New baby sulcata lethargic

Yoda0916

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Hello everyone, I hate that my first post here is somewhat on a negative note. So I got my baby sulcata at the Arlington TX reptile show from the LLLREPTILES booth. They all seemed healthy and I read they are a reputable breeder. Yoda os about 2 1/2" in carapace. The first week I kept him/her was on a 40 gal breeder tank on moist cypress mulch, cool end about 75-80, basking spot 100. I just finishing building him a proper tortouse table 2'X6', the hide area maintains a humidity level of no less than 80% then it graduates to about 50% on the hot side. The temps right under the basking spot is 100 to 105, around the warm side anywhere from 80 to 90. Then at the cool end can drop to 75. The UVB is a zoomed 10.0 strip.

He was fine, active, and eating up until 4 days ago. Now he barely stops sleeping and barely opens his eyes. I will admit the first week I got him I was extremely busy and he only got a quick soak in the morning. After I noticed his decline I have started giving him at least a 20 minute soak. It's been 2 days since I started giving him the 20 minute baths but still no improvement. Today I gave him a bath in half water and half carrot baby food. He perked up a bit opened his eyes and walked past his food to go to sleep. I have not seen him it in the past 4 days but I have noticed small stools through his cage. I even took off work to monitor him but have not seen him noble on food at all.

What I was feeding him before the decline and after was bermuda/saint augustine grass, hibiscus leaves, some flowers, and store greens.

Please let me know if there's anything else I can do.
 

Jodie

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Pictures of your enclosure might help us identify any issues. I would bump the low temps to 80F to 85F to start with. Are you using any coiled type bulbs? They can cause eye problems.
 

GingerLove

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Maybe the UVB light is defective? My tortoise was very lethargic when the light went bad. And yes, pictures of the enclosure would help considerably!
 

wellington

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I am thinking he was started too dry. Give him soaks every day, morning and night. Get the humidity all over not less then 80% and do not let temps day or night go below 80. I would add piedialyte to the carrot soaks.
 

Fredkas

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I do want to know what cause it. I see LLLReptile adv here. I think they know what they are doing for being in the forum, isn't it? I think maybe the baby not started dry. Keep us update. Welcome to the forum and hope your tort pull through.
 

Tom

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I don't want to speculate about what is happening there based on such a limited amount of info.

LLL is a reputable seller, forum sponsor, and Loren is a friend of mine. Having said that, they do buy a lot of sulcata babies from a lot of breeders to fill their HUGE sales volume, and it is possible that they got a batch from a breeder that started them too dry. Possible. I'm not saying that is what is happening here, only that its possible.

Yoda,
All you can do at this point is offer the best care possible and wait and see. There may be some tips in here that will improve things. Will you please take a moment to read through these:
http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/how-to-raise-a-healthy-sulcata-or-leopard-version-2-0.79895/
http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/beginner-mistakes.45180/
http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/for-those-who-have-a-young-sulcata.76744/
 

Yoda0916

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Thank you all for the quick response. Here is a pic of my enclosure, it is made of maple laminated wood and line with sheet metal inside to protect from humidity. The UVB is a zoomed 10.0, the strip kind, not coil. I have used it on my bearded dragons with no problem. I will change the bulb just in case even though it has no more than 6 months use.
20161004_133730_zpshzjfx0ue.jpg
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The big hide is all the way on the left and the trunk hide in the middle. The lamp in the middle is a CHE which stays onn24/7.
 

wellington

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You need to make it a closed chamber. Humidity can not be kept up in an open top. Temps can't be maintained correctly either, except where the heat/bulbs hits. For older torts, 2 plus years, an open enclosure can work fine, but not with little ones.
 

cmacusa3

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I agree with above, no way to maintain proper heat and humidity, that baby is getting cold at night and if the substrate is wet that is a huge problem.
 

Yoda0916

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I will get to work this weekend on constructing a frame and covering it with some kind of plastic to make it as closed as possible. What about ventilation? Should I have some.kind of vent somewhere for fresh air?

I also wanted to add that his decline started before being placed in this enclosure. He was kept on a 40 gal breeder with half the top covered and humidity was constantly around 80 there. But I do agree that with this table design I have to constatly be adding water as the substrate dries really fast under the heat, so a making it closed will be in the works ASAP!
 

cmacusa3

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No ventilation needed, plenty of air will still be in there. A PVC a frame with a plastic cover of any type would be a quick fix. I like the enclosure and seems to be a good size for the time being. Those changes are definitely needed so I would Read those care sheets Tom posted and it will help you understand more of what you can do.
 

cmacusa3

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No ventilation needed, plenty of air will still be in there. A PVC a frame with a plastic cover of any type would be a quick fix. I like the enclosure and seems to be a good size for the time being. Those changes are definitely needed so I would Read those care sheets Tom posted and it will help you understand more of what you can do.

Also about the breeder tank, you were letting the temps drop below 80, that's not a good idea when attempting to keep the humidity high, that leads to sickness. I'm betting in the new enclosure the only good temps were right around the CHE and everything else was ambient room temps.
 

Yoda0916

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Also about the breeder tank, you were letting the temps drop below 80, that's not a good idea when attempting to keep the humidity high, that leads to sickness. I'm betting in the new enclosure the only good temps were right around the CHE and everything else was ambient room temps.
You are right about the new enclosure. Only around the CHE is the temp 80 ish. That's why I relocate him there as soon as lights go off. But yeah I need to find a longer term solution. An a frame hopefully will fix that.
 

Tom

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What about ventilation? Should I have some kind of vent somewhere for fresh air?

Your enclosure will not be "air tight". Enough air will leak in to give your tortoise all the oxygen he needs.

Ventilation will ventilate all your warm humid air out into the room and replace it with cool dry air. Preventing this is the whole reason for building a closed chamber in the first place. RIght?
 

Yoda0916

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Your enclosure will not be "air tight". Enough air will leak in to give your tortoise all the oxygen he needs.

Ventilation will ventilate all your warm humid air out into the room and replace it with cool dry air. Preventing this is the whole reason for building a closed chamber in the first place. RIght?
Makes perfect sense.
 

Yoda0916

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I just gave him his morning bath for the day and still see no improvement. He seems to be having trouble opening his eyes. When I take him out of the water he will just walk forward with eyes closed in his enclosure until he hits a wall and stays there to sleep. The only thing I have yet to do is a pedialyte bath. I will do that in a few hours.
 

cmacusa3

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My thought is you need to put him back in that breeder tank for now and close it up to keep him warm and don't let any temp drop below 83-85
 

Gillian M

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Thank you all for the quick response. Here is a pic of my enclosure, it is made of maple laminated wood and line with sheet metal inside to protect from humidity. The UVB is a zoomed 10.0, the strip kind, not coil. I have used it on my bearded dragons with no problem. I will change the bulb just in case even though it has no more than 6 months use.
20161004_133730_zpshzjfx0ue.jpg
[/URL][/IMG]

The big hide is all the way on the left and the trunk hide in the middle. The lamp in the middle is a CHE which stays onn24/7.


A lovely enclosure. What about the tort?
 

Gillian M

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Welcome to the forum!

Please note that torts do not like change. It's going to take you tort some time to adapt. So do not worry.
 
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