Underweight 7mnth old Hermanns

zentort

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Jun 17, 2018
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I've had my tort for 10 days now, baby Hermanns about 7 months old, but measuring him on the Jackson Ratio he's coming in as severely underweight.

65mm and 37g. Is this right?

He is super active, very fast, a real climber, & burrower, surprisingly affectionate. I've not seen him wee yet, although I've seen him pass urates & think I may have seen him poop. Active 14 hours a day.

Eats everything, particularly loves pellets, although I've only given them to him once.

Should I be feeding him up or does the Jackson Ratio only apply after a certain age?
 

daniellenc

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I would just make sure he always has food available 24 hours a day. Pellets a few times a week and plenty of water. If your soaking daily you should be seeing poop daily. If you’re not he’s either constipated or not eating enough.
 

zentort

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Jun 17, 2018
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Thank you Danielle. I've been soaking daily (& twice a day sometimes) - 15 minutes a time. I've seen him poop twice in ten days, I think. Being a newbie I can't really tell if it's a large piece of dirt that's just washed away or if he's pooped, I'm going with poop.

Also, as he has an outdoor enclosure as well as indoor, he may well be doing his business outside! He grazes about 3-4 hours a day, and there's clover and dandelions in there. I have seen him straining once as if he wanted to poo, but nothing came of that.

He scoffed up those pellets like he'd never tasted anything so good in his life. I was reluctant to feed him with them, but they were supplied with the table package. He's nibbled at his cuttlebone, sparingly. He learned to climb out of the 5" tall tort table by day 2, so I'm not sure if he's just exercising off all those calories.
 

daniellenc

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I’d just offer more food. At 7 months he should be growing steady and gaining each month. Check his weight again in a month and if it’s going up that’s all that matters.
 

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