Leopard Hatchling Questions

[Jared]

Hi everyone,

I have a one month old Leopard Tortoise hatchling. Thanks to the many helpful posts on this forum I have learned a lot, however i have a couple of specific questions:
1) Is it a male or female

2) It has a problem with it's left eye, it still has visibility in the eye, but there appears to be a white membrane grown over most of the eye, he is still too small to get a clear photo of it. Is this a common issue? Any suggestions?
3) He will occasionally eat a bit of cactus, clover or kikuyu grass, but prefers soft leaves from an organic baby greens packet i buy (lettuce, arugula and basil). I have tried feeding it dandelion but it wont eat the flowers or the leaves. Any suggestions on some more natural food that he will eat at this young age?


Thank you,
Jared

 

[Killerrookie]

To young to tell if it's a female or male, you will have to wait a couple years to tell what gender it is. Now I have no knowledge about the eye problem but @Yvonne G might have an idea on what it is.
Hope I was helpful
-Austin

 

[Jared]

Thanks for the reply. Yes, that helps a bit. I read that the male has a bigger tail and that the plates on the bottom rear of the female are more rounded - but this guy has a biggish tail and roundish looking plates. So i guess i will have to be patient as you say, makes it more difficult to choose a name

 

[Yvonne G]

Hi Jared, and welcome to the Forum!

It's not normal for the eyeball to have a white film over it. My GUESS is that it has scar tissue, which looks opaque over the eye. Because he's so young, it may heal over time. You can soothe the eye by putting some eye cream on it. Depending upon where you are (geographically), this is what I use:



And sometimes this:




If the white on the eye is actually the third eyelid, and not scar tissue, then the ointment will help for sure. Also, soaking in warm water daily for about 15 minutes will help.

 

[Jodie]

Try to feed as much variety as possible. I chop several things up real small and mix it all together to get them to eat all the different foods offered.

 

[Jared]

Hi Jared, and welcome to the Forum!

It's not normal for the eyeball to have a white film over it. My GUESS is that it has scar tissue, which looks opaque over the eye. Because he's so young, it may heal over time. You can soothe the eye by putting some eye cream on it. Depending upon where you are (geographically), this is what I use:

View attachment 125879

And sometimes this:

View attachment 125880


If the white on the eye is actually the third eyelid, and not scar tissue, then the ointment will help for sure. Also, soaking in warm water daily for about 15 minutes will help.

Great, thanks, I will see if I can find either of those drops here. We do soak him and the eye does seem a bit better afterwards. I didn't know they had a third eye lid, but that could be it - because some days it is more covered than others.

Thanks again!

 

[Jared]

Try to feed as much variety as possible. I chop several things up real small and mix it all together to get them to eat all the different foods offered.

Going to give this a try this morning - some chopped up clover, grass, carrot greens and dandelion. Thanks for the suggestion!