new hatchling, no appetite

[DesertGrandma]

Your enclosure and tort both look great, just give your little leo some time to get adjusted.

I know I let Tico get use to his indoor enclosure for about a week before I even tried to move him to his outdoor enclosure, but then again he was eating from the second he came to me.

Yours will be fine just keep up what your doing and use the tips you've gotten so far.

Thanks I appreciate the encouragement!

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I really like Neal's idea of moving the whole enclosure out into partial sun for a short time each day. Then she gets much needed sun, but is still in the comfort of "home".

If she's always over on the warm side and avoids the cool side, it COULD be an indication that its not warm enough. You might want to try lowering the basking bulb a couple of inches and see what happens. Ideally they should want to move around the whole enclosure throughout the day. However, I don't think this minor thing is significant enough to be causing your problem.

I also agree that you've done a fantastic job with the set up. Great work! Do keep us posted.

thanks Tom, i'll give it a try.

 

[DesertGrandma]

Picked a medium sized prickly pear pad, burned off the needles and scrubbed it. Sliced it very very thinly and diced that up. And, hallelujah, LUCY IS EATING IT!! She ate a few bites then went off to nap again. Thank you all so much for the advice and support. I think we are going to make it.

 

[Maggie Cummings]

Also...if she's pooping she's been eating something. Shipping is really hard on them so she will settle down in a few days...

 

[OllieInAZ]

Very glad to hear she ate!

 

[DesertGrandma]

Lucy passed away in July. Have had inquiries from forum members about her so decided to post this for educational purposes. When I got her in May I was told that she was about 8 weeks old and weighed 30 grams. She continued not to eat, only a couple of times was I able to see her eat anything but was hoping that she was grazing while outside in her grazing box. As you can see above, I had lots of good advice from forum members and followed the good advice. I did contact the breeder later and was told not to worry. When she was weighed at the vet in July she weighed 27 grams, and was euthanized. Because of the expense involved, it was decided not to do any tests to determine the exact cause of her failure to thrive, it was too late to do anything. It was difficult since I had done everything I could but could not save her.
I am posting this so that others who experience this will not beat themselves up about not bring a good tortoise caretaker. My newer tortoise baby Humphrey is thriving under exactly the same conditions and growing normally. I will note, however, that because she was not thriving, and because I read on the forum that they should be quarantined for awhile, I never put the two baby torts together for fear she had something contagious. I would have had a fecal exam done had I been able to find any poop.
What I learned, and what I would do different in the future if this happened again: I would go sooner to the vet and trust my own gut instinct when something doesn't seem right. Now that I have a healthy thriving baby, I can see that Lucy was not right from the start. Experience, but too late.

 

[Jacqui]

Joy that was sad to read and I bet to write too. *hugs* However, thank you for posting it. As you said, it may help another person.

 

[jackmac]

Lucy passed away in July. Have had inquiries from forum members about her so decided to post this for educational purposes. When I got her in May I was told that she was about 8 weeks old and weighed 30 grams. She continued not to eat, only a couple of times was I able to see her eat anything but was hoping that she was grazing while outside in her grazing box. As you can see above, I had lots of good advice from forum members and followed the good advice. I did contact the breeder later and was told not to worry. When she was weighed at the vet in July she weighed 27 grams, and was euthanized. Because of the expense involved, it was decided not to do any tests to determine the exact cause of her failure to thrive, it was too late to do anything. It was difficult since I had done everything I could but could not save her.
I am posting this so that others who experience this will not beat themselves up about not bring a good tortoise caretaker. My newer tortoise baby Humphrey is thriving under exactly the same conditions and growing normally. I will note, however, that because she was not thriving, and because I read on the forum that they should be quarantined for awhile, I never put the two baby torts together for fear she had something contagious. I would have had a fecal exam done had I been able to find any poop.
What I learned, and what I would do different in the future if this happened again: I would go sooner to the vet and trust my own gut instinct when something doesn't seem right. Now that I have a healthy thriving baby, I can see that Lucy was not right from the start. Experience, but too late.

Hi Joy,
Thank you for being open and frank about this unfortunate situation. Really appreciate the updates/suggestions as it can have a big impact on many future owners, like myself. Glad to see Humphery doing well.
Jack

 

[DesertGrandma]

Joy that was sad to read and I bet to write too. *hugs* However, thank you for posting it. As you said, it may help another person.

Thank you Jacqui.

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Lucy passed away in July. Have had inquiries from forum members about her so decided to post this for educational purposes. When I got her in May I was told that she was about 8 weeks old and weighed 30 grams. She continued not to eat, only a couple of times was I able to see her eat anything but was hoping that she was grazing while outside in her grazing box. As you can see above, I had lots of good advice from forum members and followed the good advice. I did contact the breeder later and was told not to worry. When she was weighed at the vet in July she weighed 27 grams, and was euthanized. Because of the expense involved, it was decided not to do any tests to determine the exact cause of her failure to thrive, it was too late to do anything. It was difficult since I had done everything I could but could not save her.
I am posting this so that others who experience this will not beat themselves up about not bring a good tortoise caretaker. My newer tortoise baby Humphrey is thriving under exactly the same conditions and growing normally. I will note, however, that because she was not thriving, and because I read on the forum that they should be quarantined for awhile, I never put the two baby torts together for fear she had something contagious. I would have had a fecal exam done had I been able to find any poop.
What I learned, and what I would do different in the future if this happened again: I would go sooner to the vet and trust my own gut instinct when something doesn't seem right. Now that I have a healthy thriving baby, I can see that Lucy was not right from the start. Experience, but too late.

Hi Joy,
Thank you for being open and frank about this unfortunate situation. Really appreciate the updates/suggestions as it can have a big impact on many future owners, like myself. Glad to see Humphery doing well.
Jack

Thank you Jack. I wanted to emphasize the importance of having a good tortoise vet too. Unfortunately they can be pretty expensive.

 

[Neal]

Joy, I'm sorry to hear this. Did you contact the breeder about what happened?

 

[DesertGrandma]

Joy, I'm sorry to hear this. Did you contact the breeder about what happened?

Thanks Neal. Yes, I did contact the breeder early on about the not-eating problem and was told not to worry that they can go for a month without eating. But I haven't since she passed away. I would like to know what the problem was so I could let the breeder know, but the vet said it would be about $200 to run tests to determine the cause, it wouldn't save her and would cause her discomfort. She looked very normal (and cute) to begin with, so the breeder wouldn't have known there was anything wrong with her.

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There was some poop in the container she was shipped in, so I know she had eaten. Soon after she arrived she passed a bunch of white urates while soaking which I read was normal. She loved soaking, would put her head underwater for long periods of time, so much so that I thought she would drown. I soaked her every day.