

[Maggie Cummings]

Is your babies plastron soft in the middle? I would not give up, start giving him daily baby food soaks. Put him in a small container and get a jar of strained carrots and add enough water to bring the mix up just past his bridge. Put a light over him to keep the water warm and soak him everyday in the baby food for about an hour. Everyday faithfully. Put liquid calcium (Calcionate) on his food or in his mouth, .01ml's, that's about 1 drop. Or sprinkle powdered calcium over his food. Keep him warm, don't have a cool side. Have the hot side about 100 degrees and the not so cool side about 80 degrees. Get some radicchio, they can't resist it. Do the calcium thing daily and they will pee out the excess. Cut the radicchio up smallish for his little mouth. I would start doing all of this now as I think your baby is in trouble. You CAN save him, but you must do this stuff every day. Put him in front of your monitor as you are on the computer and let him walk around with you. Socialize him, I would pull out the hair, I do it every time I see one like that. I have long hair and my babies end up eating some of it. So gently and steadily pull on it and it will come out. In all my years I haven't seen one wrapped around the intestines...it is IN the intestines.

Well, that's my advice for now. I have head-started a lot of babies and have brought back several from being sick like that, but I just didn't give up and I kept doing all that stuff every day faithfully. Good luck with it and keep us posted.

 

[jagsrule100]

Oh im definetly not giving up on him at all, im gonna give him the soak first thing in the morning with the carrots and i got some mazuri that im gonna try and feed him tomorrow. Is the radicchio the red lettuce in the spring mix or is that just red romaine?

 

[Shelly]

Is the radicchio the red lettuce in the spring mix or is that just red romaine?

 

[motero]

Poor little fella, I think he will make it if you follow the advice given.