I havent seen baby hatchling poop.

[terracolson]

As some of you know BB is very new to me and the world.

Born dec 22 (my birthday, hence the name Birthday boy "bb")

He is gaining weight, up to 23.8!

So in a weeks time he has been from the lowest 21.9 to 23.8

Yet i havent seen any poops! Not in a soak or in his habitat. Is it just so small its easy to miss?
He has soaked himself two times in his water bowl and it stays clean.
Plus me soaking him just about every day


He has just started to eat for me, since i have had him about 9 days.

This week i have only seen him take small bits of his pricky pear cactus. nothing else.

He has been offered, romaine, kale, corn, mazuri, dandelion, kalanchoe, oat grass and clover... he walks away.


advice please on poop
advice please on eating issues.. do i with hold food for a day?

Temps range in his tank from 77 to 95.. so he can pick

 

[Greg T]

If he hasn't eaten too much, it is possible he just doesn't have enough to expel yet, or maybe he's managed to hide it from you. Eating cactus will usually make it runny, so it may be hidden in the substrate. Also check their hiding and sleeping areas since they will poop there frequently.

The only other advice on getting them to poop is to soak them in warm water. This almost always gets mine pooping either in or right after the soak.

As for eating, keep offering and mix it with little pieces of the catcus to see if you can trick him into eating some of that also.

Good luck!

 

[Maggie Cummings]

I am on the African Tortoise list and we talk a lot about poop. Leopard keepers say that Leopards don't poop very often, certainly not as much a Sulcata. More like every 3 weeks. I don't have a clue if this applies to hatchlings, just repeating what 'they' say.

 

[terracolson]

Thanks maggie!!!

and really he only takes 4 bites of food, so he probley isnt ready..

But i tried cucumber today and hes been by his food plate for over a hour! i hope he is eating, cause i sprinkled some calcium / d3 with other vitamins mix, since he hasnt seen the light of day yet except for about 5 mins, i walked him outside when the sun was out, but i never set him down, held him close to me for body warmth, been way to cold and wet. i hope it drys up in sacramento soon, so we can go out


thank you, i wont worry yet

 

[jblayza]

I've had baby for almost a month and he's only pooped 3 X. 2 were barely noticeable and the last was like whoa!

 

[terracolson]

lol alright i will be patient

I've had baby for almost a month and he's only pooped 3 X. 2 were barely noticeable and the last was like whoa!

 

[Maggie Cummings]

I see you are on the AT list also, have you asked there about pooping? There's nothing they love more then talking about pooping...and FYI...hatchling poop is really really small so you might just not see it...

 

[terracolson]

AT list?

i dont know those abbreviations? or they are not ringing a bell



oh oh the group i just signed up with.. found it from yvonnes links...

I dont quite understand it yet....

I see you are on the AT list also, have you asked there about pooping? There's nothing they love more then talking about pooping...and FYI...hatchling poop is really really small so you might just not see it...

 

[Tom]

Leopards and Sucatas have a very long digestive system. In the fall, all of the leaves used fall off the tress and into their pen. They had a smorgasbord. Well, once all the leaves were finally off I'd go ahead and rake them all up. There were no other leaves to be found and no new ones blew over the 6' fence. They were still eating like piggies and pooing every day and seven weeks later, I was still cleaning up leaf poos. You could actually see the leaves in the poo even though they'd had had no access to leaves for almost two months. This was five years ago in the old pen at the old house and they were only about a foot long back then.

I predict you'll see poo soon. All you can do is keep him warm, active and soaked. Have you tried soaking him in the bath tub where he can run around a lot while soaking? That always worked for me with hatchlings.

 

[terracolson]

I can try the bath tub but he only a quarter size!

he would drown in the tub! buy the time the water was in the back, the front would be to deep, right?

 

[Maggie Cummings]

It's the African Tortoise list...AT...because it's easier to write AT than the long name.
It's a nice friendly group and they will answer any questions you have. Just like this forum. And if you ask there about your nonpooping hatchling they will have numerous suggestions I'm sure. There's a lot of Leopard keepers there and they love talking about poop!

 

[Yvonne G]

Leopards and Sucatas have a very long digestive system.

Interesting that you would say that. Just today I re-read Misty Cordon's care sheet on leopards and she says this:

"Studies have shown that digestion of food prepared from the kitchen takes 3-8 days, whereas natural growing food digests in 16-28 days, a much slower and more natural process which their systems are designed for. Plants can be grown in trays or pots and replaced when required. These tortoises do best on a natural high fiber diet. "