# Stunted Growth



## Golden Greek Tortoise 567 (Jul 19, 2020)

Hi all, as the title suggests I am wondering about stunted growth in torts. Now, I don’t have any personal experience in this topic but I’ve been reading about others that do. So, my question today is what causes stunted growth, if it affects tortoise health (the way they act) in any way and if it is permanent. Thanks in advance!


----------



## wanderlust (Jul 20, 2020)

I'm sorry, I don't have any info for you but I'd be interested in learning more about this, too. My sulcata is supposed to be around 5 yrs old but is only 8" and 3 lbs. This is due to its previous owner keeping it in an aquarium with 2 other sulcatas. I'm wondering if it will be permanently stunted due to poor care in its early years.


----------



## Tom (Jul 20, 2020)

There are many variables that can cause this. Chronic dehydration at any age. Internal organ damage in babies due to dehydration in its first few weeks or months. Poor diet. Not enough food. Wrong temperatures. Stress from any number of sources, like living as a pair for example. Partial ingestion of some substrates like sand, ingestion of perlite incubation media, and many more.

I've also seen slower then normal growth in tortoises housed in the frozen north. I don't know why they grow so slow up there sometimes, but it frequently seems to be tortoises raised in cold climates that are greatly undersized for their age.

As far as permanent stunting: No one can say what will happen. In some cases they can resume normal growth when the conditions caused the problem are corrected, and in other cases, nothing will make them grow and reach normal size.


----------



## Beasty_Artemis (Aug 10, 2020)

Hmmmm. I'm curious about this subject as well.... I hatched 2 red foots from Tortstork.com in my incubator (these babies are my first hatchlings that I have ever started!) But of the two, one has a seemingly smooth looking shell texture, while the other hatchling has scutes that appear deformed. Like the scutes are sucked inwards instead of rounded out.....(????) The two are kept in separate containers.


----------



## Beasty_Artemis (Aug 10, 2020)

The hatchling with the deformed scutes was the smaller individual, and the bully out of the two.


----------

