How many weigh their hatchling/young tortoise?

[BriGuy31]

Hello,

I just got my first hermanns tortoise. She is 1.5 inches and weights 14 grams. I have only had her for 5 days. I offer an appropriate mixed greens diet. The quality is about twice the size of my tort and offered everyday. She has been eating about 50-75% of the pile through the day. I am curious on how I will be able to tell that she is growing at an acceptable rate. As long as she is gaining weight is that ok or should I be looking for specific benchmarks? She is about 6 weeks old. Thanks for the help!

 

[jaizei]

I think that as long as she's growing/gaining weight, you should be fine. Taking pictures on graph paper or tracing her may be something else you also want to do to keep track of growth. Weight and length don't always tell the whole story.

 

[Yvonne G]

I never did. What I used to do when raising baby tortoises was new to me, was place them in the middle of a sheet of typing paper and trace their outline, showing the date of that tracing. Then in a month or so, I'd take the same sheet of paper and place the tortoise over his previous tracing and make another one, with the date.

Because pooping and peeing has such a drastic effect on the weight of a baby tortoise, it isn't a good way to judge if your tortoise is growing. It might scare you into thinking he's lost a lot of weight if you weighed him full of urine the first time, then after he pee'd the second time.

 

[Jodie]

I weigh mine regularly. I watch for trends, and graph the weight to make sure it is a steady gain over time.

 

[teresaf]

I weighed my baby's weekly until they were about 8 months old or so. Then I weighed them monthly. I just made sure that I weighed them right after their soak and after they'd eaten. I only had the two and they were my first so my daily routine was that I would soak them in my kitchen sink and after about 20-30 minutes I would let the water out and put the food in front of them. half an hour later I would weigh them then put them back in their closed chamber. as long as there is steady growth in the long run I think you're safe. one week they might stay about the same weight but in the next week they might seem to grow a lot.... I would have been concerned if I seen no growth or a weight loss two weeks in a row.
on amazon.com they have kitchen food scales that are digital that cost about $15.

 

[Randi]

I weigh mine every two weeks, and then a weighing monthly. As long as there is growth, I wouldn't pay too much attention on the numbers. The numbers will fluctuate. I weigh mine first thing in the morning without feeding her or soaking her. I feel it's a good way to get the most accurate weight. Once she's soaked, she eats and then she's grams heavier. Once she pees or poops, she's grams lighter. As long as you keep weighing your tort the same way (whether you weigh yours while it's empty, after a feeding or soak), you should see an increase with each weighing. Best of luck to you and yours.

 

[Allison Gray]

I weigh mine in grams approximately every month. I always soak them first to get them to empty thier bowels and bladder first, I then put them on a paper towel and using a felt tip pen mark the top, bottom and sides of thier shell only. It's much easier to get accurate measurements when you just have to tap the pen, and measure the distance without them . I agree as long as there is some weight gain and growth I usually don't get concerned.
My big tortoise I only weigh and measure her every few months, she's in the mid 20lbs range right now. With Sulcatas (I have 2) it's by evident they are growing because they get huge so they seem to never stop or slow down I growth. my leopard is still less than a year and doesn't grow as quickly but is certianly growing and gaining.