slow weight gain

[CourtneyAndCarl]

Carl is gaining weight, but very slowly... his Jackson ratio is going down and down, because he's gaining weight slowly and growing lengthwise rather quickly.

Should I start feeding him more? He eats all his food but he gets a LOT...

There are his stats...

 

[wellington]

I never let my leopard have an empty plate. He is now 19 months old. 4 1/2 inches and 445 grams. Don't know how that fits on the chart your talking about. However, they all grow at their own pace. As long as he is healthy, eating, active, gaining I wouldn't worry about someone's chart

 

[DesertGrandma]

Perhaps someone who knows about Hermann's will be along soon to answer your question.

 

[wellington]

What, oops, sorry. With your name I thought you had a leopard. That throws me off every time. Sorry, my weights and size I gave was my leopard.

 

[CourtneyAndCarl]

What, oops, sorry. With your name I thought you had a leopard. That throws me off every time. Sorry, my weights and size I gave was my leopard.

Sorry, I can apparently ask Josh to change my forum name but I'm too lazy Still planning on getting a leopard someday, though!

 

[Terry Allan Hall]

Carl is growing slow but steady...so that's not a bad thing, but feeding him more will just help grow a little faster (all things being equal)...in the wild, a tortoise will stuff him/herself whenever food is found, and it's to their advantage to grow as quickly as possible, due the the fact that baby tortoise are at a terrible spot on the food-chain, larger torts not so much!

I give my 4 approx. 25% more than they can eat at one setting, knowing by the end of the day, the rest will be eaten. For a rugrat-tort, I'd suggest two feedings a day, one in the morning, and a somewhat smaller feeding in the late afternoon/early evening...you'll soon see how much he'll consume at each feeding. And make sure he gets chopped up cactus pad at least 2X a week, for the calcium he'll need as a growing tortlet...one lady I know feeds her youngsters chopped cactus at every afternoon meal and all are growing nicely!

BTW, you can drive yourself less nuts by weighing and measuring him once a month, and always after he soaks (this way he'll have defecated and will be hydrated, so you'll have a constant to observe).