Jodipg82

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I have this beautiful hatchling that was produced by garden state tortoise & I’m wondering about normal weight gain. When I acquired her, about 6 weeks ago, she was 25g & now weighs 30g. Is this normal? View attachment 304697
She is really pretty! I'm a new Leo Tort owner and I question my Leo's weight gain as well as he is 6mths and 30g. He eats well, super smooth carapace, active, healthy poops/pees and I follow Tom's caresheet closely.
I do like your enclosure from what I can see of it! Can you post more pics? It will probably help answer your question also to see the entire enclosure.
 

ComeNT8kIt

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I have this beautiful hatchling that was produced by garden state tortoise & I’m wondering about normal weight gain. When I acquired her, about 6 weeks ago, she was 25g & now weighs 30g. Is this normal? View attachment 304697

that’s sounds to be about normal. I have an Eastern from Garden State. Actually ours may have been neighbors at some point I received mine about that same time. He just clocked in at 46 grams yesterday. Obviously easterns are slightly larger. I’d love to see more pictures of your enclosure. It looks super interesting.
 

Eighty8Scales

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I think the temps are ok, basking 84-92, cool side 72-80. Humidity ranges from 64-78 & I try to keep the substrate moist.

I feed her weeds, Mazuri & occasionally her favorite radicchio.

As for the enclosure, I tried to make it as tranquil and natural looking as possible for both the little tort & I.


Thanks again!!

*Not pictured is the humid hide that stays between 74-78**
 

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method89

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I have this beautiful hatchling that was produced by garden state tortoise & I’m wondering about normal weight gain. When I acquired her, about 6 weeks ago, she was 25g & now weighs 30g. Is this normal? View attachment 304697
Mine was 14g when I got him as a baby. He's a little over 40g approaching a year
 

zovick

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I have this beautiful hatchling that was produced by garden state tortoise & I’m wondering about normal weight gain. When I acquired her, about 6 weeks ago, she was 25g & now weighs 30g. Is this normal? View attachment 304697
A 5 gram gain in 6 weeks sounds quite good. That's a 20% increase in a month and a half. I would be pleased with that in my collection.
 

method89

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Really? You have made my day, I was worried she wasn’t gaining enough weight.
Do you have any pictures of your little dude?
I was worried, sometimes still worry but he always eats and is still very healthy looking so I think he's fine. Everything I've read says they all grow differently.
 

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method89

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What locale is your T.H.H? Mine is from Apulia... They are generally smaller then the rest of the species
 

zovick

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What locale is your T.H.H? Mine is from Apulia... They are generally smaller then the rest of the species
Well, I imported groups of 8-10 babies from each of these locales: Tuscany, Mallorca, Menorca, Corsica, and Varoise (mainland France). I had them all DNA tested for genetic purity and grew them up for a year or so. Ultimately I sold or traded them to other people. Chris Leone actually has some of them now.

In my hands, the Corsican ones grew the fastest. Here are pix of them, first in December 2013 and then in June 2014. In six months, they grew to about 4" long. The paper plate in the picture is 6" in diameter. In December, about 5 or 6 of the tortoises could fit on one of the paper plates. A single tortoise from the second photo would take up almost an entire paper plate.

Corsica.jpgCorsicans June 2014.jpg


Here are the Tuscan ones at 5 months of age. They are about 3" to 3.5" long:

Tuscans.jpg
 

method89

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Interesting, what could I be doing that I'm not seeing that type of growth. I feed weeds everyday, mazuri 2-3 a week, . calcium occasionally. My little guy is @ year and is at 2.5".
 
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zovick

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Interesting, what could I be doing that I'm not seeing that type of growth. I feed weeds everyday, mazuri 2-3 a week, . calcium occasionally. My little guy is @ year and is at 2.5".
Feed the tortoise all it wants to eat daily. IE, keep various foods in front of it all day, every day. Sprinkle all the foods with both Herptivite and Rep-Cal (with Vit. D3). Soak daily in AM for 15-20 minutes while you are preparing the food, then put the tortoise in front of its feeding area. Once a month put Bene-Bac (the one for Birds and Reptiles) on the food as well.

Keep the tortoise on very damp coco coir substrate under a long tube fluorescent light bulb which provides adequate UVB such as a Reptisun 10.0 and then MEASURE the UV output with a Solarmeter 6.5 model. You want to have about a 2.5 to 3.3 reading at the substrate level to get good growth in the babies. Adjust the height of your bulb up or down to get the proper UV reading on the Solarmeter. I keep my UVB lighting on all day (14-16 hours). Also provide a hide area so the tortoise can get out of the light if it so desires.

Try to maintain a temperature of about 85-87 in the daytime and 70-74 at night. I do NOT use any basking lights for my babies.

I think that is all you need to do to realize growth like the babies in my photos.

Do you happen to know Larry Gaugler from Elmhurst by any chance? Did you get your Thh from him or not?

BY THE WAY, HAPPY BIRTHDAY.
 
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Eighty8Scales

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A 5 gram gain in 6 weeks sounds quite good. That's a 20% increase in a month and a half. I would be pleased with that in my collection.

Thank you!

She’s my first hatchling so I’m a bit anxious on whether I’m doing it right.
 

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