Thomas Lamar
Member
Hello!
I recently lost a 2-3 month old leopard hatchling after a month long ordeal of antibiotics and force feeding. To increase my knowledge base for the future, I wanted to describe his enclosure a bit and see if I could have made some changes there for his betterment.
He was an itty bitty guy, 26 grams and half the size of my palm. So I had him in a 20 gallon reptile tank with a screen lid. I read that tortoise babies are shy and secretive, so I used black cardboard paper to black out all sides of the glass but the front, which just got a several inch high black bar across the front bottom. I also figured this would help with heat retention.
On top of the screen lid I had a two domed light fixture, one with a UVB 10.0 bulb and a heat basking bulb in the other. I was informed that the basking area needed to be 95-100° F, which I was not achieving with a 100 watt bulb. So I replaced it with a 150 watt bulb. This got the basking temp right, and kept the cool side of the tank in the low 80's in temp. I placed a rock under the basking light, slightly boosting height. But also thinking it would absorb and radiate heat. The issue was, I was having to mist the enclosure 8-10 times daily because the powerful light was drying the whole thing out. Every time I looked it was down to 25% Humidity. I ended up having to cover the screen with a towel to slow down moisture loss, which helped a little, but I still experienced constant moisture loss.
The UVB and heat light were on from around 8am to 8:30pm. Overnight I used a ceramic heat emitter over the enclosure that seemed to keep temps in the low to mid 80's overall.
I lined the bottom with repti bark substrate, and placed food and water in shallow clay pot saucers that I made level with the substrate so the little one could climb right in or out whenever he wanted. The water was changed daily, and food included grass from my lawn, clover, dandelion greens, yellow squash, carrot, sweet potato, escarole, collard greens. These were dusted with repti-vite and calcium powder 2-3 times weekly. I also supplied a cuttle bone.
I placed a log hide against the wall of the enclosure, on the cool side. I moistened sphagnum moss in the log every day, as well as doing twice daily soaks for the little guy. So between two 15-20 minutes soaks daily, daily water always available, frequent misting, and the moist hide, I tried my best to avoid slow cooking the little tort.
Like I said, he passed away earlier this week, and I miss him. Could I have done anything differently? I would take a pic, but the setup has been dismantled in my grief. I even had the 80 gallon tank to switch to when he grew ready, and planned to hunt garage sales and estate sales for a bookshelf to fashion into his adult enclosure.
FYI, I live in Buffalo, N.Y., and we can probably count the number of 85° or over days we have each year on one hand. I took him out for sun when I could, but really warm days aren't common, and are usually limited to July/August each year.
Just looking for feedback. Thanks!
I recently lost a 2-3 month old leopard hatchling after a month long ordeal of antibiotics and force feeding. To increase my knowledge base for the future, I wanted to describe his enclosure a bit and see if I could have made some changes there for his betterment.
He was an itty bitty guy, 26 grams and half the size of my palm. So I had him in a 20 gallon reptile tank with a screen lid. I read that tortoise babies are shy and secretive, so I used black cardboard paper to black out all sides of the glass but the front, which just got a several inch high black bar across the front bottom. I also figured this would help with heat retention.
On top of the screen lid I had a two domed light fixture, one with a UVB 10.0 bulb and a heat basking bulb in the other. I was informed that the basking area needed to be 95-100° F, which I was not achieving with a 100 watt bulb. So I replaced it with a 150 watt bulb. This got the basking temp right, and kept the cool side of the tank in the low 80's in temp. I placed a rock under the basking light, slightly boosting height. But also thinking it would absorb and radiate heat. The issue was, I was having to mist the enclosure 8-10 times daily because the powerful light was drying the whole thing out. Every time I looked it was down to 25% Humidity. I ended up having to cover the screen with a towel to slow down moisture loss, which helped a little, but I still experienced constant moisture loss.
The UVB and heat light were on from around 8am to 8:30pm. Overnight I used a ceramic heat emitter over the enclosure that seemed to keep temps in the low to mid 80's overall.
I lined the bottom with repti bark substrate, and placed food and water in shallow clay pot saucers that I made level with the substrate so the little one could climb right in or out whenever he wanted. The water was changed daily, and food included grass from my lawn, clover, dandelion greens, yellow squash, carrot, sweet potato, escarole, collard greens. These were dusted with repti-vite and calcium powder 2-3 times weekly. I also supplied a cuttle bone.
I placed a log hide against the wall of the enclosure, on the cool side. I moistened sphagnum moss in the log every day, as well as doing twice daily soaks for the little guy. So between two 15-20 minutes soaks daily, daily water always available, frequent misting, and the moist hide, I tried my best to avoid slow cooking the little tort.
Like I said, he passed away earlier this week, and I miss him. Could I have done anything differently? I would take a pic, but the setup has been dismantled in my grief. I even had the 80 gallon tank to switch to when he grew ready, and planned to hunt garage sales and estate sales for a bookshelf to fashion into his adult enclosure.
FYI, I live in Buffalo, N.Y., and we can probably count the number of 85° or over days we have each year on one hand. I took him out for sun when I could, but really warm days aren't common, and are usually limited to July/August each year.
Just looking for feedback. Thanks!
Last edited:
