how sick is he :(

[nicole :)]

I have 2 baby sulcatas. My oldest , razar, was bought as a pair with tokar. About 3 months in tokar passed away, I was told the breeder probadly used to high of a temp trying to breed females, which probadly caused liver failure, how true that is I don't know. I just know my razar (now 6 months) was alone so I went and bought another baby at about a month old (shredder) from the same mother and father, but they were about the same size. Everything was fine but as they are getting older razar hasn't been growing, shredder on the other hand he's the size of my hand, eats like a little pig, which is good he always has food down no matter how much he eats, razar I havnt seen eat in a while, I've tried the baby food and pedialight he won't open his mouth but I leave him under the light for 20 mins now just to make sure he gets some of it. I never see him move while in the tank but he is always in different spots so he must be walking around, but when he is outside in the grass he just walks around, and falls asleep, then walks around again for about an hour they are outside each day. Its too the point where shredder is almost 3 times the size of razar and razar has no weight on him but if I poke his arms he has muscle and he pulls them in (it might seem mean butt I just want to make sure he isn't getting weak).

I guess my main question here is razar fallen into the same path as his clutch mate tokar? Or could he just be a slow grower

 

[dmmj]

First off welcome to the forum, I hope you enjoy your visits here, and also sorry to hear about your one sulcata.
First off I doubt your first one who died was because of high incubation temps, more than likely your little guy was started off dry and just failed to thrive probably due to chronic dehydration. As for why the other one is not doing so well, it is possible he may be getting bullied by the other one. For now I would separate them and see if his behavior changes, when they are young and not eating they tend to go downhill quickly.

 

[wellington]

I would say separate them too. Most likely bullying happening.

 

[nicole :)]

Would it be safe to put one of them on a bottom level of a snake rack? (Might be a stupid question) of course I would put another heat pad just to bring the temp up and take him outside to get his sunlight everyday

 

[tortadise]

What do you keep them in how warm? Substrate? Do you have a UVB source? What are you feeding them? Do you soak them in warm water every day for 20-30 minutes? Also did they still have the egg sack on their belly when you got them?

 

[ascott]

My first instinct is your Razr is a bully (which is not a bad personality trait if you would have let him remain the only tort).....

The description you give is classic of what happens when bullying is at hand....tortoise are not designed to long for or appreciate company the way other pack species do....they will seek out the best sleeping...basking....hiding spot...they will seek out best food (which is all of the food) and will tend to any competition with intimidation and silent bullying as well as eventual outright walking over....ramming...and so forth...then the weaker one begins to hide...not eat...not bask...not seek out appropriate hiding spots and then begins to fail and once you notice it likely it can be crucial you intervene right away in order for your weaker tort to have a chance at survival.

When torts are young there is no way (visually that is)and for us humans to know what sex the tort(s) are...but I can bet cha they know....I would set up a second enclosure and take special care of the little one...soak warm water daily...food offering daily...warm enclosure with a good hiding spot (try plant canopy vs a solid hide (you can purchase a bunch of silk plants and sink them into a cup packed in with soil and out that into a corner of the new enclosure....and do not hassle the baby too much other than the daily soaks and when you offer food find him in the enclosure and set him right where the food is...every day till he gets it....also torts seem to do better on feeding right out of a warm water soak...also you may want to do baby food soaks (half jar carrot baby food mixed in with warm water--this may peak his interest to consume water as well as the vit a from the carrot)....it may take him 6to months to show his true personality and begin to regain his confidence....

Good luck to you and your tort(s)...

 

[nicole :)]

I have them in a 40 gallon, with the eco earth, and I use a ceramic heat lamp on all day and night and during the day I turn a uvb bulb on as well. I only feed them romaine, never iceburg and some times they get catus but the little one never was interested in it.
I always have one side at lease 90 to 95 I try to keep it at around 90 but on hot days it goes up a little (I normally turn the ceramic bulb off on hot days) and the cold side never gets below 70
They are also in a room where my snakes are soo the room itself stays pretty warm
My bigger one always sits right under the lamp like he is cold, but the little one acts like he is too hot but he sleeps with his face in the cold sit corner
I hope I'm doing everything right :/

 

[dmmj]

It does indeed sound like bullying to me, the bigger one hogs the best basking spots, I would separate them IMHO.

 

[nicole :)]

I will seperate them, they could visit each other when playing outside

 

[nicole :)]

Thank you for all the answer it helped alot

 

[ascott]

My opinion and best advice would be to set them up equally each in their own enclosure...this I believe would ne a step towards doing everything right

 

[tortadise]

Ditto ^

 

[Tom]

What are you using for a UV bulb? Is it one of the coil type cfl blbs?

Either your enclosure is lacking, or your description of your enclosure is lacking. Do they have a water bowl? Daily soaks? How were they housed before you got them? We're they on rabbit pellets? Humid hide? Ambient humidity? Do you feed them anything other than romaine and cactus? Do you give them some calcium supplementation? What are your four temps? Cool side, warm side , basking and night. 70 is much too cool for young ones with humidity. There is a lot more info we need to know.

If you click on the links in my signature below, there are a lot of threads that you might find useful. There are two care sheets, a thread on pairs, and why not to do it, there is a thread on chronic baby dehydration and the symptoms of it, which sounds like what you are seeing. Read those threads and see if anything strikes you. Then I'd love to hear more.

 

[nicole :)]

No I don't use a coil bulb I heard they were bad for them also I heard the red lights mess up their eyes so I don't use those either, they have a water bowl and they only get romaine and catus I've tried carrots in the past but neither of them will each anything else I've tried hay and grasses if I have clovers in my yard somtimes my big one will eat one or two, I've tried the d3 powder but they won't eat it and so id rather have them eat and I don't use it. I soak the little one in pedialight every other day and water everyday but he acts like he is drowning I put just above his legs so he doesn't drown, and I leave that under the ceramic blub.
During the day the basking is 95 and the hot side stays at about 90 the cold side is at about 70 75 but at night the tank doesn't get below 85

---

And the breeder I got them from had them on sand
I had them on sand and wallnut shells up untill I lost my first baby :/

 

[wellington]

They need more of a varied diet. Spring mix, and varied dark greens, kale, mustard, dandelion, etc. Also get some Mazuri tortoise food. What is your humidity? It should be 80% but with temps no lower than 80-85. Please read the threads at the bottom of my post, by my signature. They should help you a lot also.