Just Hatched or 3.5 months old?? Help!!

Kara B

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  • I have a question, maybe someone here could help me. I just got a baby sulcata from a reptile show 2 weeks ago. They told me she was about 3 1/2 months old. Although, I'm pretty sure she still had her egg tooth when we got her. Whatever it was fell off about a week after we brought her home.
    My question is this, Is it possible that she is younger than they initially told me or can they sometimes have the tooth or part of it still attached that long after they are hatched?
  • For the record she is 2" and .355 oz. They also told me they had an ultrasound and that they were 95% sure she was a girl...idk what to think about all that.
  • I kind of feel like the guy just wanted to get rid of the tortoise because he didn't even ask me if I had any idea as to what I was getting myself into. He also told me that they just eat whatever we eat. Thankfully I know that to be untrue. I am just worried. I want to make sure he or she is getting exactly what they need to thrive.
 

JoesMum

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Hello and welcome to TFO

Tortoises are impossible to guess ages for unless you know the hatch date.

A photo of your tort might help though.

Whoever you bought from clearly doesn't know much about raising healthy sulcatas.

Luckily we have TFO experts who know lots and who have written fact sheets with the most up to date care information :)

Please read the following:

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

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

For those who have a young Sulcata
http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/for-those-who-have-a-young-sulcata.76744/

We will be happy to advise if you have any questions. Photographs of tortoise, enclosure and lighting make things easier for us to see what's happening :)
 

BILBO-03

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I don't know about the egg tooth but make sure she's in a closed chaser and soak her twice a day. And keep the humidity at 70-80. Could we have some pics of his/her enclosure
 

Gillian M

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Hi @Kara B very warm welcome to the forum! :D

Please post pictures of your tort and his/her enclosure. :tort:

Make sure it is warm and humid enough. Ask all the questions you want to ask. We are here to help. :)
 

mctlong

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The egg tooth can hold on for few months. The breeder might not be lying about the age, but as @JoesMum mentioned, theres no way to know for sure. What does its plastron look like? Is there an opening on the bottom of her shell? Can you post a picture? This tort is a little small for approx 4 mos., , but with good care she'll catch up pretty quick.

The breeder's advice about the tort's diet is ridiculous, as you've already figured out.

Sulcata breeders generally do not invest in the costly scoping process that is required to determine sex in a hatchling. Instead, they rely on temperature incubation to make an educated guess at sex. It's not a foolproof method and some torts that are incubated for female turn out to be male. You won't know for sure until she (or he) starts to reach sexual maturity.
 

Kara B

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I will post pictures of her and her enclosure as soon as I get home. Right now I have a 6 foot book shelf on it's back with a plastic liner duct taped in and a shelf to divide it in half for now. For her substrate I have a layer of cypress mulch, then a layer of damp moss, then some timothy hay on top of that. She has a hidey hole that also has damp moss in it. I keep that on the warm side of the enclosure which has a basking spot which is at about 100 degrees, the cool side is around 75, I'm working on getting it to 80. I have an 18" UVB strip light and another UVB dome light, one on each end. There is a very shallow tray of water and a cuttle bone. I have been feeding her spring mix as well as wheat grass which I am growing myself. I have Zoomed pellets but she seems too small to eat much of it but I still wet it and mix it in with her greens. I also have a calcium powder with D3 that she gets a sprinkling of. She doesn't seem to eat all that much but she does eat and poop every day. I soak her every other day for 20/30 minutes. She sleeps A LOT. Is that normal?
 

mctlong

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She sleeps A LOT. Is that normal?

How much is a lot? Babies tend to sleep more than adults, but a healthy hatchling will spend several hours each day grazing & exploring their habitat. Sleeping all day is generally a sign of an inadequate environment (such as temps or humidity being off) or possibly illness. Follow the advice in the links @JoesMum provided and see if her activity levels improve.
 

Kara B

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How much is a lot? Babies tend to sleep more than adults, but a healthy hatchling will spend several hours each day grazing & exploring their habitat. Sleeping all day is generally a sign of an inadequate environment (such as temps or humidity being off) or possibly illness. Follow the advice in the links @JoesMum provided and see if her activity levels improve.
She sleeps like 95% of the day....I am so worried now that her temps are too low. I want to RUN home and fix it NOW. I have a fogger coming tomorrow so that should help. OMG I am so worried!!
 

mctlong

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She sleeps like 95% of the day....I am so worried now that her temps are too low. I want to RUN home and fix it NOW. I have a fogger coming tomorrow so that should help. OMG I am so worried!!

