1 year old Leopard Tortoise not gaining weight.

Rob99

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Hay all a bit scared about posting things on the net because I know people can be mean. I have a Leopard tortoise that i have had for about 6 month. I got him/her from a local breeder who let me know the the Tortoise was held back because it was not growing. She held him/her for a year and sold me Mousse back in October. see attached pictureIMG_2725.PNG as you can see great looking shell healthy and eat ok and poops.
It has now been 6 months. Mousse has only gained 8 grams, he/she gains 3 or 4 grams then the next week looses it. I have 2 other leopard tortoises and they eat everything in site and still act like I don't feed them. they gain about 5 grams a week like clock work. Mouse looks the same. act the same. He/she will sleep more than the others and will not eat quite as much as the others but aside from that is still as active as the others. They all get plenty of sun. Temps are right. always fresh water available. Diet is good and varied. loaves weeds and cactus. Not sure where to go or how long to wait to do anything because Mousse still acts fairly normal. My concern is it has been 6 months and not much weight gain. Please any advice would be helpful.pict 2.jpgCurrent Pict.
 

Lyn W

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You won't get anyone being mean here - just straight talking advice to help you make sure your tort is happy and healthy.
Can you post some pics of his enclosure so that we can see if there's anything there affecting him.
Also are you keeping the 3 of them together? If so it could be that there is some bullying going on.
It could just be that he wasn't started well so his growth has been affected, but once you give the full picture others will have lots of suggestions.
 

Tom

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Most breeders don't start them correctly. If this is the case, it will sometimes cause them to grow very slowly for a while.

Make sure you are doing the following:
  1. Soak daily. 30-40 minutes at least, more time is fine, and keep the water warm for the entire duration.
  2. House in a closed chamber with warm temps and high humidity. Monsoon conditions. Warm and humid day and night.
  3. Add some protein to the diet. Clover, fresh grown alfalfa, broad or narrow leaf plantain, original Mazuri, ZooMed Forrest tort pellets, green beans, etc...
  4. Don't put the baby in the outside enclosure for more than an hour or two, a couple of times per week. They do better and grow more when kept primarily inside as babies. More and more outside time is good once they gain some size, but not for babies. Adults should live outside full time when and where possible.
 

Ray--Opo

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Welcome, your in the right place. You might get some direct advice but it is not meant to be mean.
Like Lyn said ,pics would be great.
 

Rob99

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Thank you all so much I will get more Picts up soon. All 3 only are outside when temp is permissible. love the diet suggestions. I will get enclosure Picts when I get home. I have been soaking them 3 to 4 times a week but only for about 10 min. I did not realize that you soaked them for so long.
 

Lyn W

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This will help you put things right
 

Yvonne G

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Is Mousse set up by himself or is he in with the other two? You might try putting him in an enclosure all by himself and see if that helps him to grow.
 

Rob99

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Ok here goes I will try to give as much info as possible. attached are 2 photos. The substrate is made up of cocofiber base with reptibark as a topper. This is a zoo med tortoise enclosure. Off to the left side out of frame is a cuttlefish bone and the rest of the grass you see there as well as the entrance to the hide seen in second photo. I spray down every day to keep the humidity up. the heat lamp is over the grass off to the left and that helps keep the humidity up because I have to water that often. I have a hole flat of the same grass that I rotate in and out of there so it dose have a chance to recover so it is only in the enclosure 3 days every two weeks where the rest of the grass is rotated in so that there is always grass. there is always fresh water in a homemade 3D printed water dish. the hot side is at about 105 deg and the cool side at night can get to 65 or 70. I have a night time heat mat under the entire 1/2 of the hide and in taking ground temps and shell temps with my temp gun have see there temps between 70 and 90 based on where they are sleeping for the night.
Diet is Grass mainly. All 3 are together or have been Mousse has always been bigger no to say that bullying is not happening.
I have a zoomed LED lighting as well as a zoomed UVB light. lights run for 12hrs on timer. You cant see it but humidity is 70% on the far side of the enclosure and always above 50%. pict 1.jpg
pict 2.jpg
I keep damp Sphagnum moss next to the cork bark. they all sleep different places as you can barley make out 2 of the 3 in this picture. Mousse is at the top.
Please let me know if you need any other info. I have really tried to do my research on this.
 
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