Growth of Toro, February 2016 Sulcata Tortoise. (Big File Size Alert!!)

[Fredkas]

74g

 

[Speedy-1]

74g

 

[Fredkas]

76gr for the 1st time.
Ok, as Speedy's dad suggested on previous posting, and Toro now have a more stabilize growth, this is the time to make the weight schedule tidier (hope i can hold my hand from posting the weight beside his schedule time.)
The sum:
Now he eats hibiscus, rose, roselle, pinto peanut, mazuri "LS", regular mazuri, opuntia, kale, bokchoy, water spinach, indian lettuce, carrot, and grasses. Soon will be dandelion, geranium, violet.
31 May '16 - 57gr (1st day)
09 Jun '16 - 62gr (i believe the gain is from water (have slight pyramid))
11 Jul '16 - 62gr
20 Jul '16 - 64gr (start having big appetite after i gave him "water spinach treat" for the 1st time.)
22 Jul '16 - 66gr
27 Jul '16 - 67gr
30 Jul '16 - 68gr
06 Aug '16 - 71gr
11 Aug '16 - 74gr
17 Aug '16 - 76gr

 

[Franklin'sMom]

Does he have a uvb light in his enclosure?

 

[Fredkas]

Does he have a uvb light in his enclosure?

Nope. My country only sell MVB and coiled uvb. MVB wattage is too hot for his enclosure. I ended up giving natural sunshine as his uvb source.
Giving him a better outdoor enclosure finished several days ago. Haven't update what i promised on that thread. Been busy these days.

http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/sharing-outdoor-enclosure.145284/

 

[Speedy-1]

Giving him a better outdoor enclosure finished several days ago. Haven't update what i promised on that thread. Been busy these days.

http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/sharing-outdoor-enclosure.145284/

That's because you are too busy weighing him !

 

[Fredkas]

That's because you are too busy weighing him !

Lol you make me laugh hard. Why emoticon is so little in desktop version. It just real life busy haha, nothing because weighing haha.
Btw my hand itchy to type he is gaining weight again today. But welll.... wait a week for posting weigh haha.

And now i really know what is the meaning of sulcata eat like a pig. When i started adopt toro, i was confused, it seems toro not really ate like a pig. Now i always amazed how he managed to put all the food inside his body, and the other morning, he still searching for food. These 2 days, he makes me stretch my head lol. Like today morning, i am looking at him, he is looking at me, he is hungry, i am confuse haha.
Thank you for all the help from all the members here, i got a lot of confidence boost and advise, and still are. I still remember how @wellington patiently explain to me when i confuse about amount of eating here: http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/daily-food-for-sulcata-tortoise.142964/ . Thanks friend!

New sharing, last week i found Toro got puffy eyes, right one is puffier. I was going to PM @Yvonne G about this. But i think i read everything first in forum, maybe i would get my answer. A lot of solution provided, and after all the reading, i think Vit A deficiency is the easiest solving problem, maybe he is lacking vit A. So i just chop carrot to his mazuri, a bit of carrot no harm right? And yes, his eyes better. I think now still have a very little puffy eyes,but will gone soon hopefully.
I am really carefull about not waiting until everything get to bad condition as i can only rely on myself, no reptile vet in my place. My vet is tortoiseforum.org haha.

 

[wellington]

Lol you make me laugh hard. Why emoticon is so little in desktop version. It just real life busy haha, nothing because weighing haha.
Btw my hand itchy to type he is gaining weight again today. But welll.... wait a week for posting weigh haha.

And now i really know what is the meaning of sulcata eat like a pig. When i started adopt toro, i was confused, it seems toro not really ate like a pig. Now i always amazed how he managed to put all the food inside his body, and the other morning, he still searching for food. These 2 days, he makes me stretch my head lol. Like today morning, i am looking at him, he is looking at me, he is hungry, i am confuse haha.
Thank you for all the help from all the members here, i got a lot of confidence boost and advise, and still are. I still remember how @wellington patiently explain to me when i confuse about amount of eating here: http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/daily-food-for-sulcata-tortoise.142964/ . Thanks friend!

New sharing, last week i found Toro got puffy eyes, right one is puffier. I was going to PM @Yvonne G about this. But i think i read everything first in forum, maybe i would get my answer. A lot of solution provided, and after all the reading, i think Vit A deficiency is the easiest solving problem, maybe he is lacking vit A. So i just chop carrot to his mazuri, a bit of carrot no harm right? And yes, his eyes better. I think now still have a very little puffy eyes,but will gone soon hopefully.
I am really carefull about not waiting until everything get to bad condition as i can only rely on myself, no reptile vet in my place. My vet is tortoiseforum.org haha.

