Henry’s mom
Member
Thank you for sharing and I had read it from other posts. It’s sad and a shame…Most breeders do not start them correctly. They keep them too dry, and it does irreversible damage. This damage doesn't kill them for weeks or months. They eat, walk around, bask and all seems fine, until the decline begins. If you bought one of these dry started babies, which is almost all of them from most of the breeders around the country, there is nothing you could have done. The lack of growth is a tell tale sign. Read this:
"Hatchling Failure Syndrome"
I've heard this term for many years and I don't like it. Its a way to excuse our ignorance and failure. I will agree that an occasional hatchling is born that is just not going to make it no matter what anybody does, but MOST of them, if they make it full term and hatch, SHOULD survive and...tortoiseforum.org
But Henry is Not dead! He seems to be doing better and I’m going to continue to try and help him recover. I’m not giving up on him…or me.
I’m trying to find out if I can at least get it better by using plexiglass or getting a greenhouse. The latter is huge but I don’t care-he can share my office with me. I was ready to order last night but was hoping to find out if there’s a better and/or less expensive way.
I read through your old thread from 2010 about when you started using the closed chambers. I saw some ideas on tubs which I have handy but don’t know how to set up all the lighting/wires etc. I also saw that I think It was Yvonne @oldtimer ? said she covers the whole enclosure with aluminum foil. I wonder about the reflectivity if it could overheat or hurt their eyes but I’m desperate to get him better and getting the humidity right is the main problem this newbie can identify. I think I’m going to try it now and just watch the temp until I hear more from you guys.
The only other thing that I think I’ll try is putting his lighting on an earlier schedule. I’m a night owl with sleeping problems so he’s been on more of my schedule about 11am-10pm. I don’t know if that could affect his health but I’ll try anything.
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