# Captive Desert Tortoise Growth Chart



## ellen (May 1, 2014)

http://bitmek.com/garrett/

It looks like this little boy, Garrett, got the coolest gift in 2005 from his kindergarten teacher. A tortoise he named Duke. I'm guessing his parents are the ones maintaining the website for him, but Duke is over 8 years old (and thankfully male to match his name!). I know I worry about my evil twins, and others here might also worry about their hatchlings. 

I am super glad I found this web page. From the looks of it it seems like Duke grows about an inch per year in length, no weights listed sadly, but I've given up and resigned myself to the fact that Morgan's going to be a whopper. Before I found a a study showing that in the first two years of life they gain 30% mass per year in the wild.

If you keep track of plastron length rather than generalized carapace length I have a PDF link to a USGS study about tortoises in the wild, but it isn't as accurate to compare them. 

http://www.werc.usgs.gov/fileHandler.ashx?File=/Lists/Products/Attachments/4815/Long-Term Growth.pdf

If anyone has anything to add to this please feel free. I've been searching high and low for growth charts for desert tortoises, wild or captive.


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## ascott (May 1, 2014)

I don't know that you are going to find such a reliable chart....I mean, there are so many variables at play that determine growth pace ---food availability for grazing, wild or captive, genetics of the line , etc. 

If the tort in your care feels heavy and solid when you lift it and the tort is doing all that a tort would do...then you should be fine and you can start your own book for weights and measurements....


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## ellen (May 2, 2014)

I may be a worrywart, but I can't be the only in existence.  I have my own chart for measurements started, admittedly not as much as I should chart but I've gotten better about it. I just want some kind of guide(s) to say okay, this is normal, these guys are on the right track, this is about what I could expect, etc. They're happy, healthy, and probably tired of me treating them like babies, but if I don't have at least some kind of chart(s) on hand I'm gonna end up dragging them to the vet every other day. Remind me not to have children someday LOL.


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## Yvonne G (May 2, 2014)

I don't have charts, per se, but I do try to measure and weigh each of my tortoises annually. I used to take a picture at that time too, but now my info is on an EXCEL program in the computer and there's no way (that I know of) to have a picture with the info.


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## franz_see (Feb 28, 2015)

Hi @ellen , I'm collecting growth charts myself and have posted about my collection ( and requesting for more contributions ) here http://bit.ly/tortoise-growth-charts  

Would you mind sharing yours as well? 

Thanks!


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## JohnnyB65 (Mar 9, 2015)

Just saw this for the first time and I wish i would have thought to do something like this years ago when i first got my tortoise.


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