Health improving on the two adopted two year olds!

Stoneman

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The one that hardly grew in the first two years of life has put on new growth and almost doubled in weight in three months. Second tortoise has almost doubled in weight, and pyramiding is evening out! Both are very active, getting daily baths and hanging in there! The little one weighs 50 grams now and the larger one weighs 220! The pics of them on the scale was a little after I got them, the one in the bowls is them today.
 

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Stoneman

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Thank you everyone! I misspoke, the first one that hardly grew any in the first two years of life, has not double in size, but has increased in weight 25%. He was like 35 grams and now he is 50. He likes to spend a lot of time under the bowl, which is great because I want him to absorb all of the UVB and therefore calcium that he can. When I first got him, he had zero new growth since the original plates. He also had almost all of his nails fall off. He had two more fall off right after I got him, but since then he has retained his last front left claw. Fortunately, all of his claws seem to be growing back in. I took @zovick advice and cleaned with his feet with betadyne solution on a regular basis. They have two lights in their enclosure until I can afford to upgrade and get them one of the nice recommended tubes with better spectrum. I am very surprised that I have been able to keep the smaller one alive. There is an issue of puffiness around the soft tissue close to the body, but I think that maybe that was caused by soft tissue growing without the bones catching up. It seems to have lessened since I have had him. I have kept him on a strict diet, of greens that have about 1:20 calcium ratio, with herptivite, powdered limestone, and mazuri, and squash.

The second tortoise is doing really well. I am pretty sure it is a girl. The anal scutes appear to be more rounded, and the tail is stubby and the body seems very round. However, as you can see from the images above, that one had severe dehydration causing pyramiding. Fortunately all of the new growth appears to be smooth. She weighed 120 grams when I first got her, and now she weights 220! Pretty good considering I have only had her about five months!

I have added a humid hide with a sponge attached, and have been giving baths almost every day, maybe once a week I miss. I also try to give them baths twice per day. So about three days per week they get two baths in one day. It seems to be helping.
 

HarvestHerp5

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Congrats. That's fantastic. I got my first star tort about a month ago. He? eats well but isn't gaining much weight. Maybe a few grams. I'm not sure how much he should gain each month. My redfoot the same age grew a lot.
 

Stoneman

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New pics of the pair. The smaller one is still hanging in there, growing ever so slightly, while the other one seems to be experiencing explosive growth.
 

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Stoneman

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The smaller of the two acts lethargic most of the time, and often has his eyes closed. He doesn't spend much time in the humid hide, he prefers to stay right under the uvb lamp, the heated and non-heated. I think it is because of MBD or calcium absorbtion problems. Perhaps is small frame is just trying to catch up.

He eats well though, which is frustrating because he always looks like he is on his death bed. I think it might be too dry in spite of our humidity accomodations. His body always looks... dehydrated.. or something. He scratches his eyes when I think he is not hunid enough. Here is a less than flattering pic of what I mean.
 

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Stoneman

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I am not expecting this one to breed. I will be happy if it survives into adulthood. It could still be kidney issues I think. Perhaps they are compromised, yet still partially functional, because they do produce urates...
 

Stoneman

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We call him Benjamin Button, because he looks young but he is a lot older... lol I think he is damn near three years old. My months old burms are bigger than he is...
 

Stoneman

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Here is a photo of the plastaron when I got him compared to now. The growth is uneven, as it kind of pushes out, I think this may be caused by pressures of the soft tissues within its body, pressing against it through growth, but more likely humidity. Especially since he stays out of the hide most of the time. It may even be that he is just finally having all the right nutrients in order to build healthy tissue, so it apprears protruded. But, my burms have started this growth too even though they were started fine, so I think it is the humidity. Sorry about sentence fragments and disorganized paragraphs, I am typing from my phone at 2:30 am so deal with it lol
 

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