So not too long ago I adopted a couple of baby Redfoot tortoise from member here on the forum.
One tortoise smaller than the other (due to what I finally determined was bullying, and upon a really close examination of the smaller one, found part of her front foot nipped free of two of her itty bitty toe nails and a bottom jaw bite on the back of the same little foot) so I split them up and each has their own pad.
Well, the biggin (Goliath) popped out running...he had a fair appetite and eyes were only a little wattery but clear as an over all.. a touch of pyramiding, but all in all, pretty go lucky.
The smaller one (Sophia) however, had watery eyes and one of them had a weird thing going on, so when I put on my old lady glasses and grabbed the magnifying glass, I took a look at her damaged eye and it appeared to have a scuff of some type to the eyelid...so have been keeping her nice and moist and sprayed down regular along with daily soaks...the foot and eye looking better...I will continue to monitor the eye...well, she had issues eating, I put food down for her the same as I did Goliath, and while watching her noticed she would strike out to eat and her head would immediately go up and twist slightly to the left, into the air--yup, air biter...so I was hand feeding he every day--she ate and she has actually put a little weight on (you can actually feel her presence in your hand now vs before it was more like feather weight)....
So, yesterday I was feeding her and thought, hum...I wonder is she will eat freeze dried crickets/shrimp/mealworms and the like....so I went and stole some from the turtles food jar (shhhh, don't tell the girls)..sprinkled some on for Goliath--he gobbled em up...then I set some down on the counter where I had been feeding Sophia, I set them down right in front of her while I put the top back on the food container and I hear "crunch crunch crunch" I look and she has her beautiful little face smashed against the food laying in front of her grabbing it on her own...woooooo hooooooo, so today I figured we would give her another try....well, first try of two she went into the air biting...then I resisted grabbing a piece of food and shoving it down the food hole and waited...she tried again and got it...a few times, then I pushed the food closer to her face and she saw my hand and her head did the air biting thing.....!!!! I stopped and pulled my hand back and she walked to my hand....hmmmm, smart cookie...so now I know she is capable of eating on her own---with some practice now that she can kinda control her head....
So, will continue to let her feed herself, unless of course I see she is losing her will to try ...then I will shove it on down until she gets even stronger....wow, this turned into a long long ramble...but I am so excited for her prospects....
One tortoise smaller than the other (due to what I finally determined was bullying, and upon a really close examination of the smaller one, found part of her front foot nipped free of two of her itty bitty toe nails and a bottom jaw bite on the back of the same little foot) so I split them up and each has their own pad.
Well, the biggin (Goliath) popped out running...he had a fair appetite and eyes were only a little wattery but clear as an over all.. a touch of pyramiding, but all in all, pretty go lucky.
The smaller one (Sophia) however, had watery eyes and one of them had a weird thing going on, so when I put on my old lady glasses and grabbed the magnifying glass, I took a look at her damaged eye and it appeared to have a scuff of some type to the eyelid...so have been keeping her nice and moist and sprayed down regular along with daily soaks...the foot and eye looking better...I will continue to monitor the eye...well, she had issues eating, I put food down for her the same as I did Goliath, and while watching her noticed she would strike out to eat and her head would immediately go up and twist slightly to the left, into the air--yup, air biter...so I was hand feeding he every day--she ate and she has actually put a little weight on (you can actually feel her presence in your hand now vs before it was more like feather weight)....
So, yesterday I was feeding her and thought, hum...I wonder is she will eat freeze dried crickets/shrimp/mealworms and the like....so I went and stole some from the turtles food jar (shhhh, don't tell the girls)..sprinkled some on for Goliath--he gobbled em up...then I set some down on the counter where I had been feeding Sophia, I set them down right in front of her while I put the top back on the food container and I hear "crunch crunch crunch" I look and she has her beautiful little face smashed against the food laying in front of her grabbing it on her own...woooooo hooooooo, so today I figured we would give her another try....well, first try of two she went into the air biting...then I resisted grabbing a piece of food and shoving it down the food hole and waited...she tried again and got it...a few times, then I pushed the food closer to her face and she saw my hand and her head did the air biting thing.....!!!! I stopped and pulled my hand back and she walked to my hand....hmmmm, smart cookie...so now I know she is capable of eating on her own---with some practice now that she can kinda control her head....
So, will continue to let her feed herself, unless of course I see she is losing her will to try ...then I will shove it on down until she gets even stronger....wow, this turned into a long long ramble...but I am so excited for her prospects....