Just an fyi - make sure that the temps are up before adding the fogger. Humidity is needed, but introducing humidity when the temps are too low will make the baby sick.
 

Speedy-1

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She sleeps like 95% of the day....I am so worried now that her temps are too low. I want to RUN home and fix it NOW. I have a fogger coming tomorrow so that should help. OMG I am so worried!!

I would bring those temps up , before I bothered with a fogger . It is as easy as putting a lamp close to her to provide additional heat . More moisture before you bring up the temps could be detrimental . Warm and humid is good , cool and humid is bad !
 

Kara B

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Just an fyi - make sure that the temps are up before adding the fogger. Humidity is needed, but introducing humidity when the temps are too low will make the baby sick.
I absolutely will. I have my daughter putting a small space heater in the room right now till I can get there and fix it properly.
 

Kara B

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Whats the best type of heat? Should I get a pad type heater to go along with the basking light? I have a ceramic heat emitter for the night time, should I just run that all day too? Oh my, I am so stressed out and still an hour away from being home!!
 

Speedy-1

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Whats the best type of heat? Should I get a pad type heater to go along with the basking light? I have a ceramic heat emitter for the night time, should I just run that all day too? Oh my, I am so stressed out and still an hour away from being home!!
The easiest is to run your CHE off of a thermostat . Set it at 81 , put the sensor as far away from the CHE as you can and it will turn off and on as needed ! Don't bother with a pad .
 
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JoesMum

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This is something I keep pre-prepared, but I think it will answer all your heat/light questions

Your tort needs:

1. A basking lamp
This must hang vertically, not at an angle. Basking is essential to raise your tortoise's core temperature so it can digest food.

2. UVB light
Read the instructions for the source to see how close to the substrate it must be. UVB is essential so your tort can process dietary calcium and have healthy bones and shell.

Both 1 and 2 are available from the sun for those able to live outside.

UVB does not pass through glass or perspex(plexiglass) - light must be direct to be effective not through a window. Mesh screening can also interfere with UVB.

3. A minimum overnight temperature (see the care sheet for your species) and complete darkness at night to sleep.


Notes

(a) A Mercury Vapor Bulb (MVB) provides combined UVB and Basking. Alternatively you can use 2 bulbs: a tube UVB and a reflector bulb for basking (a household reflector - not low energy or halogen - from a hardware store will do the job; it's the wattage that counts)

(b) Ignore any references to UVA you may read - it's misleading marketing speak.

(c) Compact coil UVB harms tortoise eyes and must not be used.

(d) Basking and UVB should be on a timer so the light(s) are on for 12 hours a day. Temperature under the basking is regulated by its height above the substrate.

(e) Overnight, depending on your home, you may need additional heat. You get this from a CHE (Ceramic Heat Emitter) which must be on a thermostat.

(f) Torts have outstanding colour vision and love red and purple food. Coloured heat lamps colour tank decor and torts don't always apply intelligence to what they eat, resulting them in eating tank decor. Coloured bulbs should not be used.


Measurements

There are 4 important temperatures that you must know for an indoor enclosure.
- Directly under the basking lamp
- Warm side
- Cool side
- Overnight Minimum

You will need digital thermometers for accuracy.

A temperature gun thermometer (inexpensive from Amazon) measures temperature accurately in specific places like directly under the basking lamp.

A min/max thermometer so you know the min/max temperatures in your home by day and night.

You should also get a good digital probe hygrometer to measure humidity.

Thermometers and hygrometer that stick to the side of the enclosure tend to be less accurate.
 

cmacusa3

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I don't know about the egg tooth but make sure she's in a closed chaser and soak her twice a day. And keep the humidity at 70-80. Could we have some pics of his/her enclosure


You don't need to soak twice a day, one is enough, at this age It's best to only handle them a few times a day and let them do their own thing. make sure the humidity is no less than 80 with heat temps no less than 80. Read the care sheets that have been attached.
 

sue white

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I know the fear I didn't sleep but an hour at a time for the first 3 weeks after I got mine checked on her constantly Now had 5 weeks and I sleep at least 2 hour at a time
 

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