What Am I Doing Wrong???

[Tortoise Man]

Hi everyone. Sadly, When I came home today, my second and last sulcata baby was flipped on his back and unresponsive(dead). I had just bought him from Tortoise Supply about 3 weeks ago. 2 months ago my first sulcata baby was dead. He would not eat and was very lethargic. Now, my only tortoise left is my leopard tortoise. Fortunately, he is very active and healthy, but he himself is very light. The thing that I realize I am messing up is the food. Everything else is mastered and perfect. I can't seem to find a food that I can feed everyday that is easy to get ready. Something that I can throw in there enclosure and have them eat it and get "fattened up." My mazuri tortoise diet just came in a couple of days ago. I am starting to feed that and grassland tortoise food with romaine lettuce. The problem with the lettuce is that it is almost like eating water. I need something that will make the tort grow. If I am successful with this last tortoise, I will buy another sulcata soon. Please help. Thanks

 

[SarahChelonoidis]

I am so sorry for your losses. Have you discussed the other aspects of your husbandry in other threads? What are your temperatures? Have you posted pictures of your enclosure?

 

[Amanda81]

There are many many list of edible weeds and flowers on the forum. Weeds aren't what you would say easy to feed, you have to go out and figure out what you are looking at and pick them but their food for them. Have you read any caresheets provided here on the forum?? If not young by want to start there. The food/diet section on here will explain how torts need a varied diet. They need a lot of different stuff. In the wild they roam around all day eating different stuff they come across. Just feeding one thing isn't really recommended. Like with the weeds, once you know what things are, you can pick a bunch of different stuff, pick enough for the week and store it in the fridge in a covered bowl of water. I do it all the time. While I'm soaking and cleaning enclosures I have that days portion laid out, draining and warming up to room temp a bit.
Do u have items in your enclosure that your tort can flip over on? Did he flip and get stuck under a lamp or in a sunny spot (if outside), perhaps you could "baby proof" your enclosure. When I first got my Sulcata hatchlings I had their enclosure decorated out, I very quickly learned that all the decorations was nothing but flip hazards. I ended up having to take everything out, even the little log hides, I had to use the dish pans for hides so they couldn't climb up on them and fall off. You may need to do some adjustments there. I would really really do some research on their diets tho.

 

[Tortoise Man]

Hi. Sorry it's just that haven't had any time to come back onto the forum. Yes I have discussed almost every aspect of my husbandry on the forum. My tortoises live outside and the temps are around 90 degrees all summer. I Bring them inside in the winter time. I have posted pics of my enclosure. It has a water bowl, a humid hide, a patch of healthy St Augustine grass, a food dish, a coleus plant, and a little cactus with no spines. The last week, I have been feeding them kale or romaine with grass land and mazuri, my leopard seems to like this. The enclose is exactly half sun and half shade for the majority of the shade. I will post recent pics of the enclosure tomorrow. My leopard seems to be very healthy and active, but it is kind of scary how light he is. He seems WAY lighter than he should be. Thanks

 

[Tom]

So you are housing baby tortoises outside all day and night? I remember your name from past threads, but I can't remember what we discussed.

If I knew your were housing them outside all the time, I know I would have told you that is not a good idea. Babies do not do well when housed outside all the time. Build proper indoor enclosures and keep them inside most of the time. They will be much healthier.

 

[Lyn W]

During the winter when weeds are scarce my leopard has moistened Florette Classic Crispy salad sprinkled with ground dried grass (Readigrass) and I try to add variety with other shop bought things like kale romaine greens etc. In the summer weeds are his main diet with only some FCC salad etc to bulk it out when needed.

 

[SarahChelonoidis]

Again, I am very sorry - I have now just skimmed your past threads and as far as I can tell, you were keeping the three in your outdoor enclosure all day (but in at night)? In every thread, I saw someone point out that babies that young shouldn't be outside that long (as well as the species mixing and pair keeping comments). Very few of us live in the exact right climate, with the exact right shelters/burrows/soil, and the exact right humidity to keep fragile babies from overheating and drying out outside. Tom is really the expert on this. You should listen to him.

 

[Tortoise Man]

I used to leave them outside all day, and bring them in at night. As time went on, I just started to leave them out. I hade even built a top to keep any predators from harming them. What I would do about the heat was in the morning and around 5:00 I would he enclosure with the hose for a couple of minutes. I will go to Lowes and buy a bin for an indoor enclosure but my only tortoise left, my leopard, is already about 2 years old. About feeding. When should I feed them. Once a day, twice a day? Ok thanks for the help.

 

[Lyn W]

Leopards of any age need heat at night, mine is 4 he lives indoors and I use a CHE on a thermostat at night to keep his temps even - check the caresheet to see what the min night temps should be. Depending on where you live he could live out with a heated box (see Toms designs).

cold +humidity = sick/dead tort
heat+humidity = healthy tort

Mine eats about enough to fill his shell every day - more if he clears it. I split it up and leave it on different places for him to find using slates. He also has access to cuttlefish bone constantly.