New & need help with my blind hatchling

[Brenda]

Our 'Little Man' is a hatchling Eastern Box Turtle (I believe) we found in our yard with a deformed jaw and no eyes. We have done our best with his care and have become attached to him. He seems to be thriving and I don't see any reason he can't live a long full life in our care. Knowing that a Tortoise can live 50 years, I want to take advantage of knowledge from this pool of seasoned Tortoise buddies.

 

[jaizei]

Welcome to the forum

 

[TigsMom]

Welcome Brenda! Amazing that the hatchling survived this far. Does his jaw deformity affect his ability to eat on his own? How and what are you feeding him?

 

[kathyth]

Welcome! What an angel you have.
You will get help!
Hang tight and good luck.

 

[Brenda]

Welcome Brenda! Amazing that the hatchling survived this far. Does his jaw deformity affect his ability to eat on his own? How and what are you feeding him?

Thanks for responding,
We found him in June and didn't expect him to live but couldn't just let him die. His upper jaw falls short of the lower and veers to his right so that the upper and lower do not match. We place assorted fresh fruits along with dehydrated shrimp (turtle food) in a processor and feed him mush in a small dish with a small amount of bottled water (no chlorine). He has a hearty appetite and often uses his little claws to open his lower jaw when he eats because it gets stuck. He likes his shrimp and has a sweet tooth--selecting bits of the sweetest fruits. I've tried to give him little worms and such but after watching him, I'm pretty sure that's impossible for him.

 

[compassrose26]

My heart just melted, he is so lucky you found him!

 

[Yvonne G]

Hi Brenda, and welcome to the Forum!

Either prepare the fruits, veggies and worms in a Food Processor, or chop it all very tiny by hand. Then place a big pile of the resultant "mush" up against the wall of his habitat so that when he bites at it it can't push away from him.

You've done a good thing. I'm glad you've taken this on.

 

[sibi]

Hi and welcome. You are good people. Have you tried hand feeding him? Or using a tube and squirting the mix into his mouth? You may want to try that, and if he takes to it, he could possibly gain some weight. How much does he weigh? If you haven't weighed him, perhaps it would be a good idea to start so that you could monitor his progress. It looks like he could be a gulf coast box turtle, but it's hard to tell since most of the features are blurred in the photo. Please keep us posted of his progress.

 

[ShellyTurtlesCats]

How sweet!!!!

_________
~ Shelly ~

 

[edwardbo]

Oh dear God , did you find him as a hatchling ? Breed him ,or just find him? Can't imagine he could have survived if you didn't come along . There seems to be a small eye , does he perceive light or see ? Do you needed anything ? Just say so . You are so kind to care for him . He seems happy if you offer him separate piles of food will he select favorites? How long have you been Caring for him ? Let us know what he needs . Thank you for taking care of him

 

[AZtortMom]

What a sweetie! He is so lucky to have you. Welcome to the forum! you have come to the right place for help

 

[Brenda]

Little man is still so small that I have no way to accurately weigh him and I didn't mention that his deformed jaw and absent eyes appear to be a birth defect and not the result of an injury. My big concern now is that the weather is getting cool. We put him in a big terrarium with a heat light and thermometer and are monitoring for a max temp right under the light at 90 degrees-it's a bit cooler everywhere else. I know he still needs to get real sun with shade access so he can thermoregulate. Here's the question, does anyone know if an Eastern Box Turtle needs to hibernate. I don't really want him to, he's so small that I'm afraid he would never wake up.

 

[Yvonne G]

I keep my turtle and tortoise babies up for their first two winters, sometimes three.

Baby box turtles do well with low light, so set your habitat up with quite a few plants that will provide shade from the bright light. Here's my baby box turtle habitat:

But if you really want to see some pretty box turtle indoor habitats, look up the threads posted by TerryO.

 

[Brenda]

Thanks. Your habitat is simple and perfect. Everyone has been so very helpful and supportive. I love you guys!

 

[hollymay]

Please can someone tell me how to make a topic x

 

[Brenda]

Please can someone tell me how to make a topic x

Up on the left click Tortoise Forum and then just above the green bars to the right hit new topic.

 

[Saleama]

Any update on this little guy?

 

[Brenda]

Little Man loves his new home. We love watching him love his new home. After reviewing habitat suggestions from this forum, we figured it out. We planted winter rye grass seed along some edges--there is no fertilizer so the grass probably won't last so we plan to just keep re-planting a little at a time. I selected plants; some I purchased and watered a lot to purge the fertilizer and some I dug out of my yard. My bonus is that I love having a hearty little garden in my house. We still prepare his daily feeding with a small food processor and add turtle supplements. He loves his grass, plays in it, and tries to graze; I think that he'll eventually succeed. His appetite is great and his activity level is the best it has ever been. I attempted to attach photos.

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Little Man loves his new home. We love watching him love his new home. After reviewing habitat suggestions from this forum, we figured it out. We planted winter rye grass seed along some edges--there is no fertilizer so the grass probably won't last so we plan to just keep re-planting a little at a time. I selected plants; some I purchased and watered a lot to purge the fertilizer and some I dug out of my yard. My bonus is that I love having a hearty little garden in my house. We still prepare his daily feeding with a small food processor and add turtle supplements. He loves his grass, plays in it, and tries to graze; I think that he'll eventually succeed. His appetite is great and his activity level is the best it has ever been. I attempted to attach photos.

 

[lichjen]

You have such a cute little guy! Ty for saving him!

 

[Brenda]

New problem. By the way, we discovered that Little Man is a Little girl and still can't settle on the perfect name. Back to the problem, she has developed some whiteish flaky patches on her shell. Her appetite and activity level are great. We still give supplements in all of her food but I wonder if her inability to eat bugs because of her mouth defect and blindness is causing this.
Also, her warm moist habitat has lots of little bugs, mites? They're a little smaller than fruit flies and some get on her but only a few at a time, like maybe just because there are so many. I loved having all those plants and grass growing in my house and would love to know if anyone has experienced this. Are her plants the source? She loves her rye grass. Sadly, I plan to take down and sanitize the habitat tomorrow. I just can't see how I'm going to keep up the humidity without growing more bugs.