One way to keep your baby alive

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Maggie Cummings

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I joined the Tortoise Forum in 2009. Then it was a smallish group of experienced chelonian keepers and breeders. We became very friendly group and had some good talks, and learned a lot. Then we were discovered by a bunch of new keepers who were complaining about all the contradicting info on the 'net. So we started to grow and give advice. A very tricky thing, to give advice. And we don't all agree all the time. We all have our own way of keeping our animals. Mostly in excellent enclosures, and we DO agree on the important points. Some members have experimented with closed chambers for hatching Sulcata and low and behold, pyramiding stopped. We have learned an awful lot about the disservice we were doing to our tortoises. The 'old' way was not good. So we changed it. There are hundreds of years of experience among us if you added it all up. So here's the point of this discourse. When a newbie asks for advice, then argues about it, it's very frustrating. I'll tell you why. One of the most often asked questions is...Can't I let my tortoise walk on the floor? Or in a thread we find out someone else has his tortoise on the floor with no heat, light or substrate or limits to his area, he slept on a pile of blankets.

Recently I read a thread that affected some of us experienced keepers a lot. I want to tell you newcomers about it.
Baby tortoises do not belong on the floor. They are exotic animals, not cats or dogs and simply CAN'T be kept like them.You cannot allow your small tortoise to wander around the floor eating dust bunnies, paper clips, bobby pins, cat or dog hair and other stuff. Plus, an uncarpeted floor is cold. Tortoises need to have an interior temperature of 80 to 85 otherwise they can't digest their food. I mean 80 degrees inside then.
So we have had many newbies argue this premise. But you can't argue this, and the poster that this happened to was a new person, she had not posted before and this is her first post...

I have a 9 week old sulcata tortoise . he is very healthy and active but about 30 minutes ago, I accidentally squashed his head with the door. I feel terrible. He wouldn't come out of his shell for about 10 minutes. Now he's out but he won't move his legs, hands or head. His eyes are open though. PLEASE HELP ME!! IS he dying? Is he gonna be okay? I'm devastated!

As an experienced keeper I know exactly what's happening and it ain't good. My heart starts to hurt.


He had is head between the door and the door frame. I didn't know he was there, so I opened the door and I think his head got caught.

It sounds to me like he was at the back of the door, between the door and the frame and she opened the door, effectively crushing his head like your fingers in a car do. The pain is immense, his head not visably squashed had to have broken bones and brain trauma. He most likely died right away. She posts a picture,he's dead. Obviously

I really hope my baby is okay. Despite the fact that he isn't moving his limbs

If you move his legs does he try to resist or pull back?


He did at first but not anymore


Is he responding at all? Does he blink if you touch his eyeball?
You had him loose in your house? :(
If he's alive this won't hurt him, because he will blink. Its one way vets test for the level of anesthesia or to see if an animal is still alive. It doesn't work on snakes though...
Sorry this happened. We try really hard hear to warn people not to let tortoises run loose in the house. Sadly, I see this sort of thing too frequently.

He did not blink. My baby is gone


You just read the death of a small Sulcata.

I guess chopping the thread up like this kinda takes away the effect, but I cried when I read that thread. I cried for a totally unnecessary death, and I cried for the pain the poster felt when they realized THEY killed that baby.
It was an accident, no doubt. But if the baby had been set up properly and KEPT in it's safe enclosure, it would still be alive. Kept safe, less small tortoises will die. With the number of members now on TFO we read about a lot of deaths that happen simply because the new keeper didn't know. That's mostly why we're here, to help YOU keep your baby alive. Listen when we tell you something, we've all been there. We learned by trial and error and you don't have to do that, you just need to listen and read and take what applies to you and use it. Ask lots of questions.

Don't allow your tortoise/turtle on the floor,
it really stresses them out.

Keep them off rabbit pellets.
Don't feed canned turtle food
Don't mix tortoises and dogs

Remember, chelonia are exotic animals with specific needs for being kept alive. Research about your species and please keep him off the floor.


For discussions on this thread go here: http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/one-way-to-keep-your-baby-alive-discussion-thread.105887/
 
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