New owner :) hello.

[Mochii]

Thanks Spring There sure is a lot to learn about this little guy and he is truly full of fun. We just sit by his enclosure and watch the little one move around.

And Kate, there is no water being squeezed out from the substrate. I think the reading may be wrong from where it's placed. I found that Marley doesn't like to sleep in the houses (kind of sad about that) but outside. He moves around and falls asleep under the basking light as well. He doesn't go into the water as often anymore, but he does seem to enjoy being soaked. There is less substrate in his water bowl now that I moved things around to his liking =)

I haven't been able to take him out yet but soon, I will. I shall post pictures! I sort of want to wait a little for him to get bigger before he get out. I do let him walk around my desk when there are lot of sunlight coming in though lol

Marley likes baby lettuce! He does attempt to eat hay because it comes into his mouth but it looks like he can't cut it up. So I'm going to try to cut it smaller than I did.

Oh one more thing. When I touch Marley's forearms, he sort of does this sudden turn as if he's saying "Don't touch me!" It's really cute (to us) but it seems like he's saying no to what we're doing. He doesn't mind us touching him top of his head, but he doesn't like having his forearms touched. I thought it was funny how his 'attitude' shows up like that but any other cases like that for other torts?

And I keep forgetting that all torts are not the same. Thanks Kate. I'll stick with his subtrate for now.

Thank you so much for all the tips. I'm learning, and I'm having a lot of fun!

- M&M.

 

[tortoisenerd]

Be careful about having him walk around your desk...hazards, temperature, he can get scared, etc. Just a caution.

Glad to hear the humidity isn't that high.

You may be able to use a coffee grinder or food processor on the hay.

All torts seem to have a lot of attitude! Trevor is really skittish at first, but if you come up on him slow he lets us pet his head and scratch under his chin. Same thing though-he always retreats into his shell when we touch his arms. I mostly leave him alone, unless I am giving him once a day look over.

 

[Mochii]

Do people "play" with their torts? Marley seems to be sort of afraid of my hand when I reach in to check upon him. Perhaps its because he's not used to me yet? Or will he always be like that?

I heard that torts recognize you from others. So he'll grow onto me right? =)

I used the coffee grinder to cut up the hay into smaller pieces and wow, it was wonderful. It's small and soft enough for him to eat! I just leave food in there for him at all times and he seems to eat it whenever he's hungry. He doesn't eat it right away and sometimes when I observe him, I see him eating his lettuce. I took the carrots out of his diet for now. I hope he eats a lot of hay.

I found him flipped over when I came home I placed him in the water as soon as I saw him and he replenished himself with water. Sigh. We are trying to make it so that it'll be somewhat 'harder' for him to flip. HOpefully by end of this month, we would figure something out for him. He looked so calm though haha it was as if he was looking at me saying, "WHat happened?"

Thanks a lot Kate!

- M&M.

 

[spring pace]

take advantage of the hay dust in the bag too, once they get used to the taste of hay and they get bigger, itll be easier to introduce more hay w/o all the work that goes into it. it was a happy, happy day for when when i saw galileo for the first time eat the small pile of hay i left down w/o any greens around it. knew right then and there he would never go hungry for the rest of his life. the botanical hay will get expensive as marley gets older, so i know youll be looking for less expensive hays in the future, just remember that the only hay that is NOT GOOD FOR A SULCATA IS ALFALFA. too much protein. i grow OAT GRASS for gali in a separate yard in the spring, when it gets about a foot high, i let him into that yard so he can graze it along w/ all the new foxtail shoots and dandelions that go w/ it. it fun to watch him in that field in the spring time. gali & spring big smiles

---

heres gali blazing a trail thru his field last spring time, notice the silver flag attached to his back so i can keep tabs on him. in that high grass its easy to loose him. smiles, spring

 

[Mochii]

Haha spring, the flag is really cute and smart! The oat grass looks great, he looks like he's enjoying it I hope to provide something like that for Marley one day.

I think Marley attempted to burrow today. He went to a corner of his enclosure and started to "dig" with his forearm. He didn't cover himself or go deeper or anything.. but he faces the substrate and looks like he's bowing. He seems to like the basking area more than others. He slept in the house last name (YES!) and came out int he morning when we woke up. I'm afraid that he might dry himself out.. but he always goes back.

I discovered some white spots on Marley today I posted a new thread to get more attention to it but I think it's fungus. Sigh. His shell & tummy area is still pretty soft. When do they start hardening more?

