Hi,
I have two Testudo Ibera tortoises, both hatched in August 2017 so are around 4 years old. Since getting them in August 2019, I have weighed and measured them weekly, and charted their growth over the last two years. The smaller of the two at the time was 181g and 9.8cm long, and the larger was 209g and 10cm long. Since then, the smaller one has always been smaller, but had a bit of a growth spurt since April and has now overtaken the other one, and is now slightly longer and heavier than the other (now 253g and 10.9cm compared to the other, who is 238g and 10.4cm long at present).
My question relates to healthy weight gain for juvenile tortoises. I have read a number of care guides, including the excellent one on this very website, and many of these state that a healthy weight gain for a hatchling should be around 1-2g a month. However, at what point does a hatchling cease being a hatchling, and becomes a juvenile? In my mind they are most certainly juveniles, and in all respects seem healthy. The larger one (who was the smaller of the two when I got them) has some slight pyramiding which was already present when I got them, but it is very minor, and the other is perfectly smooth. I am keen to ensure that the pyramiding doesn't get worse, and that the smooth one remains smooth, so I am very careful about how much food I give them to avoid too rapid growth.
I give them a good mix of various varieties of dandelion leaves and flowers, which is probably 50% of their diet, as well as occasionally clover leaves, Lavatera flowers, viola flowers and leaves, campanula leaves and flowers, nemesia leaves and flowers, as well as other common weeds we have round my way like hawskbeard, rough hawkbit and plantain. I ensure a good mix and avoid too much of anything too high in protein, so I'm confident their diet is good, I just want to make sure I'm giving them enough of it all, and not too much.
Can anyone give any guidance as to what would be a healthy weight gain for a four year old so as to maintain smooth growth? I cross check my records against the Donoghue Ratio and Jackson's ratio (I appreciate that not everyone agrees with these methods, but I think it is useful as a guide as to ensure they are not extremely under/over weight), and both of them are ever so slightly above the target weight as per the Donoghue method, but their weekly weight gain varies between either remaining stable or increasing/decreasing by a few grams, or gaining/losing up to about 30g a week, despite me trying to balance the amount of food I give them to ensure very gradual growth. Of course, I appreciate a pee and a poo make a massive difference, and their weight fluctuates a lot depending on whether they have been to the toilet, and I also appreciate that some just naturally grow faster and are bigger than others. On the whole though, the trend since I got them is an average of around about 3g a month for the now larger one, and about 2g a month for the smaller one (albeit this might be 30g gain one month, and then 20g loss the next for example).
I have seen some people saying 180g for a two year old was way too heavy, and others saying their two year old was almost 300g, so I'm really not sure where mine stand within the bounds of what's normal and healthy. Can anybody give me any guidance on this?
Many thanks
I have two Testudo Ibera tortoises, both hatched in August 2017 so are around 4 years old. Since getting them in August 2019, I have weighed and measured them weekly, and charted their growth over the last two years. The smaller of the two at the time was 181g and 9.8cm long, and the larger was 209g and 10cm long. Since then, the smaller one has always been smaller, but had a bit of a growth spurt since April and has now overtaken the other one, and is now slightly longer and heavier than the other (now 253g and 10.9cm compared to the other, who is 238g and 10.4cm long at present).
My question relates to healthy weight gain for juvenile tortoises. I have read a number of care guides, including the excellent one on this very website, and many of these state that a healthy weight gain for a hatchling should be around 1-2g a month. However, at what point does a hatchling cease being a hatchling, and becomes a juvenile? In my mind they are most certainly juveniles, and in all respects seem healthy. The larger one (who was the smaller of the two when I got them) has some slight pyramiding which was already present when I got them, but it is very minor, and the other is perfectly smooth. I am keen to ensure that the pyramiding doesn't get worse, and that the smooth one remains smooth, so I am very careful about how much food I give them to avoid too rapid growth.
I give them a good mix of various varieties of dandelion leaves and flowers, which is probably 50% of their diet, as well as occasionally clover leaves, Lavatera flowers, viola flowers and leaves, campanula leaves and flowers, nemesia leaves and flowers, as well as other common weeds we have round my way like hawskbeard, rough hawkbit and plantain. I ensure a good mix and avoid too much of anything too high in protein, so I'm confident their diet is good, I just want to make sure I'm giving them enough of it all, and not too much.
Can anyone give any guidance as to what would be a healthy weight gain for a four year old so as to maintain smooth growth? I cross check my records against the Donoghue Ratio and Jackson's ratio (I appreciate that not everyone agrees with these methods, but I think it is useful as a guide as to ensure they are not extremely under/over weight), and both of them are ever so slightly above the target weight as per the Donoghue method, but their weekly weight gain varies between either remaining stable or increasing/decreasing by a few grams, or gaining/losing up to about 30g a week, despite me trying to balance the amount of food I give them to ensure very gradual growth. Of course, I appreciate a pee and a poo make a massive difference, and their weight fluctuates a lot depending on whether they have been to the toilet, and I also appreciate that some just naturally grow faster and are bigger than others. On the whole though, the trend since I got them is an average of around about 3g a month for the now larger one, and about 2g a month for the smaller one (albeit this might be 30g gain one month, and then 20g loss the next for example).
I have seen some people saying 180g for a two year old was way too heavy, and others saying their two year old was almost 300g, so I'm really not sure where mine stand within the bounds of what's normal and healthy. Can anybody give me any guidance on this?
Many thanks