Hatch rite substrate for incubation

[Tom]

The temp might have been a bit higher, and it might have been for longer. Hard to recall exactly as I was pretty frantic.

Years ago I sold some baby sulcata tortoises to a guy in FL. He didn't want to go to his local hub for pick and insisted that it would be fine having them shipped directly to his house. He was an experienced reptile guy and told me he had animals shipped to his house all the time, so I let him talk me into it. The box sat on his front porch in full sun for 3 hours the next day. I guess it was not his usual guy and the replacement guy didn't know to ring the door bell. I ship with little thermometers that record the highs and lows. It was 121 degrees in that box, and all the hatchlings were perfectly fine. On one hand, I'm sad that those babies went through that, but on the other hand, they were all fine, and now we all know that sulcata babies can handle 121F for three hours with no ill effect. That is not an experiment that I would ever intentionally carry out, and I would never have guessed they could tolerate temps that high for that long in a closed box.

My point is this: Unless your incubator got really really hot, I don't think that the high temperature was the COD. I want to bring this up, so that you keep looking to see what the actual COD was, if that is even possible.

 

[Kat99]

Thanks, Tom. I appreciate that. And I’m glad the sulcatas made it!

 

[Kat99]

Update: the second baby hatched out today, had a little bath and is doing ok in the brooder box.

 

[Kat99]

This morning I took the new baby out for a bath while I cleaned up the brooder box. There were two faint pink bloodstains on the paper towel. I turned the baby over and noticed a little blood on one side of the yolk sac scar. No yolk sac was visible. Could he/she have been injured while hatching? I’m worried about possible infection. What should I do?

 

[Kat99]

This is not good. I am online with a vet right now.

 

[Kat99]

Online vet says this is just a residual nub. Since Hildalgo is active hopefully this will heal up on its own as long as I keep him in the right conditions.

 

[Markw84]

That should not be a problem. There sometimes is a little blood and then scab that will form on the yolk sac. It has always healed and turned out completely normal just like the ones with no blood present on the yolk sac.

 

[Maggie3fan]

I'm sorry about your tortoise's death...however...I had an accident with my baby Sulcata, when I checked before bedtime his temperature was 90 degrees..ok..good enuf , so I went to bed...the next morning, 9 hours later, was 122 degrees. The baby was digging a hole in the substrate...there is no way to know how long he was at 122 degrees, but he has never acted like it bothered him...and I have not seen or noticed a difference in him

 

[Kat99]

Thank you for the comment on the umbilicus healing. Doing my best and hoping all will be well. The little guy is pretty active, climbing around, exploring, resting.
About the heat spike issue…maybe sulcatas can handle heat better than Russians? But the heat did not seem to affect the second baby, who was in the process of hatching in the same conditions.

 

[Kat99]

The little guy is doing fine, eating and exploring the brooder box. He/she likes to spend time in the little water dish…. A very shallow amount of water in a shallow dish. Hope that’s normal and not a sign of any issue! Umbilicus seems to be healing.

 

[Kat99]

Baby moved to a new habitat yesterday, with UVB lighting, endive and escarole with vitamins, a heat gradient and — so you can appreciate the scale — a Bonne Maman jar top for a water dish. After a long nap under the substrate, he/he started chowing down and basking! So far, so good… though according to a reptile vet I chatted with today, I do need a stronger UVB source and better quality vitamins. Will get those asap.

 

[The_Four_Toed_Edward]

Baby moved to a new habitat yesterday, with UVB lighting, endive and escarole with vitamins, a heat gradient and — so you can appreciate the scale — a Bonne Maman jar top for a water dish. After a long nap under the substrate, he/he started chowing down and basking! So far, so good… though according to a reptile vet I chatted with today, I do need a stronger UVB source and better quality vitamins. Will get those asap

Get a UVB tube light from a reputable brand like ZooMed or Arcadia.

 

[Tom]

Baby moved to a new habitat yesterday, with UVB lighting, endive and escarole with vitamins, a heat gradient and — so you can appreciate the scale — a Bonne Maman jar top for a water dish. After a long nap under the substrate, he/he started chowing down and basking! So far, so good… though according to a reptile vet I chatted with today, I do need a stronger UVB source and better quality vitamins. Will get those asap.

Be careful. Most vets don't know tortoise husbandry and will often give terrible advice.

What type of UV tube have you got now?

Go easy with vitamins and calcium supplementation. They don't need a lot. Try to offer good foods, like a variety of weeds and leaves to give them what they need instead of adding powders to lettuce. Even with grocery store greens you only need a small amount calcium mixed in with the greens twice a week, and vitamins once a week. When my babies hatch during the time of years when I have loads of different weeds available to them, I forego the powdered supplements entirely.

Either type of Mazuri offered once or twice a week is another good way to supplement them and ensure they are getting good balanced nutrition.

That jar lid looks fancy, but its also too slick ad the vertical side are difficult for a small tortoise to navigate. You are likely to find him upside down in that. Small terra cotta saucers work much better and afford better traction to small wet tortoise feet. The sloped sides also make getting in an and out easier. Many of us learned this one the hard way.

 

[Kat99]

Be careful. Most vets don't know tortoise husbandry and will often give terrible advice.

What type of UV tube have you got now?

Go easy with vitamins and calcium supplementation. They don't need a lot. Try to offer good foods, like a variety of weeds and leaves to give them what they need instead of adding powders to lettuce. Even with grocery store greens you only need a small amount calcium mixed in with the greens twice a week, and vitamins once a week. When my babies hatch during the time of years when I have loads of different weeds available to them, I forego the powdered supplements entirely.

Either type of Mazuri offered once or twice a week is another good way to supplement them and ensure they are getting good balanced nutrition.

That jar lid looks fancy, but its also too slick ad the vertical side are difficult for a small tortoise to navigate. You are likely to find him upside down in that. Small terra cotta saucers work much better and afford better traction to small wet tortoise feet. The sloped sides also make getting in an and out easier. Many of us learned this one the hard way.

The vet was very knowledgable about Russian tortoises and gave specific recommendations in line with what I’ve learned here, about temperature gradients, UV light, etc., including supplementation only once or twice a week, since I am feeding endive, escarole, and dandelion greens as well as Mazuri. Baby has been using this 1/4” little dish in the brooder box and climbs in and out very easily to soak on his/her own. I appreciate your advice, though, and will look into a terra cotta dish.