Perpetually underweight Hermanns

Greg Harvey

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Hi all,

We have an Eastern Hermanns who is about 2 years old and when I do the Jackson Ratio calculations on him/her (?!) it always comes out underweight. At the moment the tortoise is hovering around 210 grams and is 110mm long, which comes out as way too light. But it seems perfectly healthy, bright eyes, active, eating, so I don't know whether to worry about this or not. I also have no idea if it's safe to hibernate, there are people who say yes and people who say no!

Anyone have any advice / resource / suggestions?

Thanks in advance,

Greg
 

Jemzfarm

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Hey Greg.
Aw he/she is still tiny. I remember our Herman being that age :<3:

I don’t really have an answer to your question fully...but have they hibernated before? Or is this the first time. :)
 

Toddrickfl1

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As long as your tort is eating, popping, and peeing, and steadily gaining weight, even if it's slowly, you don't need to worry.
 

Greg Harvey

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Hey Greg.
Aw he/she is still tiny. I remember our Herman being that age :<3:

I don’t really have an answer to your question fully...but have they hibernated before? Or is this the first time. :)

Still pretty small, indeed! If s/he hibernates this year it'll be the first time. We're trying to decide if we should try a short hibernation in January or just leave it and overwinter again, like we did last winter. I'm erring on the side of overwintering again, since s/he's still pretty small and the Jackson Ratio reckons not heavy enough.

As long as your tort is eating, popping, and peeing, and steadily gaining weight, even if it's slowly, you don't need to worry.

Thanks, that's comforting. I do track the weight, s/he's put on 70-something grams this year so far, so definitely gaining weight - just quite steadily.
 

Jemzfarm

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Still pretty small, indeed! If s/he hibernates this year it'll be the first time. We're trying to decide if we should try a short hibernation in January or just leave it and overwinter again, like we did last winter. I'm erring on the side of overwintering again, since s/he's still pretty small and the Jackson Ratio reckons not heavy enough.


If it were me (personally) i’d do a short hibernation if I felt comfortable to...I also think there’s nothing wrong with over wintering again. It’s personal preference and you’ll always get different answers(in my experience). So go with your gut and do what you think is best. I know summer to winter here in the uk is always varying and we hibernated ours quite late last year as it was still warm.

I think..but may be wrong( always happy to be corrected) ..that their first hibernation is no longer than 4-7 weeks. Obviously with doing the lead up too with fasting, hydrating etc.

As long as you know he/she’s happy/healthy and you feel happy too. I’m a worrier so I know I’d be worrying the whole time. So glad we were young kiddies when Georgie came along and the ‘adults’ had to do it all (he was bought for my mum though!) Now i have him since my mum passed suddenly and I’m the adult and I still worry :D
 

Greg Harvey

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Haha, I'm a worrier too, I think I might overwinter again this year and hibernate next year when s/he's a bit fatter! Thanks for the thoughts and advice, appreciate it.
 

Jemzfarm

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Haha, I'm a worrier too, I think I might overwinter again this year and hibernate next year when s/he's a bit fatter! Thanks for the thoughts and advice, appreciate it.


Anytime :) After thinking about it a little bit more I think I’d do the same. Especially with how young he/she Is I don’t think there is anything wrong with overwinter this year being around 2 years old. If I remember rightly Georgie was 3 years old for his first hibernation. Again personal preference but personally I think I’d do the same as you..if it helps!?

We worked Georgie out to be around 18 years old now. And every hibernation for me is still nerve wracking! But must be doing something right. He’s always happy healthy and vet checks come back great! Good luck :tort:
 

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