Is my RT hatchling too small for his age?

[GotTort]

In looking at other posts it seems my CB RT is quite small for his (or her) age. He is 14 mos old and weighs 45 grams. Carapace length is 2.25 inches (width 2 inches, height 1.5 inches). Shell is smooth.
Got him at age 3 mos and he weighed 29 grams. For the first half of his life he had a couple of bouts of protozoan infection requiring treatment with Flagyl. His diet consists of variety of spring greens, dandelion greens, mustard, collard, turnip and beet greens, cactus, tortoise supply salad topper, zoomed and mazuri.

He seemed to be eating well. Over last couple of months has been eating more which coincides with him being out of hiding more which I've attributed to a new enclosure or getting less timid with age, or both. He now makes multiple trips to his food plate per day, always eating everything I put out. I've been increasing the amount I put out each morning. I'm inclined to increase the quantity of his food even more but want to know at what point I need to worry about triggering too rapid a growth.

 

[Yvonne G]

He sounds ok to me, and your care sounds good too. I think once the weather warms up and you can get him out into the real sun occasionally, you'll notice a bit more growth.

 

[GotTort]

Thanks. So I shouldn't increase the amount of food I give him daily?

 

[abclements]

If he's eating everything, I don't see why you can't increase the food amount. I always have leftovers at the end of the day that I throw away for my Red Foot and I've never had to rapid of growth. As long as you're feeding him well and he's staying hydrated (causing the tissue in between the schutes to be healthy), you should be fine.

 

[Tom]

With a good diet, plenty of exercise and the right enclosure set up, I don't think over feeding is ever an issue. Nobody cuts them off in the wild, but they are eating the right foods and running around all day. I would want to put some size on this little guy given his age.

 

[WillTort2]

I feed mine all they will eat while I'm getting ready for work in the mornings. Some torts just naturally have a better appetite than others. After I make 3 trips to refill the food slates of any that have eaten most of the previous offering I'll just make sure that when I go out the door no one has an empty slate.

There is only one of four that I have to reduce feeding once in a while. I weigh mine twice a month just to see if I need to offer more encouragement to any individual tort. I also sprinkle TNT about twice a week on their greens.

Expect more growth as spring comes.

Good luck.

PS: try adding Belgian endive and radicchio to the torts diet. It seems to be a favorite for my torts; I feed those about twice a month.

 

[GotTort]

Thanks!