Marley was really active today under the sunlight I posted pics of him walking around my desk in the photo section. Now he's asleep. He reminds me of a kid who runs around during day time and knocks out whenever he's tired.

Haha I feel like I'm writing a diary about Marley in this thread everyday. Thanks for reading people

- M&M .

 

[drgnfly2265]

He's less than a week old? Wow! Honestly I think the breeder is irresponsible. I have never heard of someone taking home a tort less than a month old, and usually closer to two months old.

I got my sulcata when he was a week old (which was 2 years ago). He said that he didn't like to do it any sooner because he wanted to keep an eye on how they were doing and he mentioned something with the yolk sac.

____________________________________________________________

Jamie

1 Sulcata (Bowser)
1 Shih tzu (Suki)

www.myspace.com/bowsertortoise

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He's less than a week old? Wow! Honestly I think the breeder is irresponsible. I have never heard of someone taking home a tort less than a month old, and usually closer to two months old.

I got my sulcata when he was a week old from a breeder (which was 2 years ago). He said that he didn't like to do it any sooner because he wanted to keep an eye on how they were doing and he mentioned something with the yolk sac.

____________________________________________________________

Jamie

1 Sulcata (Bowser)
1 Shih tzu (Suki)

www.myspace.com/bowsertortoise

 

[ChiKat]

spring pace I LOVE the flag idea!! I laughed out loud when I saw it- so funny and clever! ;D
Mochii I love how excited you are about your little Marley He sounds like a lot of fun! I'm getting a Russian tortoise hatchling in TWO days and I'm so excited
I'm really worried about my little guy flipping on his back! I've read that you should flip them on their back sometimes so they can practice flipping themselves over again, but I would have a hard time watching my little guy struggle

 

[Mochii]

OOH chikat! I'm excited for your Russian tortoise! they are so cute and funny. When I first got Marley, he flipped over in the box but wa able to get back up on his own. But in the enclosure, I guess he couldn't Maybe it's the sustrate. Its not hard ground but soft so he doesn't give him enough push to flip himself over.

I actually came back to this thread because I was concerned about Marley. I haven't seen his poop in.. 2-3 days now. Maybe he placed it somewhere I can't see (bury it?) or maybe he hasn't pooped. Perhaps he ate them. I dont know. I saw so much of his poop the first couple of days that I thoguht it was weird how I can't see them anymore. Maybe I'm not feeding him enough? How much are they supposed to eat? He's not eating hay (too hard for him to chew up I think.. he puts in his mouth but he can't take it all the way in) but he eats really well in general.

Thanks again guys.

- M&M.

 

[tortoisenerd]

Sometimes they get a bit constipated. Hiding poop or eating poop is also common. I would watch more closely, soak him daily (baby bath warm), and keep food out (when he is so young I would constantly have food out unless you notice him getting pudgy; weight and measure SCL weekly). He may be able to eat a pile of greens the size of himself, maybe not. When you think about all the greens mashed up, picture the size of his tummy, but a bit more as they tend to graze and go back and forth eating and basking (as they would graze in the wild all day). There is only so much you can do though when you can't find poop.

I had a little fright with Trevor not pooping (so I thought) for 4 days, but later found two poops hiding, and he did three times in one day! But, Sulcatas commonly eat their poop and it's less common for Russians to do so.

You probably saw more right at first as he was stressed in the new home and probably didn't the first day you had him, but maybe extra the second day? Tortoises just like people have changes in bowel habits that are normal so you can't think the worst yet. I have also heard of some Sulcata owners never finding poop. eww!

Some members here like Mazuri chow and it tends to both cause movements and firm up poop with the fiber; I feed it occasionally.

Don't worry about the hay but keep offering it. For him to even have a taste for it at this age is awesome. Are you grinding it up? Remember they don't have a lot of muscles to tear it off at their age, and don't have teeth to chew. You need to chop things up very small until you see they can manage on their own, and then let him do it himself (they learn to use their arms more as they grow).

Best wishes.

 

[Mochii]

Hi Kate! I was wondering where you were hehe welcome back.

Mm okay. So maybe he is eating his poop haha. Maybe I'm being extra cautious but if I see something that is similar to dog poop, what should I do? It means he's not having healthy poop right?

Marley ran around my balcony today in the morning such an energetic little fellow. He also got mix of mustard green, dandelion leaves and spring mix with hay sprinkled on top. He eats well! Yay.

He still has white stuff on his back but hopefully it'll go away soon.

Thanks

- M&M.