Help With a Baby Leopard Tortoise?

[EamonP]

Hey Everybody,

Just looking for some help with a baby Leopard Tortoise that I just got. Firstly, the little guy is about 4 inches from head to tail, but I've no idea what age he is, anybody able to tell me how old the guy is?

Secondly, I've had my tortoise for about 4 weeks now, at 1st I had a lot of trouble getting him to eat. I bought him ZooMed Natural Grassland Tortoise Food, which the guy hasn't touched. So I tried some grasses from the garden, which he also didn't touch. After 2 week he finally started eating grass directly from the garden. The problem is: now he refuses to eat anything unless he can can eat it out of the back garden.

As he is a baby and I live in Ireland it's not practical to leave him outside for long periods of time, nor can he be unsupervised cause of cats and the like. I try to let him out in the back as much as possible whenever I can supervise him but obviously I can't be there every single day. I came home today however after being out for an hour and the poor guy had managed to flip himself onto his back in his enclosure as he was so anxious to get out.

Basically I'd appreciate any help that people could offer my with regards to getting him to eat something other than the fresh grass in the back?

Also any advise on how to set up his indoor enclosure to make him more comfortable, at least until he is big enough to be safe from other animals outside, would be a big help?

Cheers.

[Vicki123]

I had a problem with one of mine eating when i got her. But she only ate out of my hand for a few weeks, and only kale.

They like a mixture of foods, i use weeds, grass, kale, rocket, watercress try grating a bit of carrot on it, he will investigate his food more, mine seem to like bright colours.

[EamonP]

Hey, thanks for that! I'll try to mix some varied grasses and maybe some rocket with carrots and that, hopefully he'll go for it!

Anybody have any advice as to how I could make the little guy more comfortable in his indoor enclosure?

[courtneysmum]

Shame he can't be left out..there are some great ideas on here for securing enclosures to guard against cat, dogs birds etc. sure the little fella would be happier. Iv'e always found it hard to do my tort tables so they actually seem 100% happy in them, but good luck to you, I'm sure you will find a solution.

[Vicki123]

I plant flowers in my tort table, puts rocks and stones in there for them to explore

[fantapants]

why not plant turf into trays and rotate them in his enclosure every day or two to make sure they stay fresh. grass really is the best food for a leo and it will do him the world of good to eat it and to be out doors as much as possible. alternatively try finely chopping some hay and dried grasses and mix them with a little grated carrot or cucumber. thats what keeps my leos going all winter when they are indoors.

[Vicki123]

also, mine have hay in there hides, to munch on. Be careful you have to change it regularly.

[EamonP]

Thanks for all the ideas everybody! Some really helpful stuff there!

I think I'm going to have to start looking into some sort of safe outdoor enclosure to compliment the indoor one. By the sounds of it Barry will be alot happier with more time outdoors!

Thanks again!