Russian hatchling eating substrate

[Cutva]

I just move my hatchling to his habitat from his incubator and he started eating his substrate. I gave him some lettuce but he still ate his substrate. I'm giving him a soak but what should I do to get him to stop eating the substrate?

 

[Tom]

I had this happen with hatchlings every once in a while...

I move mine from the incubator into a brooder box (plastic shoe box) the moment they leave their egg. I use damp paper towels for the substrate in my shoe boxes and replace it daily. This gives them a safe place to absorb their yolk sac and begin eating the right foods. I usually leave them in there for about a week before moving them into their enclosures with substrate. From day one I leave a pile of greens in there and they see something different every day. By the end of this first week they are usually eating every thing I put in front of them. Before I move them into their enclosure I feed them up in their shoe boxes and then put several piles of greens in the enclosure.

Perhaps you ought use a shoe box for a few days until your baby learns what the food is.

Wild babies of some species eat the dirt in the nest, or the poop left by their mother. This is to "seed" their GI tract with the necessary flora and fauna. This might be what you baby is attempting to do.

 

[Cutva]

Thanks! The yolk sack is absorbed so I put him in there but I'll take him out and put him back in his tub with paper towels for a few days.