Food. Soaking. Humidity

[jenkins2728]

Okay. I think I have gotten the temperature down good as well as everything besides:

How much food to give these baby sulcatas? I have fed them like a small dish of spring mix lettuce. I have the TRex dry tortoise formula, but it may b too hard to eat.

How long and how often do I soak them? I have misted them like three times today, they seem to get a little energized from it. Is this good to do plus soaks?

If the humidity in the enclosure is around 55 or 60. Is there ways to raise it other than watering the substrate down? Watering the substrate helps, but when I am sleeping, it will obviously dry up.

I feel I have read Toms information about baby sulcatas over and over, yet I still am not 100% clear on what exactly the answers for these three questions are.

 

[DonaTello's-Mom]

First I have not raised a baby sully but I have a juvie, my boy Donny. I know it's nerve racking trying to get things 'just right' and boy oh boy do I still worry! Anyhow here's a few ideas.

I feed twice a day about a handful of spring mix, any leftovers I throw away at night.
The pellets (mazuri) I add twice a week to his greens. I soak it in warm water to make it mushy an easier to eat.
I would soak 2 times a day in warm (not hot) water for at least 15mins. My tort now climbs into his water dish and soaks himself. I keep his water dish by the heat lamp and it stay nice and warm. He DID NOT like to be soaked when he was younger but now he LOVES it!
I spray my tort everytime I walk by his tort table. "Mist till they drip" they say!
I keep my substrate pretty wet and it's still good and moist in the morning.
I'm sure Tom or 1 of the others will answer any questions or correct me if I'm wrong Lol, but this is what I do.

 

[DeanS]

Jilly has it down pretty good! Don't worry about nighttime levels...as long as their night hide is humid, you'll be fine! I would dump the T-Rex in favor of a Mazuri/Grassland mix...but that's just me (and a few others )

 

[DonaTello's-Mom]

Jilly has it down pretty good! Don't worry about nighttime levels...as long as their night hide is humid, you'll be fine! I would dump the T-Rex in favor of a Mazuri/Grassland mix...but that's just me (and a few others )

Yes I would dump the T-rex too...

 

[Tom]

Glad you asked these questions. Here are my opinions.

1. I feed babies a big pile each day. If they eat it all with in minutes. I'll feed them some more in the afternoon. If it lasts a while or they don't finish it, that's it for the day. Raising them with my "wet" routine seems to make them super healthy and grow faster than "normal" even on a moderate amount of food. Soak the TRex pellets first to make them mushy and then mix them in with the greens. Even better, substitute some Zoo-Med grassland tortoise food or Mazuri instead.

2. I think babies should be soaked every day. 15-30 minutes in warm water. Replace or refresh water as needed during the soaking process. I soak mine in the morning and then a second time after sunning. And yes, do the soaks AND the shell spraying.

3. In my enclosures, I need to DUMP large amounts of water in them to keep them wet enough. 50-60% is not enough. Shoot for at least 80%. You also need a proper humid hide box. Cheap and easy to make.

Here are some things that might help with your humidity. Just use what works for your situation.

a. Cover as much of the top as you can. This will reduce humidity loss.
b. Spray the whole enclosure several times a day. Zoo-Med makes an automatic mister for this.
c. Use a larger water bowl.
d. Use a Zoo-med Repti-Fogger. These things work.
e. Humidify the whole room more. I use a baby's room humidifier. You can find these at Wal-Mart or Target.
f. Dump more water into your substrate more often.

Keep asking questions until you are sure you've got it right. These suggestions and the care sheet are just my way of doing it and what works for me. They are only generalities and everyone's situation is a little different. You'll have to tweak your set-up a bit and make some adjustments to get it just right for you and your tort.

 

[DeanS]

There you have it! Straight from the Guru's mouth

 

[Tom]

Just want to clarify: When I said use a larger water dish, I meant wider, NOT deeper. More surface area should be he goal. I use terra-cotta plant saucers for this. They are just they right depth and offer good traction too.

 

[jenkins2728]

Im still working on the soaking thing Tom. Do they just lay there almost like they are resting? Im trying to put pictures up so everyone can meet the two boogers.

 

[Yvonne G]

Its different for every tortoise. Some of them immediately lower their head and start to drink, others lay there in wonderment and still others scramble trying to escape!

 

[Tom]

Yeah, Yvonne is right. Their reactions run the whole spectrum. I don't worry about how they "feel" about it. Its good for them, they need it, I do it, end of story.

 

[lincoln3313]

Yeah, Yvonne is right. Their reactions run the whole spectrum. I don't worry about how they "feel" about it. Its good for them, they need it, I do it, end of story.

Tough Love....LOL!

 

[Maggie Cummings]

I think that soaking once a day is enough. Twice a day pushes the poop out too fast and they don't get all the nutrition they need from it. Food needs to stay in the stomach longer and when you soak too much it upsets the tort and he reacts by pooping. That moves the poop he pooped out of the intestines and then what should stay in the stomach is moved into the intestines. I have spent a number of years raising tortoises and don't see any reason for soaks twice a day. Sorry Tom...

 

[jenkins2728]

Whatd the poop look like? I seem to not see it at anytime.

 

[jenkins2728]

I meant to say, what does sulcata baby poop look like? I have a brownish colored substrate and I do not see any of it when I soak them, so I was just makin sure they do poop. They ate spring mix lettuce and a bit of the ZooMed grassland tortoise food, so I am hoping it will help.

 

[Yvonne G]

It kinda' reminds one of little mouse poops.