Just read through the link you posted. Man my spelling and/or auto correct was terrible. Glad you were able to figure out what I was saying through all the misspelled words.

 

[Taco*mom]

Ok. This works or not. I am weighing toro almost everyday because the scale only beside toro's enclosure, i can't help my hand to place toro at there for 2 seconds lol. He never goes to 65g, even 64 is only sometimes. 3 days ago i gave new food. Today he is 66 g. For the first time!!! If this is keeping up, then i thinks i solve my own problem.

Ps. Toro does not like grape leaves, i just left the leaves and never offer it anymore or what?
Ps. I find toro does not like his food chopped, i think he likes to rip the leaves?!?!

Cross finger for all this!!! Hope the weight start to climbing and never goes down lol. Tomorrow will be his mazuri day.

oo my gosh. So much similarities with Taco. Born almost the same, if probably not from the same clutch. Considering we live in the same country

 

[Fredkas]

oo my gosh. So much similarities with Taco. Born almost the same, if probably not from the same clutch. Considering we live in the same country

Probably. Call me in private if you need anything.
Toro outside the "unnormal" zone now. He is steadily gaining weight. Everything sort out now.

 

[Taco*mom]

So what's Toro's weight today? How's his eye? By "water spinach" do you mean kangkung? (Local vegie here). Do you offer it as a treat? How do you do that? Taco only wants to eat once a day

 

[Fredkas]

So what's Toro's weight today? How's his eye? By "water spinach" do you mean kangkung? (Local vegie here). Do you offer it as a treat? How do you do that? Taco only wants to eat once a day

He is 81g today. His eyes keep better, i think fully recovery now. I do recommend chop carrot once a week for sulcata mix with what food he is eating that day. I mix it to mazuri.
Yes kankung. Silly me, the first time i am mistaken it by kale lol.
I give kangkung once a week without chopping, but i finely chop grasses and spring it above kangkung.
Now i only give him what he likes and how he likes his food. What i learn is they will eat everything when they used to eat like a pig.
No chop food except carrot and grasses. Grasses only spring to the food that not really good for him but he really likes it.
He likes indian lettuce (called siomak in our country), kangkung, hibiscuss leaves, regular mazuri, mazuri LS, pinto peanut.
Toro's diet is not really good, but i find it hard to give better food in this country. I buy plant seed for him, until now, it keeps failing hahaha, how stupid i am.
A problem with our country, you buy plants and flowers, no need to ask pesticide, they will say no pesticides in doubt face (he is doubting to say the truth and you will not buy it, or saying the lie but afraid of the consequences.)

 

[Fredkas]

So what's Toro's weight today? How's his eye? By "water spinach" do you mean kangkung? (Local vegie here). Do you offer it as a treat? How do you do that? Taco only wants to eat once a day

I usually give him food in the morning while he is sunbathing, left food will be taken to his indoor enclosure and he can eat it whenever he wants.
7 P.M will wake him up (because this time, he already go to his humid hide to sleep) and put some food and him inside his soaking tub. Usually he will eat a little, i left him that way around 30min. After that i throw away what left and he is having short time soak in warm water. Then put him back to his enclosure.
What works with tort is they learn through habit. For the first time maybe they will confuse what are you doing to them. If you do it exactly that way, they will learn fast and know what to expect at what time. I can feel that Toro now very comfortable when i just grab him out from his humid hide. he knows at that "just about to dark" time, there will be something grab him and he can't escape it, afterall, he just get food and bath. So... no panicking hahaha... what for?!?!
He is smart, learn fast, and very curious. Sometimes i cant help myself to make fun of him. Scratch his shell and he dance, and i can feel he thinks i am annoying lol.

Sorry for my bad english

 

[Taco*mom]

Hahaha. I know exactly what you mean by asking about pesticides. I usually regret asking it the minute I finish my sentence. Thank you so much for sharing Toro's diet. I will definetly try that. Siomak is very hard to find where I live. Funny you should mention about seeds. My seeds that I ordered from tokopedia just came today. I got some christmas cactus, cat grass among other things.. dunno if it will grow well. And dunno if Taco's gonna like it. But I think it's woth to try. Hey, anything for our torts, right?

I feel awful about waking Taco up though. I soak him twice a day. The last one being around 5 when he's still awake. And after that he's totally spent. Just wanna hide in his cave and sleep. Hey don't worry about your english. It's very good.

