desertdweller
New Member
Hi everyone,
We brought home a young tortoise about 8 weeks ago (all they could tell us at the time was that he was under 6 months old).
I've been weighing him weekly and initially he seemed to be doing well (other than no feces for the first 2 weeks for which I took him into the vet, who said he looked really good).
He went from weighing 41 grams to 45 grams but now has been declining the past two weeks, first down to 40 grams and now yesterday, down to 37 grams.
I'm trying to give him a lot of options for veggies and rarely (maybe once a week) I'll put in a piece of fruit.
His basking spot is kept between 33-34C (91-93F).
The night time temp is probably the same as the house, around 75F and under the glass of his cave where he sleeps the heating pad is turned on.
I've read the file about the top mistakes people make and I think I know a few we're doing wrong already but please let me know your thoughts
Things I think we may be doing wrong:
*He needs to be kept warmer at night
*His terrarium needs some form of humidifier
*We need to soak him in warm water more often (right now we do about once every 2 weeks)
* He should have access to Cuttle Bone
* We need to change the substrate
I'll try to attach a photo of his terrarium. We live in the desert so when he's bigger and it's safe for him, he'll live outside in our walled in garden.
Thanks in advance for your help!
We brought home a young tortoise about 8 weeks ago (all they could tell us at the time was that he was under 6 months old).
I've been weighing him weekly and initially he seemed to be doing well (other than no feces for the first 2 weeks for which I took him into the vet, who said he looked really good).
He went from weighing 41 grams to 45 grams but now has been declining the past two weeks, first down to 40 grams and now yesterday, down to 37 grams.
I'm trying to give him a lot of options for veggies and rarely (maybe once a week) I'll put in a piece of fruit.
His basking spot is kept between 33-34C (91-93F).
The night time temp is probably the same as the house, around 75F and under the glass of his cave where he sleeps the heating pad is turned on.
I've read the file about the top mistakes people make and I think I know a few we're doing wrong already but please let me know your thoughts
Things I think we may be doing wrong:
*He needs to be kept warmer at night
*His terrarium needs some form of humidifier
*We need to soak him in warm water more often (right now we do about once every 2 weeks)
* He should have access to Cuttle Bone
* We need to change the substrate
I'll try to attach a photo of his terrarium. We live in the desert so when he's bigger and it's safe for him, he'll live outside in our walled in garden.
Thanks in advance for your help!