Babcocki leopard growth progress...

[DesertGrandma]

Thanks! I forgot to take a plasteron pic. I'll do that tomorrow. I still think it's going to be a female. The breeder incubated it in his back yard on a hot summer in Arizona, and the shell is fairly round and high domed so far. I'm also noticing lots of speckles, so it's probably cross bred with one of his South Africans. Maybe that's why it's growing so fast.

I would suspect the same thing. It is over twice the size of all of mine at that age and I thought mine were big. It is sure a beauty and looking very smooth!!

 

[MasterOogway]

beautiful!

 

[ulkal]

What a beautiful tort, good job.

My tortoises are the same age but only 3". I have the same care procedure-
what is your enclosure setup?

 

[bigred]

Great job keeping track of his growth, he is a beautiful little guy

 

[Tortus]

What a beautiful tort, good job.

My tortoises are the same age but only 3". I have the same care procedure-
what is your enclosure setup?

I've had it in a sterilite underbed container since it was 3 or so weeks old. The biggest one at Walmart with the wheels, but I broke the wheels off since I use a heat pad to create humidity. The Fluker's heat mat, one of the few that can be used with plastic. And it works VERY well with my setup. With eco earth as a substrate. Half of it is covered always, where it sleeps, and then I have a humidifier on the covered half during the day blowing on the open half. At night, I cover the entire thing so it's like a giant humid hide. It sleeps early, so it gets at least 15 hours per day of 90%+ humidity.

I hope this makes sense. But it has been a learning process. I wish I started this process earlier so it would be "egg smooth". But It seems smooth enough I suppose. Very healthy.

Oh and thanks for the compliments. I think mother nature helped my guy out more than I did. But I'm glad to see her growing well.

 

[ulkal]

Your tortoise looks really smooth to me , its certainly not only Mother nature but good care- I know what you mean though, I got mine when they were around 5months, and they had already started pyramiding.
My setup is similar, except for heating mat and humdifier. I had a used Reptifogger which broke down after 2 weeks
which one do you use? Maybe I should give it another try. At the moment I'm spraying 3+ times a day.
Sorry for the many questions and thanks.

 

[Tortus]

I use the Crane penguin shaped humidifier. lol. Crane makes a lot of models and has good reviews. Just check Amazon. But a popular one on here has two spouts for the mist that hoses can be connected to. If my Crane ever breaks down I'll get this one:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000O3I2CG/?tag=exoticpetnetw-20

 

[pspryu101]

beautiful leopard perfect shell growth and nice colors he has too

 

[Tortus]

Thank you so much for the nice compliments! The highlight of my day is soaking her. She loves the soak now. Relaxes completely, drinks, walks around calmly. Doesn't "shell up" much anymore. It really is a joy to have a leopard.

 

[ulkal]

Thanks for your help. I guess I buy one with the next paycheck-maybe the elephant one to simulate
a natural habitat

 

[Pokeymeg]

Wow, that's going to be one big girl/boy when they're done growing!!

 

[Tortus]

Pokey don't scare me like that. lol

But, this is one reason why I went with a leopard. Even though it will be a challenge during the winter, I wanted a big tort. Something my dog can't eat.

 

[Tortus]

8 months old:

Month 1: 2", 40 grams

Month 2: 2 1/4", 64 grams

Month 3: 2 1/2", 88 grams

Month 4: 2 3/4", 133 grams

Month 5: 3 1/2", 173 grams

Month 6: 4", 226 grams

Month 7: 4 3/8", 266 grams

Month 8: 4 9/16", 315 grams

 

[FLGirl41]

Gorgeous tort! Love his/her shell pattern.

 

[Tortus]

Thanks. I wasn't sure if she'd hit the 300 gram mark, so being over was a little surprising. I think I may post months 9-12 all at once like I did in the beginning of this thread.

I did yard work today and picked some dandelion. Amazing how fast those things wilt when uprooted...within minutes.

 

[dcwolfe]

I love the coloring of your leopard. I have a brother sister of yours so im hoping to get the same colors as yours.

 

[Tortus]

Oh yeah, dcwolfe, you got yours from woody's too. I have to say this is one hardy beast. She's even gotten cold a few times and showed no sign of sickness. Just eats and grows and grows...lol

Do you have any recent pics of yours? With stats?

BTW, although you can't really see it in these pics, her new growth rings are coming in white. The next few months should be interesting...

 

[ulkal]

This is really impressive. Mine are older and smaller.
Good job, she is gorgeous

 

[Tortus]

I'm still wondering if the rapid growth is due to the amount of time she sleeps. It's a lot. As soon as I see her bed down, I cover the enclosure and turn the lights off, because I know she won't be getting back up before morning. Never does. It's usually 15 hours of sleep per day. She has her log hide that she uses regularly. But when she goes down to the covered end and nestles in the moss, I know she's done for the day. You get to know their routines after a while.

I'll be posting the next 4 months of updates at once. I think it takes 6 months for a thread to close if I'm not mistaken.

 

[ulkal]

My husbandry is similar to yours. I just wondered if its slowed growth in the winter.
But then I saw yours had a spurt from Jan/Feb, lol.
I am curious about the development.