Newlyweds and new parents to a sweet little California desert hatchling!

[Lyannyorm]

Hi everyone, My name is Lyanny. My husband and I received the honor and pleasure of caring for an adorable little hatchling, the mother tortoise (Fluky) was a rescue and is estimated to be 20 years old, she was pregnant when saved and laid a numerous amount of eggs, my in laws (rescuers) incubated the eggs and carefully handled them and 3 lucky baby torts arrived! We have been gifted the youngest hatchling who hatched 3 days ago from today! and we were given strict instructions on how to care for them so close to October already.. I joined the site because even though i'm happy with me and my husbands decision to care for little Turbo, I still feel afraid that something will go wrong or I will mess up with the small details.. I started to sob at bed time for fear of waking up to turbo dead or on his back or to him being too cold or sick.. I feel like I want to make sure hes okay 24/7 and i'm so worried due too how young and small it is.. I fell in love with the little guy instantly!! and was wanting to get some advice on his care outside of my in laws advice, just in case.. I want to be a good mama to our little cutie, so I wanted to see if more experienced tortoise parents were out there with any tips!! please and thank you soo much any recommendations for raising hatchlings and hibernation will be appreciated <3

 

[russian/sulcata/tortoise]

WELCOME TO THE FORUM! post lots of tort pictures, we love pictures!

 

[russian/sulcata/tortoise]

also you can ask as many questions about your tort as you need!

 

[Grandpa Turtle 144]

Hello Lyanny welcome to the TFO from AZ . When they are little like that you need to soak them every day for 15-20 min. In warm water about up to the bottom of the shell . So when do we get to see Picts of the little guy and his enclosure . Now mine are AZDT's but this can let you see what you will have . And please don't hibernate it for at least the first year . And make his diet mainly grass and weeds and no fruit .


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[Yvonne G]

Hi Lyanny, and welcome to the Forum!!

I don't hibernate my babies until they're 3 years old.

Baby tortoises need heat and moisture, along with good food, of course, calcium and UVB.

So, number 1, use a UVB light over his habitat and make sure the temperature in there has a range from one end of room temperature (but not cooler than about 75F) to 100F or so directly under the heat/light and fading to about 80 at the other end.

Use a substrate you can keep moist. My preference is orchid bark, and I buy the small/fine particle one. I also pack moist sphagnum moss into the hiding place.

I feed my babies greens from the produce market, but to the greens I add weeds, leaves and grasses from outside. I chop it up into tiny pieces for about the first year of the baby's life.

After you've become comfortable scrolling around the Forum, I'd love to see pictures of your new baby.

 

[Tom]

Hello and welcome. I'm so glad you found us, as we might still be able to save your baby. There is a huge problem out in the world with misinformation on many species, and this one especially. Seemingly reputable organizations with good intentions, like the CTTC, give horrible desiccating care info for this species, and many others too. Dehydration from inappropriate housing and care routines is the number one killer of DT babies in my experience. I have successfully raised many of them, both using the old wrong ways, and the newly discovered better ways, so I have the benefit of seeing it both ways.

I typed this up for russian tortoises, but the care for our young DTs is exactly the same.
http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/russian-tortoise-care-sheet.80698/

Here's another one that might help:
http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/beginner-mistakes.45180/

 

[tortadise]

Welcome

 

[tortdad]

Welcome


0.0.1 Redfoot (Spike)
0.0.1 Cherryhead Redfoot (Bruce Wayne)
1.0 Sulcata (Hal Jordan)

 

[ALDABRAMAN]

Welcome!

 

[Abdulla6169]

Welcome to TFO!

 

[pam]

Welcome