Food for a hatchling

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tortoiselover

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I have a little Desert Tortoise hatchling and I have been feeding him but he isn't really eating a lot, is that because we just got him and he needs to adjust to his new surroundings or could it be that he just has a small stomach and I might be giving too much? Is there a specific amount of food that I should be giving him?
 

Yvonne G

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It might be as simple as WHAT you are offering the little guy. Were you able to ask the previous owner what this little guy is used to eating? Sometimes new babies don't recognize food as food.

It might be that his little beak is not strong enough to bite off the big pieces you are offering.

Give us some clues! :D

Yvonne
 

tortoiselover

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I did not ask what it was eating as I have had a desert trotoise before and I just give him what i feed the other. I feed them mustard greens, chard, cylantro, bok Choy. I also add dandilion greens, dandilion petals, and grassland tortoise mix. I also sprinkle calcium powder ocasionally buta very small amount as my bigger guy can taiste it and will not eat it.

The little guy eats alittle but seems like he has trouble biting the food. I atribute it to him being 3 weeks old.
 
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Maggie Cummings

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He is so small so I would get packaged Spring mix from the store and cut it up small bites for small mouths. I also add raddicho as it adds color and they eat better when it's red. Desert hatchlings are extremely fragile, are you providing heat? his metabolism needs to be in the 85 to 90 degree range so he may not be warm enough. i have raised many Gopherus hatchlings and I cannot stress enough how fragile they are and keeping them warm is very important. Bok choy is not something I would feed him.
 

Yvonne G

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tortoiselover said:
I did not ask what it was eating as I have had a desert tortoise before and I just give him what i feed the other. I feed them mustard greens, chard, cilantro, bok Choy. I also add dandelion greens, dandelion petals, and grassland tortoise mix. I also sprinkle calcium powder occasionally but very small amount as my bigger guy can taste it and will not eat it.

The little guy eats a little but seems like he has trouble biting the food. I attribute it to him being 3 weeks old.

Because the little tortoise was being fed before you got him, he has determined what "food" is. And obviously, what you are offering to him is not "food" as far as he's concerned. What they should be eating, and what his former owner was feeding might be two very different things. You need to feed him what he recognizes as food (from his previous owner) and slowly incorporate the good stuff back into his diet.

Also, if a baby is in the desert biting off pieces of a plant to eat, he has the tension of the roots holding onto the ground to pull on and bite off pieces. When we plop down a leaf of food, there is nothing holding that leaf for him to pull against, and some babies have a hard time with a whole leaf. Chop it up small for him into bite-sized pieces. Chard, cilantro and bok choy are ok as an occasional food...I'd say once a month, but not as part of their regular diet. All parts of the chard plant contain oxalic acid. Bok Choy is Chinese cabbage, and is in the Brassica family. Brassicas can cause goiter if too much is ingested.

Yvonne
 

tortoiselover

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Ok I will omit those foods stated and replace with what he is used to eating. I am sure that the previous owner was feeding the correct food it is just a question as the what food she was actually feeding.

I will get spring mix for the baby and see if he will eat that.

As for heat. I have a 40watt red heat lamp during the day coupled with a 60watt spot for basking. On the opposite side I have a UVB light. The temps reach a cofortable 80 on the cool side and a blistering 102 at the hottest part of the hot end. I think that's good but I may be misinformed.
 

dmmj

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Don't automatically assume that the previous owner was feeding him good food either, Little hatchlings will sometime stick to one type of food, but ask the previous owenr just out of curiousitry what did you feed the little guy, and go from there.
 

tortoiselover

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I saw him eating this morning Before his daylight bulb came on and he was munching away on some mustard greens. I also checked the temperatures again and the whole enclosure is above 80 degrees. I will go and get some spring mix for him today.

Should I be offering grasses as well as regular food for right now or just stick to the spring mix?
 

Yvonne G

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The babies don't usually get interested in grasses and hays until they're over a year old...sometimes even two.

You can always add some scissor-clipped grass to his spring mix, just to get him used to the smell and feel of it. Plus clovers, and any edible weeds you have.

YVonne
 

tortoiselover

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yeah i have already been adding dandelions/flower, wheat grass, fescue, and bermuda grass in small clippings. He really seems to like the wheat grass (cat grass) and the dandelion plant and flower. I also add a hibiscus petal clippings for color and smell. The hibiscus does not exceed 1 petal a week.
 
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Maggie Cummings

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tortoiselover said:
emysemys said:
tortoiselover said:
The hibiscus does not exceed 1 petal a week.

LOL!! What a big eater! :)

Yvonne

yeah I try to limit the hibiscus and feed it more as a treat to entice eating. Not as a staple food item.

Hibiscus CAN be a diet staple. I feed my tortoises Rose of Sharon everyday as a part of their varied diet. Those blooms are very good for them and all my tortoises big or small love them. Rose of Sharon is just a hardier variety of Hibiscus so they can live thru our snowy winters. So feeding your small tort Hibiscus as a diet staple is fine.
 

tortoiselover

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oh i always thought of it as a treat like all flowers were but i guess i can feed more every day? I guess as long as they are not really sugary or anything like that i guess they are fine.
 

tortoisenerd

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The hibiscus is way better than the bok choy, parsley, and chard! Fruits would be another example of rarely to never. The things you want to aim to feed will resemble what they can find in the wild--weeds, greens, etc. Cactus pads are a food that is technically a fruit but healthy for them if you have access to any. The more variety the better. Best wishes.
 
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