# Tortoise Growth Charts



## franz_see (Feb 28, 2015)

Hi All,

[SHORT STORY]
I'm collecting tortoise growth charts and I'm collating them here : http://bit.ly/tortoise-growth-charts
Feel free to check it out and see how others are doing 
Also, if you're tracking or you've tracked your tortoise's growth in the past, I would like to request to get a copy so that I can add them to this collection  The more data, the clearer the picture we'd be able to paint 

[LONG STORY]
I've started on a new hobby - collecting tortoise growth charts  

We all know that tortoises grow a different rates. It's also debatable whether you should grow your tortoise slow or fast. But most of us simply just wants our tortoises to grow  But how well do our tortoises actually do compared to other tortoise? Some of us just wants to get an idea 

So I started compiling a few (including mine) and collected them here : http://bit.ly/tortoise-growth-charts. It's not much, but it's still more than what can easily be found in the internet (or at least what I've found). 

With that, I'd like to request to everybody reading this, if you are tracking your tortoise's growth, or if you've tracked it in the past, I would like to request for a copy  I would like to add them to my collection and continue studying how slow/fast they actually grow 

Thanks,
Franz See


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## franz_see (Feb 28, 2015)

Btw, here are my tortoises 
* Curtis : http://bit.ly/tortoise-growth-chart-collection---curtis-the-sulcata
* Fanta : http://bit.ly/tortoise-growth-chart-collection---fanta-the-sulcata


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## franz_see (Feb 28, 2015)

Also, although there's still not much data, and although the sizes vary greatly by tortoise age, if you take a look at the charts in my collection, the growth rate of each tortoise does not change much over time. It will decrease over time, but it will not fluctuate that much as time goes by. That means, if your tortoise grew by 20% last month, chances are, it will grow again by 20% this month  Just some interesting insights


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## lismar79 (Feb 28, 2015)

This is great! It would be interesting to also know how torts are raised and diet. I noticed bigger weight gains when giving mine mazuri v. when I ran out. Also the wet v. dry methods to starting hatchlings..
Here is my thread. Earlier weights are at the end. Hatched 8/11/13 thread started at 9 months just after I got her. Raised with 80% humidity.


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## franz_see (Mar 2, 2015)

Thanks @lismar79 , I agree with you and I intend to find those out as well  For now though, the main goal I'm trying to address first is finding people who keeps track of their tortoises growth  hehe 

Have you kept track of yours?
If yes, may I request for a copy? 
If not, may I ask for your tortoise's current weight and length then I'll just follow up again after a month or so?  hehe

Thanks!


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## franz_see (Mar 2, 2015)

Update : There are currently 16 Sulcata Growth Charts ( and 1 Elongata, 1 Forsten, 1 Leopard, and 1 Redfoot). 

For Sulcatas, majority of the entries are are between 0.6 to 1.9 years old. Most of the these somewhere between 134g to 1383g and grow somewhere in between 17-35% per month.


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## lismar79 (Mar 2, 2015)

franz_see said:


> Thanks @lismar79 ,
> Have you kept track of yours?
> If yes, may I request for a copy?
> If not, may I ask for your tortoise's current weight and length then I'll just follow up again after a month or so?  hehe
> ...


http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/harper-the-growing-machine.92205/


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## Schatzi011 (Mar 2, 2015)

I can send you my excel file. I have been tracking Hercules (a sulcata) for about 9 years. Where should I send it? In my growth chart, I keep the date, age and weight, as well as a fitting equation (using a sigmoidal curve).


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## franz_see (Mar 2, 2015)

@lismar79 Thanks!  I just finished adding your "little" harper to my collection : http://bit.ly/tortoise-growth-chart-collection---lismar79---harper-the-growing-machine 

Harper's a healthy "little" fellow!  He currently averages at 25% per month, but 5 months ago, he was averaging at 30% per month!  So far, from what I've gathered, sullies normally grow at about 17 to 35% per month. But those are for sullies that are between 134g to 1383g. Five months ago, Harper was growing at 30% per month and he was already at 1.8kg!  

Now that he's in the 3kg mark, he seems to have slowed down quite a bit, but still quite an impressive growth rate if you ask me  Not to mention that he has beautiful shell as of the last picture you uploaded 

Great job!