 

[Fredkas]

Hahaha. I know exactly what you mean by asking about pesticides. I usually regret asking it the minute I finish my sentence. Thank you so much for sharing Toro's diet. I will definetly try that. Siomak is very hard to find where I live. Funny you should mention about seeds. My seeds that I ordered from tokopedia just came today. I got some christmas cactus, cat grass among other things.. dunno if it will grow well. And dunno if Taco's gonna like it. But I think it's woth to try. Hey, anything for our torts, right?

I feel awful about waking Taco up though. I soak him twice a day. The last one being around 5 when he's still awake. And after that he's totally spent. Just wanna hide in his cave and sleep. Hey don't worry about your english. It's very good.

Welcome! We are here to share the same passionate.
Anything for our tort? Ok, i share this story to you and you should definetely try it yourself because it guarantees Taco will love it haha.
It is about siomak. Yes siomak is hard to find. My place don't have it too.
This is a funny story behind siomak /indian lettuce. I read TFO months before i got Toro. I researched Sulcata behaviour at our country. I ended up know siomak is the first food for any sulcata in this country. I search entire corner of my area. No siomak, people look at me like i am crazy lol. I know from TFO, tort need to adapt and it is hard for them. What should i do for him, entire new place with entire sudden extreme change of food?
I gather all common favourite of sulcata food from TFO. I have it all before got Toro. The most important one, i asked siomak attached to Toro's shipping package. I'll skip some exciting part when i first met Toro, that will become too long.
So suddenly that tiny bit of siomak became so valuable that i just give it little by little to Toro. It became gold lol. When i run out of it, thanks god I dump all Toro left over food in one place that will be full for a week (means i get rid of that garbage once a week, sometimes more). You know what? That siomak grow inside my garbage lol. I can't believe my eyes (i am no way a gardener). So here i am now have a tiny siomak plant. I do buy siomak seed and have nothing until now lol. Btw i finally find someone who run green house selling siomak in my place. It is expensive, but i buy once, will grow it myself from the rod because my silly hand can't grow anything from seed.
So you can buy yourself a bunch of siomak, send it to you, give Taco the leaves and plant the rod.

Hey i left some headache for you.. Do you really believe when you buy soil, they will pesticides free?
Somehow i am suspicious you and me are from same location lol.

 

[Taco*mom]

That's hilarious! Never thought siomak can grow in a trash can. It probably was the only pleasant surprise that can come from opening a trash bin. Hahahah. Good story though. I'll see if I have any luck with my trash bin
as far as the soil and coir. I usually try to buy it online. If they say it's organic and some people have purchased from them, then I think it's a good sign. After that, I cross my fingers and hope Taco will be ok and try not to think about it too much

 

[Fredkas]

That's hilarious! Never thought siomak can grow in a trash can. It probably was the only pleasant surprise that can come from opening a trash bin. Hahahah. Good story though. I'll see if I have any luck with my trash bin
as far as the soil and coir. I usually try to buy it online. If they say it's organic and some people have purchased from them, then I think it's a good sign. After that, I cross my fingers and hope Taco will be ok and try not to think about it too much

Yes!! And it is the first time in my life i pull out something from trash bin and wash it. Btw you just stick it to soil, eliminate the "trash bin" step lol.
If you buy online and in packages you should probably be fine.
I relax a bit now but still keeping eyes for everything.
Hope Taco will reach his growing spurt soon.

 

[Fredkas]

Weekly update:
He eats hibiscus, rose, roselle, pinto peanut, mazuri "LS", regular mazuri, opuntia, kale, bokchoy, water spinach, indian lettuce, carrot, and grasses. Soon will be dandelion, geranium, violet (don't know when, the seed keep failing lol, somebody jump out teach me.)
31 May '16 - 57gr (1st day with me)
09 Jun '16 - 62gr (i believe the gain is from water (have slight pyramid))
11 Jul '16 - 62gr
20 Jul '16 - 64gr (start having big appetite after i gave him "water spinach treat" for the 1st time.)
22 Jul '16 - 66gr
27 Jul '16 - 67gr
30 Jul '16 - 68gr
06 Aug '16 - 71gr
11 Aug '16 - 74gr
17 Aug '16 - 76gr
24 Aug '16 - 82gr

 

[Taco*mom]

Wow Toro is sure gaining weight. Way to go fred! Tried to give Taco shredded carrot on top of his fav greens. He didn't like it.. of course. He ate around the carrot. Now I smear regular mazuri on his greens. Hopefully if he starts liking mazuri things will get easier. I can mix a lot of stuff with it.

 

[Fredkas]

Looks like taco is a bit of "stubborn" type
Try others. Do not give up, you will find something he likes. That was how Toro started his growth spurt. In my case, it's like on off switch