I noticed recently that my tort is rather big for his age.
Some background on me and my tort, I purchased him/her March 2019. My first tortoise, an Eastern Hermann.
Although I don't know specifics, his hatch date was in 2017. But last time I weighed him [28/12/19] he weighed in at 488g... huge. Each month he gained on average anywhere from 40g-100g a month.
I had only noticed something was wrong was about 2 weeks ago, I noticed what looks like the early signs of pyramiding. That's when I started to research (online and in books) on tortoise weight and diet extensively.
His diet, in the beginning, was supermarket-bought salad bags, which had little lettuce and replicated what my college (I study animal management) feeds their Hermann tortoises, but since late May this year has been primarily Mazuri Diet, recommended by my exotic pet shop. As I was afraid I wasn't providing him all the nutrition he needed.
I am currently in the process of completely overhauling his diet, for the time being, I am going to have to source the greens from my local supermarkets or greengrocers until my mini-weed garden starts producing enough.
I have a few questions; What is the best course of action now?
leave him the weight he is but supplement heavily or, try and reduce his weight slowly (whilst also supplementing)?
Any advice is appreciated.
Some background on me and my tort, I purchased him/her March 2019. My first tortoise, an Eastern Hermann.
Although I don't know specifics, his hatch date was in 2017. But last time I weighed him [28/12/19] he weighed in at 488g... huge. Each month he gained on average anywhere from 40g-100g a month.
I had only noticed something was wrong was about 2 weeks ago, I noticed what looks like the early signs of pyramiding. That's when I started to research (online and in books) on tortoise weight and diet extensively.
His diet, in the beginning, was supermarket-bought salad bags, which had little lettuce and replicated what my college (I study animal management) feeds their Hermann tortoises, but since late May this year has been primarily Mazuri Diet, recommended by my exotic pet shop. As I was afraid I wasn't providing him all the nutrition he needed.
I am currently in the process of completely overhauling his diet, for the time being, I am going to have to source the greens from my local supermarkets or greengrocers until my mini-weed garden starts producing enough.
I have a few questions; What is the best course of action now?
leave him the weight he is but supplement heavily or, try and reduce his weight slowly (whilst also supplementing)?
Any advice is appreciated.