So I recently took in 2 very, very stunted little Sulcata tortoises. (Actually, 3 of them--but one, whose shell was partially caved in, died within about 24 hrs.) Obvious issues are MBD and very underweight.. They weighed 53 and 65 grams on arrival, at allegedly 2 years old. We're working on the MBD with liquid calcium/baby food soaks daily, lots of sunshine, and of course proper diet (arugula, dandelion, opuntia so far, supplemented with Superveggie and Tortoisesupply's Herbal Hay).
To the issue at hand... Sunday morning, I noticed both have terrible aim. Almost like their depth perception is off. I hand fed each for a bit, then had to get to work. Monday morning, I noticed the bigger baby's aim seemed to improve. Hand fed little baby a bit, big baby got in on the action, too. By this morning, the bigger baby is eating like a champ, but little baby is still biting at the air unless I hold it up to his mouth.
I just (as I was typing this, ha) remembered I have liquid bird vitamins in the cabinet, that contain 315000 IU of Vit. A per fl. oz, so I'll start adding that to their soaks... But is there anything else I can do to help his vision? Anything else that may be causing this?
If it helps... Previous owners were keeping them indoors only. Most recently in a bare plastic bin with no light. They allegedly used to have a bulb of some sort, but the dog broke it--they didn't really say when that happened, or how long they've been without light. They did provide a water dish (or, that's the claim). The diet in the previous home was lettuce, fruit, and carrot strips. No supplements, unknown whether they actually ate any of the carrots.
I've had them since Friday afternoon. They were outside Fri, Sat, Sun, Mon. Partial sun the first two days, then pulled back onto the patio where they got full shade from about 11-12 on (injured baby passed on Sat, and I feared suddenly being thrown out into sun and heat may have contributed). They were indoors today under Reptisun 10.0, humid enclosure, 105 basking spot 85-90F cool end (working on bumping that down to 80--all I had empty was a 33" condo which hold heat like crazy) due to weather.
Suggestions are always, always, always welcomed!! Thanks so much! Photos below are from the day they arrived.
To the issue at hand... Sunday morning, I noticed both have terrible aim. Almost like their depth perception is off. I hand fed each for a bit, then had to get to work. Monday morning, I noticed the bigger baby's aim seemed to improve. Hand fed little baby a bit, big baby got in on the action, too. By this morning, the bigger baby is eating like a champ, but little baby is still biting at the air unless I hold it up to his mouth.
I just (as I was typing this, ha) remembered I have liquid bird vitamins in the cabinet, that contain 315000 IU of Vit. A per fl. oz, so I'll start adding that to their soaks... But is there anything else I can do to help his vision? Anything else that may be causing this?
If it helps... Previous owners were keeping them indoors only. Most recently in a bare plastic bin with no light. They allegedly used to have a bulb of some sort, but the dog broke it--they didn't really say when that happened, or how long they've been without light. They did provide a water dish (or, that's the claim). The diet in the previous home was lettuce, fruit, and carrot strips. No supplements, unknown whether they actually ate any of the carrots.
I've had them since Friday afternoon. They were outside Fri, Sat, Sun, Mon. Partial sun the first two days, then pulled back onto the patio where they got full shade from about 11-12 on (injured baby passed on Sat, and I feared suddenly being thrown out into sun and heat may have contributed). They were indoors today under Reptisun 10.0, humid enclosure, 105 basking spot 85-90F cool end (working on bumping that down to 80--all I had empty was a 33" condo which hold heat like crazy) due to weather.
Suggestions are always, always, always welcomed!! Thanks so much! Photos below are from the day they arrived.
