ectothermicfauna
New Member
- Joined
- Dec 11, 2014
- Messages
- 4
I have 13 baby three toed box turtles. My first clutch of this species.
(I've worked with and still keep many species of tortoise though.)
I'm having a heck of a time with this baby. All of his siblings are active, feeding, growing, happy little babies. Husbandry is the same for all of them with one exception (see below).
He's got clear eyes, and he does eat. He basks a normal amount I would say. Doesnt seem to be pinned to the UVB light (the bulb is only two months old). But I wouldnt call him active, not like the others for sure.
I brought him to the vet this morning but well, lets just say Im pretty sure he's a #$@#$ !!$@#!!... well, moving on.
This baby's carapace started out straight beautiful yellow. and now its this sickly looking dark colors.
Most of his siblings have gotten larger, and their carapace's are either still that bright yellow, or have started to turn orange (like their father's). None of the others have turned this greenish dark color.
Vet says, "Its normal for them to change colors as they grow". I doubt "greenish" is normal very much.
The most concerning is that his carapace is softer than the others, squishy even. Of course my first thoughts were like some sort of calcium/vit D deficiency so I went out and got an additional high output UVB bulb just for him.
Its this one: http://www.exo-terra.com/en/products/reptile_uvb200.php Its been on him for 2 months.
Yes, I realize it may be a bit of overkill, and yeah he does hide from it under the plastic foliage a bit, but I feel confident he's still getting quite a bit of it. He also has 24 hr access to both cuttlebone and a little dish of reptical. Theres some little scratches in the cuttlebone so he's either eating it or just scratching it with his feet if he walks on it, not sure.
Has anyone seen this before?
What do i do next?
(I've worked with and still keep many species of tortoise though.)
I'm having a heck of a time with this baby. All of his siblings are active, feeding, growing, happy little babies. Husbandry is the same for all of them with one exception (see below).
He's got clear eyes, and he does eat. He basks a normal amount I would say. Doesnt seem to be pinned to the UVB light (the bulb is only two months old). But I wouldnt call him active, not like the others for sure.
I brought him to the vet this morning but well, lets just say Im pretty sure he's a #$@#$ !!$@#!!... well, moving on.
This baby's carapace started out straight beautiful yellow. and now its this sickly looking dark colors.
Most of his siblings have gotten larger, and their carapace's are either still that bright yellow, or have started to turn orange (like their father's). None of the others have turned this greenish dark color.
Vet says, "Its normal for them to change colors as they grow". I doubt "greenish" is normal very much.
The most concerning is that his carapace is softer than the others, squishy even. Of course my first thoughts were like some sort of calcium/vit D deficiency so I went out and got an additional high output UVB bulb just for him.
Its this one: http://www.exo-terra.com/en/products/reptile_uvb200.php Its been on him for 2 months.
Yes, I realize it may be a bit of overkill, and yeah he does hide from it under the plastic foliage a bit, but I feel confident he's still getting quite a bit of it. He also has 24 hr access to both cuttlebone and a little dish of reptical. Theres some little scratches in the cuttlebone so he's either eating it or just scratching it with his feet if he walks on it, not sure.
Has anyone seen this before?
What do i do next?
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