Hatchling care

[Alaura]

i just brought home my tortoise today, and upon inspecting him I'm pretty sure he still has a belly button? What does this mean in terms of his care? I was expecting him to be a little older honestly

 

[Tom]

What species have you got there? Can we see a pic without the coir all over it?

Where did you get it? How was it started?

 

[Yvonne G]

Here are a couple good threads for you to start with:

http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/beginner-mistakes.45180/

http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/how-to-raise-a-healthy-sulcata-or-leopard-version-2-0.79895/

 

[Alaura]

What species have you got there? Can we see a pic without the coir all over it?

Where did you get it? How was it started?

He's a Sulcata, the part I think is the belly button is dark black but here is another picture.
I'm a little embarrassed to say I got him from Craig's list.

 

[Alaura]

Here are a couple good threads for you to start with:

http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/beginner-mistakes.45180/

http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/how-to-raise-a-healthy-sulcata-or-leopard-version-2-0.79895/

Thanks I will check them out

 

[Tom]

He's a Sulcata, the part I think is the belly button is dark black but here is another picture.
I'm a little embarrassed to say I got him from Craig's list.

This baby should have been kept in the brooder box for another few days at least. Someone was in a hurry to get rid of them.

If this were my baby, I'd put it in a brooder box and soak it daily for a week or so, before putting it into an enclosure. Read all about it here:
http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/how-to-incubate-eggs-and-start-hatchlings.124266/

Then, once the yolk sac is all absorbed and the umbilical scar closes up, you can move the baby into a regular enclosure following the advice in the threads linked above.