Feeding problems with new baby sulcata

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christina23a

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I went picked up a year and a half old baby sulcata...turns out the lady who had him was keeping him in sand and feeding him nothing but fruits and veggies. I've offered him kale and tiny cut ups of squash and he refuses to eat it... looks like I'll have to ween him away from the snacks or do some tough love. I was wondering how long I should tough love him like a safe amount of days before giving in?
 

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Jacqui

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Welcome to the forum! Is this your first ever tortoise? I personally would go for the weaning away first, rather then starting with tough love, but that is me. I just think he is going to be stressed enough for these first few days, why add more stress with fighting him over what he is eating.
 

Missy

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Poor baby he is small and showing signs of poor nutrition. Do you have a UVA/UVB bulb for him? I would also get some powdered calcium and sprinkle his food. I agree weaning first then tough love if you have to. Try chopping the greens very small and add it to what he will eat and mix it together. Good luck.
 

christina23a

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Thank you all for the advice! I just picked him up yesterday and am going up tomorrow to get him a UVB light and I'm going to change his substrate to coco coir and mix that the small bark substrate. Should he also have a basking light along with the UVB?
 

christina23a

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Oh yay he finally started eating the kale! I'll try grating the squash for him and see if he likes that better. I do have the calcium powder..how many times should I sprinkle that on a week?

Yay! He's eating the kale! Ill try grating the squash and see if he will like that. I do have calcium powder for him. Should it be sprinkled on a few times a week?
 

Tom

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I agree about weening him slowly. Try chopping up whatever he is used to eating and gradually adding more and more of the new stuff. Here are some recommendations:
1. Soak him daily for a while. Sand can cause impactions, and if he's carrying any around in there some long soaks will help him pass it. I would go 45 minutes everyday, just to be safe. After a couple of weeks of this, reducing it to every other day or so is fine as long as he aslo has drinking water available.
2. I would sprinkle on a little pinch of calcium two or three times a week.
3. This guy needs sunshine and exercise. There are a bunch of threads in my signature with ideas for how to safely accomplish this.
4. Make him a humid hide in his indoor enclosure. This will help smooth out his growth...
5. Don't let the pet store talk you into buying those coil type florescent UV bulbs. They can damage tortoise eyes. Get either a long florescent tube or a mercury vapor bulb, or better still, just put him outside in the sun in a safe enclosure for several hours a week, and you won't need any artificial UV bulbs inside.

Good luck. Enjoy! :)
 

dmmj

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Great that he is eating, I would never recommend tough love for a young tortoise.
 

christina23a

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Gave him a long soak last night. Its 77 degrees outside so i moved his enclosure outside half in the sun half out and changed his substrate to a 50/50 mix of coco coir and organic potting soil. He's cruising all over and seems to be loving it:)
 
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