Babies Aren't Growing

Yvonne G

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@Turningstar of Florida posted a Vendor Review and I wanted to talk a bit about some of her comments:

"My torts eat, but dont grow. Ive had them for over 2 months, and despite constant food of the proper types, correct environment, soaking 30-60 minutes a day, they stay within the same 2-3 gram weight they were when I got them. I though perhaps I was not feeding enough, so for 2 weeks, I bombarded them with food. All the right foods, just lots of it 24/7. Still no weight gain. I remembered that the breeder sent me a pdf of their "care sheet". After reviewing it, I was struck by a horrifying reality. These babies had NOT been started well, and from what Ive read on countless posts and been told by others, they may never get over the hump and thrive. I could spend months and tons of money, and they may just die. Not only is that heartbreaking for me, but also for my 5 and 7 year old boys, who spent the money they were savong for trains, on these torts. So now Im spending a ton of time and feeling stressed trying to take the best care of these torts who in reality, may die on me. If only I could get a time machine to go back and do this over....

If you're wondering what the care sheet said...

Care for sulcatas was 30-50% humidity with no water dish (because supposedly they wouldn't know better than to drink too much water
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), mazuri mixed with mixed veggies (frozen corn, peas, lima beans, carrots) and some romaine. I believe he said they soak them for 15 minutes a few times a week, but I'm not positive on that. I could be off on the time."

Don't give up hope. If it were me with this problem, I would go back to what the babies are used to eating - Moistened Mazuri mixed with de-frosted frozen mixed vegetables. I would mash up the veggies and mix it into the Mazuri well. We know we're not supposed to make drastic food changes when changing our cats' and dogs' diet, so we should take it a step further and try to not make a drastic change in our tortoises' diet. If we know what the previous keeper fed, we should make a gentle transition. Then, slowly, over time, I would start adding the good greens, weeds and grasses, but a tiny bit at a time. Take your time about it and about once a week add a bit more of the good stuff and a bit less of the original stuff.

Keep a good attitude. It will help your stress immensely. Follow Tom's care advice and keep us updated. I'd also love to see pictures of the two new babies. I'm a sucker for the aberrant scutes too. Too bad you only received one of them.
 
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Yvonne G

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Oh heck yeah. Here's a group of leopard hatchlings. The big one in the group hatched July 5th and the rest of them didn't start hatching until the 16th and later:

leopard babies 7-26-18.jpg

This picture was taken July 26th.
 

EllieMay

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@Turningstar
My heart goes out to you but like Yvonne said, don’t give up hope. You went to a lot of effort and your enclosure is super nice. That was the most expensive part.. If the worst does happen, don’t tell your Kids & try again. Sulcatas are pretty easy to come by, maybe too easy, and I wish they could all get owners like you! Knowledge is Power and you are now armed... despite that, I’m going to keep praying for Zilla and Sheldon
 
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