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## franz_see (Mar 2, 2015)

@Schatzi011 wow! 9years! That would be a really great addition!  The oldest sully in my collection so far is 5.4yrs  Adding your 9 year old would be a great way to see how well do they do throughout time 

I sent you my email address in a private conversation. You can send me his charts there so that I can compare it against the rest  

Disclaimer : I'm not doing anything fancy actually in terms of mathematical computation. It's all really basic for now


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## Schatzi011 (Mar 2, 2015)

My guy has pretty slow growth compared with some of the other sulcatas. He does have a very smooth shell though and his growth is consistent. Anyway, are you going to compile them all in a chart (by species)? I think that would be interesting, or calculate some summary numbers by species. Thanks for putting this together!! I think this is fantastic.


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## franz_see (Mar 2, 2015)

Schatzi011 said:


> My guy has pretty slow growth compared with some of the other sulcatas. He does have a very smooth shell though and his growth is consistent. Anyway, are you going to compile them all in a chart (by species)? I think that would be interesting, or calculate some summary numbers by species. Thanks for putting this together!! I think this is fantastic.



@Schatzi011 that's actually an interesting thing - they can grow at 1% per month and still be fine !  As long as they're active, eat & poops (and has no worms), they'll still be healthy


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## franz_see (Mar 2, 2015)

Schatzi011 said:


> My guy has pretty slow growth compared with some of the other sulcatas. He does have a very smooth shell though and his growth is consistent. Anyway, are you going to compile them all in a chart (by species)? I think that would be interesting, or calculate some summary numbers by species. Thanks for putting this together!! I think this is fantastic.



@Schatzi011 oh, and yes - I do intend to group them by specie  My assumption (and what is conventional knowledge anyway) is that each specie grow at different rate, hence, the separation


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## franz_see (Mar 2, 2015)

Schatzi011 said:


> I can send you my excel file. I have been tracking Hercules (a sulcata) for about 9 years. Where should I send it? In my growth chart, I keep the date, age and weight, as well as a fitting equation (using a sigmoidal curve).



Thanks @Schatzi011 , I now have added you to the collection. Here's yours : http://bit.ly/tortoise-growth-chart-collection---schatzi011-s-hercules 

Your data is a gold mine!  If anybody out there wants to see how a sulcata grows throughout 8.6yrs, your chart is the way to go  

Hercules have been roughly growing for about 5% per month. What's interesting about him is how steady his growth is. While other sulcatas grow really fast during the early years, yours took a more slow-and-steady approach. If you take a look at growth (%) per day, seems like it's been pretty consistent. Ever since you started measuring him (starting 2006Nov08 till 2015Feb24), he has been growing daily at roughly somewhere between -0.5% to 1% daily. That's pretty amazing considering you've been measuring him for the past 9 years now  I would love to see where he'll be in the next decade


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## Schatzi011 (Mar 5, 2015)

Thanks for making those extra plots as well. I'm surprised at how steady his growth has been as well. Maybe that is a good thing, with him just plugging along.


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## Zeko (Mar 5, 2015)

Ooooh look at that, highest growth rate!

Very cool to see. I have some free time coming up, I may be able to help with a quick website we can use to show care sheets, growth rates, Tom's info, etc.


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## franz_see (Mar 8, 2015)

Schatzi011 said:


> Thanks for making those extra plots as well. I'm surprised at how steady his growth has been as well. Maybe that is a good thing, with him just plugging along.



Yep. I was surprised as well. If there's a consistency award, Hercules would definitely get it  hehe


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## franz_see (Mar 8, 2015)

Zeko said:


> Ooooh look at that, highest growth rate!
> 
> Very cool to see. I have some free time coming up, I may be able to help with a quick website we can use to show care sheets, growth rates, Tom's info, etc.



At 0.4yrs old, he's already at 257g!  That's even bigger than my Curtis (0.8yrs old, 192g)  Looks like hydration at the first few months pays off big time!


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## Oxalis (Nov 7, 2015)

Very cool project!  Thank you for taking the time to collect and analyze this data from the people who know tortoises the best -- the proactive and knowledgeable tortoise keepers!  I would definitely participate but I have no idea on Steve's birth year, his current age, or his measurements when I first acquired him 6 years ago.


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