Leopard tortoise growth (is my tortoise healthy)

Neckbone

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Oct 25, 2021
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Hi everyone!

I got my first leopard tortoise Neckbone from a breeder almost exactly 1 year ago. I was told he was 8 weeks old at the time I got him, but he was only 25g at the time so in hindsight I think he may have even been younger. At the time, I unfortunately followed the instructions from the breeder and info I found online (open enclosure, dryness, all the usual wrong stuff). After about 4 months, I noticed Neckbone was looking dried out, sad, lethargic and not growing at all, still only at 35g. Then I found the tortoise forum and read @Tom 's threads (and it totally saved my baby so thank you Tom and the forum!). I immediately switched to all his recommendations in the care sheet including closed chamber, 80-90% humidity, 45min soaks every night, etc. I quickly started to notice a difference in his personality and he started to grow. :)

He has grown a lot since then. Today, he is 182g and 4 inches. For reference of his growth rate, he was 100g 3.5 months ago. Even though he has grown a lot, I am worried this growth rate is still slow. Is this is a normal size for a ~14 month leopard tortoise? how fast should he be growing? In your experience, do you think he will be ok and continue to grow? I am really nervous about hatchling failure and dryness when he was young causing permanent damage. I definitely learned my lesson about researching breeders and tortoise care, but want to do all I can now to give him the best chance.

I use a UV light, heat emitter with temps 70-95, closed chamber, daily soaks, coconut coir substrate, water at all times, cuttle bone in enclosure. I feed him majority spring mix and sometimes dandelion or mustard greens, collard greens, kale when i have it. I offer jade and hibiscus and tons of grass but he wont touch these. I also supplement his diet with Mazuri tortoise LS diet every day (he is spoiled and will only eat this if i hand feed it to him 1 piece at a time lol). I sprinkle calcium on the spring mix 2x per week and use kapidolo farms dried leaves onto the spring mix as well (i have 4 types and switch it up). I know I could do better with diet variety, but would love any suggestions on other ways I can help him grow and stay healthy. I just planted some testudo and another weed mix so fingers crossed it grows and I can use that too.

I appreciate any suggestions you all may have for me and advise about his growth rate! Thank you! attached is a recent photo for size.
 

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wellington

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He is beautiful. As long as he keeps growing he is growing just fine. He could possibly be a bit behind from the bad way he was kept when the breeder had him and in the first few months you had him. But I wouldn't worry about it. If he is, he will catch up with the proper care.
 

Tom

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Hi everyone!

I got my first leopard tortoise Neckbone from a breeder almost exactly 1 year ago. I was told he was 8 weeks old at the time I got him, but he was only 25g at the time so in hindsight I think he may have even been younger. At the time, I unfortunately followed the instructions from the breeder and info I found online (open enclosure, dryness, all the usual wrong stuff). After about 4 months, I noticed Neckbone was looking dried out, sad, lethargic and not growing at all, still only at 35g. Then I found the tortoise forum and read @Tom 's threads (and it totally saved my baby so thank you Tom and the forum!). I immediately switched to all his recommendations in the care sheet including closed chamber, 80-90% humidity, 45min soaks every night, etc. I quickly started to notice a difference in his personality and he started to grow. :)

He has grown a lot since then. Today, he is 182g and 4 inches. For reference of his growth rate, he was 100g 3.5 months ago. Even though he has grown a lot, I am worried this growth rate is still slow. Is this is a normal size for a ~14 month leopard tortoise? how fast should he be growing? In your experience, do you think he will be ok and continue to grow? I am really nervous about hatchling failure and dryness when he was young causing permanent damage. I definitely learned my lesson about researching breeders and tortoise care, but want to do all I can now to give him the best chance.

I use a UV light, heat emitter with temps 70-95, closed chamber, daily soaks, coconut coir substrate, water at all times, cuttle bone in enclosure. I feed him majority spring mix and sometimes dandelion or mustard greens, collard greens, kale when i have it. I offer jade and hibiscus and tons of grass but he wont touch these. I also supplement his diet with Mazuri tortoise LS diet every day (he is spoiled and will only eat this if i hand feed it to him 1 piece at a time lol). I sprinkle calcium on the spring mix 2x per week and use kapidolo farms dried leaves onto the spring mix as well (i have 4 types and switch it up). I know I could do better with diet variety, but would love any suggestions on other ways I can help him grow and stay healthy. I just planted some testudo and another weed mix so fingers crossed it grows and I can use that too.

I appreciate any suggestions you all may have for me and advise about his growth rate! Thank you! attached is a recent photo for size.
I agree with Barb. He started off pretty slow, as is to be expected in dry conditions, but as soon as you corrected the wrong conditions, he started picking up the pace. Once they pass 50 grams and keep going, you can breathe easy. You are out of the woods, so to speak. 182 and growing is fantastic, and you have a happy healthy tortoise now.

You said temps were 70-95. 95 is great under the basking lamp, but 70 is too cold. Keep it 80 at night and in the colder areas of the enclosure.

Spring mix is baby greens. All grocery store greens are lacking in fiber, but baby greens even more so. Favor endive and escarole if you must use grocery store greens. Argula, cilantro, and dandelion greens are all good for variety too, along with the other things you've been offering.

Weeds are best if you can find them. We have lots of mallow, dandelion, plantain weeds, and sow thistle here, along with many others.

Many tortoises take a long time to develop a taste for the Mazuri LS. Get some of the original 5M21 type. Most torts like that a lot better, and its a good food in most cases.

Regular leopards will not usually eat grass. It won't hurt them, and you can certainly chop it up and use it for fiber, but they aren't really a grass eating tortoise. South African leopards are grass eaters, and some "regular" leopards are mutts with SA genetics. When you see an 18 inch "regular" leopard tortoise that loves grass and is bold and outgoing... yeah... that's SA genetics.

The Kapidolo Farms dried leaves are fantastic! That is such a great easy way to improve the quality of the diet when using grocery store greens. I use those almost every day on my whole herd, and I have about half a dozen types. Fantastic product.

There are mulberry trees every where in L.A. We have a few more weeks of them before the leaves all die and drop off. Start looking for them and look for grape vines and opuntia too. You can buy opuntia in any Mexican grocery store, like Vallarta or Tres Sierras. If you ever want to drive up to SCV, I'll show you my secret mulberry neighborhood. There are about 50 huge adult trees there. I cut off truck loads of branches three times a week and you can't even tell I've ever been there. You won't need more than a few leaves, so I think my secret is safe. :)

Good job on saving this tortoise's life and getting him so healthy. Many of the dry started ones don't survive, so you did a great job! 👏
 

Levi the Leopard

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I can confirm that the dry started babies (like yours) grow at a much slower pace compared to the humid started babies. Your tortoise looks great. Keep it going :)
 

Neckbone

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Oct 25, 2021
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Location (City and/or State)
Los Angeles
Thank you all so much this is so reassuring! I love him so much and want him to be healthy so this is such a relief and I really appreciate you all taking the time to answer my post.

Thanks Tom ! I will increase the temp to 80 and switch the grocery greens I buy and look for more weeds. Haha I LOVE your idea about the mulberry trees and will go on the lookout for them tomorrow!

Thanks again!

Sam
 
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