Leopard tortoise hatchling care

[katrvt]

Hello.
I am a registered vet tech who specializes in exotic pet Med. I have noticed that you seem to be advocating higher humidity / moisture for Leo hatchies. I'm very glad to see this. I just got my first personal Leo. His/her name is Finn. 6 mos old, shell about 3 inches in diameter. Got him from a breeder in wa state. I'm in Oklahoma. I have had many people fighting me about providing my kiddo humidity, but from my own research, I think they do need it, and ill be decked if i let a personal reptile of mine die early from subclinical chronic dehydration or be massively pyramidded. My question to you is this: how high do you aim for your humidity in these babies, and how long do you keep it up?

 

[wellington]

Hello and Welcome. Wish you could talk too the reptile vets in my area. They still give out the old, outdated, bad info. Below in my post are Toms threads on raising a hatchling leopard and sulcata, both the same care. He does, and so do most of us, the 80% humidity with the temps no lower then 80 day or night, with daily warm water soaks. It has been working great for members that get an early start with their hatchlings.

 

[Levi the Leopard]

I keep my ambient humidity above 80% by using a closed chamber. The humidity is higher than that at the base of the plants and in the moss filled hides. I keep them in this 24/7 (minus the hour or 2 outside on nice weather days) for the first year. After the first year, they live outside in a heavily planted pen all day but still come inside at night to sleep in a chamber with 80%-99% RH.

At 6" in length (1 1/2 years old) I moved them outside full time but later decided I wasn't ready to stop the humidity yet. So they are back to the outside all day/ inside the chamber at night. I'll probably keep this up until they are 8" or 10".

I'm assuming at that point I'll move them outside and no longer concern myself with the humidity levels. However, I will always provide areas with bushes, tall grasses and weeds for them to burrow into and hopefully have a more humid micro climate.

 

[katrvt]

Thank you! My vet is awesome. Happens to be widely regarded as the best herp vet in Oklahoma. Brad Minson. One of the few vets I've worked with who recommends moisture for little sulcies and leos.

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Here's my Finn. Pardon the water spots, even my filtered water leaves them every time I wet down the enclosure.
You can see the pyramiding here too. Hoping I can keep it to only what he came with. Have had him 10 days.

 

[Tom]

It takes a long time to stop pyramiding in progress. Don't be discouraged.

I recommend against red bulbs, or any other color, for daytime use. I don't like them at night either. I use regular "white" bulbs for daytime basking and a ceramic heating element set on a thermostat for maintaining ambient day and night.

Also, those water bowls can be deadly. The sides are too tall and they can flip in them. Many tortoises will just choose to avoid them because of that. Terra cotta plant saucers sunk into the substrate work the best.

 

[tortoisetime565]

Hello.
I am a registered vet tech who specializes in exotic pet Med. I have noticed that you seem to be advocating higher humidity / moisture for Leo hatchies. I'm very glad to see this. I just got my first personal Leo. His/her name is Finn. 6 mos old, shell about 3 inches in diameter. Got him from a breeder in wa state. I'm in Oklahoma. I have had many people fighting me about providing my kiddo humidity, but from my own research, I think they do need it, and ill be decked if i let a personal reptile of mine die early from subclinical chronic dehydration or be massively pyramidded. My question to you is this: how high do you aim for your humidity in these babies, and how long do you keep it up?

I'm in Oklahoma also! I don't have a Leo, but I have a Sulcata, two redfoots, and two Russians! Do you enjoy this frigid weather?!

 

[katrvt]

Okay. I will swap the bulbs ASAP, but it will probably have to be next week when I get paid again. I also have been trying to find the ceramic plant saucers but so far have struck out. I've never seen a tort flip in a bowl like that, so had no idea. I'll get it swapped for something alternative today.

Aaand yeah. This weather sucks! I despise being cold, and it also makes for very slow times at work.
Glad to see another okie here!

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Okay. Now I have more questions... Is there a reason you don't care for red bulbs?
Purely curiosity on my part there. Already have a shopping list for when I get paid that includes a ceramic heat element and another lamp bracket. The red bulbs I can easily swap at work, since we have an over abundance of White bulbs and very few red. When I hospitalize herps I like to have a 75 or 100 w White bulb during the day depending on my temperature goals and a 50 or 75 red at night. I can't use ceramics at work because people forget they are on and burn the crap out of my counters.

 

[Yvonne G]

Colored bulbs used during the day cause the substrate to look edible (with some tortoises). Tortoises see different spectrums than we do. I use black lights at night. The tortoises sleep when its dark, so a colored light at night doesn't seem to cause the eat substrate problem. I also have a couple of 250watt brooder bulbs (red) in the larger tortoises' sheds, and there's no problem there either. But many times here on the Forum when people complain about their tortoise eating substrate, we've found out the the people use a red light during the day for heat.

 

[tortoisetime565]

Okay. I will swap the bulbs ASAP, but it will probably have to be next week when I get paid again. I also have been trying to find the ceramic plant saucers but so far have struck out. I've never seen a tort flip in a bowl like that, so had no idea. I'll get it swapped for something alternative today.

Aaand yeah. This weather sucks! I despise being cold, and it also makes for very slow times at work.
Glad to see another okie here!

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Okay. Now I have more questions... Is there a reason you don't care for red bulbs?
Purely curiosity on my part there. Already have a shopping list for when I get paid that includes a ceramic heat element and another lamp bracket. The red bulbs I can easily swap at work, since we have an over abundance of White bulbs and very few red. When I hospitalize herps I like to have a 75 or 100 w White bulb during the day depending on my temperature goals and a 50 or 75 red at night. I can't use ceramics at work because people forget they are on and burn the crap out of my counters.

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I'm sorry that it's slow for you. I was hoping for a snow day from school! Haha. What part of ok?

 

[katrvt]

Interesting about the red bulbs. I'll have to keep that in mind.

I'm in okc

 

[Tom]

In addition to what Yvonne said, I think those colored bulbs during the day mess with their circadian rhythms. When I seen reptiles under the, in the past, they just don't behave "normally". It his instance I like to attempt to simulate what happens in the wild. White light during the day and dark at night.

Terra cotta plant saucers can be found in the garden center of any hardware store like Lowes, OSH or Home Depot for a couple of bucks. Any gardening store should have them too. Maybe its seasonal in some areas? They are always available here.

 

[katrvt]

They are a bit seasonal here. I wanted an 8 inch diameter dish but had to settle for a 6.5 inch temporarily. That said, I got it switched out for the ramp bowl this afternoon.