Underweight baby leopard

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pk2610

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My baby leopard is 3 and half months old and today is the 1st time I wieghted him. He is only 20g. He is less than 2 inches long. I searched the forum and most torts at this age is double or more his current weight. He is eating regularly and active. I feed him mix green but mostly green romaine lettuce. He is pretty pickly on food and refuses to eat any dry food supplement.

What should I do? I am really worried. Does anyone has a tortoise this tiny and slow in growth?
 

Yvonne G

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Hi pk2610 (did we ever learn your name?):

You need to get him eating way more than mostly romaine. What you're feeding him is a little nutrition and a lot of water. Do you have mullberry trees in your neighborhood? Also grape leaves, squash leaves, hollyhock leaves, opuntia cactus. Then from the store, you can buy escarole and endive. These are very fibrous lettuces. I would quit buying romaine and buy instead a bag of Spring Mix. Go to carolinapetsupply and order a bag of TNT. That's an assortment of different nutritious plants ground into a powder form that you sprinkle over the food. There are many more types of greens that you can buy besides romaine. Turnip greens, raddiccio, mustard to name a few.
 

Redstrike

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These sites look pretty good (below) for leopard tortoise diet plans. I'd read as much as you can of the tortoise trust information, but if you're in a rush you can scroll down quite a ways and they address Leopard tortoise diets directly. I think fresh greens are critical, but if you need to stack some weight on quick you could grab some Mazuri and/or ZooMed grassland diets. Both are packaged, commercial diets with a good reputation. I wouldn't rely on either of them for 100% of your torts diet, I give my two redfoot hatchlings some ZooMed forest tortoise diet once/month. Your tort could probably use a boost though, so maybe try getting a little of this into his/her diet if you can?

http://www.tortoisetrust.org/articles/webdiet.htm
http://africantortoise.com/diet.htm
 

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I would agree with what Yvonne has told you about removing the romaine as a diet staple. If you say he is eating regularly and is active...I really don't think there is too much to be concerned about. Have you taken a fecal sample to the vet?

It is very difficult to really compare the growth of our tortoises on the forum. There are so many factors that go into how fast and how big a tortoise will grow (genetics being one of them). Personally I find it a little useless to compare growth rates between unrelated tortoises, so I wouldn't be too concerned if I were you.
 

pk2610

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Thanks everyone for your info.

I did read what he is supposed to be eating and what are good for him. I tried a lot of different greens with more nutrition value however he is not interested. I have whole backyard of glass lawn, clover, dandelion and hibiscus trees but the only food he would eat is romaine. Neal, I know it doen't make much sense comparing the growth rates but is 20g way too tiny for a 3-4 month old baby? Is there a health issue? I had a baby sulcata that died suddenly without any sign so I am concerned if this baby is abnormal.

By the way, my name is Kai.
 

yagyujubei

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I would get him started on some mazuri right away. He is very light... even lighter than most newly hatched ones. He needs to gain weight now.
 

CtTortoiseMom

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How much did your leopard weigh when you got it? Has it showed steady growth since then?
 

Neal

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pk2610 said:
Neal, I know it doen't make much sense comparing the growth rates but is 20g way too tiny for a 3-4 month old baby? Is there a health issue?

It's difficult to answer those questions. It would help to know the weight it hatched out at or when you received it. Mine hatch out at 15 - 20 grams, so the weight of yours does not appear to be too alarming.

I cannot tell you without seeing the tortoise if there is any health issue, or if it is in fact underweight. From personal experience, most of my leopards hatched this year have been slow growers, so that could just be what is going on with yours. Rapid growth is not necessarily a sign of good health.

If you are concerned with a health issue, I would recommend taking a fecal sample to the vet. Honestly, from what you have described here, there does not appear to be any issue...just a slow grower.

How often are you soaking the tortoise?
 

pk2610

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I just ordered the scale and was shocked to find out that he weights so little. I have him for more than 2 months and he gains just a tiny bit. For the first month or so, he was hardly eating anything. He usually took one bite and walked away. I tried mazuri and other stuff that I could get from the pets store but my picky baby was not interested.

This month he seems to be eating more but if I remove the romaine and give him only mazuri and the other good stuff, he might refuse to eat at all.
 

Neal

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How are you feeding him? do you place the food on some type of object (like a flat rock or food dish), or right on the substrate? Do you stand over him and watch him the whole time? Do you offer food in the morning, evening, or both? Let us know some other details...the reason I ask, is sometimes it's not the food that's offered, but how it's offered. I have a couple of tortoises that will not eat if I am right next to them. What I have to do, is drop the food and run back in the house and watch them eat through a window.
 

pk2610

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I did all the wrong things at first and then took the advice from Yvonne and others like changing the substrate to cypress mulch, using MVB and heat bulbs, placing food on a flat rock, water dish, hiding away from tort after placing food, etc. etc. My baby is going from not eating or biting on air to eating some not very good veggies, I feed him twice once in the morning and once in the evening after I come home from work but the growth is still very slow. May be I should wait for another month or so to see if he will improve. It just shocked me yesterday when I placed him on the scale the first time and found out he only weights 20g.
 

Neal

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Nothing to be shocked about...again, there are so many factors related to growth. I would not be as concerned with what the tortoise weighs as much as I would be with how much it eats and how active it appears to be. It sounds like those two things are going well with this tortoise. Now you have your baseline (20 grams). Weigh him at the same time every week. I usually weigh mine in the evening after they have eaten and soaked.

If you weigh him one week before you feed him, then the next week you weigh him after feeding, you are not going to get a comparative weight, so just make sure you are consistent when you weigh him.
 

CtTortoiseMom

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If your tort likes romaine have you tried soaking Mazuri in warm water until it is all mushy and then mixing it up with romaine and serving it that way? Then you can use this method to introduce other greens and cut way back on the romaine.[/u]
 

cemmons12

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pk2610 said:
I did all the wrong things at first and then took the advice from Yvonne and others like changing the substrate to cypress mulch, using MVB and heat bulbs, placing food on a flat rock, water dish, hiding away from tort after placing food, etc. etc. My baby is going from not eating or biting on air to eating some not very good veggies, I feed him twice once in the morning and once in the evening after I come home from work but the growth is still very slow. May be I should wait for another month or so to see if he will improve. It just shocked me yesterday when I placed him on the scale the first time and found out he only weights 20g.

Yeah I would say mixed greens, mazuri, and the red tort sticks from Costalsilkworms.com would be a good start to put some weight on. Good luck!:)
 

yagyujubei

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When you feed him, put him right in front of the food. If he walks away, repeat. Sometimes, a poor eater will eat on the forth or fifth try. An hour later, do it again. Try feeding right after a warm soak.9usually an appetite stimulant)If he won't eat one thing, try something else. Try soaking some rolled oats, some will eat this. In my opinion, I think that you should be very worried. He won't stay alive at that weight for very long, I'm afraid. Check your scale. On mine, 4 quarters weighs 22.6 grams. Five dimes weighs 11.7grams.
 

african cake queen

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HI, I MIX SPRING MIX WITH ZOOMED. IT FATTEN UP BOTH MY CAKES. NOT ALL TORTS. LIKE IT. MY CAKES LOVE IT. GOOD LUCK.
 

DesertGrandma

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All of these feeding suggestions are good. In my opinion, I would also take him to the vet and/or have a (less than) 4 hour old fecal check. Where did you get your baby?
 

Tom

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The biting at the air concerns me. Has he ever been under one of those U/V coil type bulbs?
 

Neal

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I think there are a few critical unknowns in this situation to be overly concerned about the tortoises weight. Specifically genetics and beginning weight. There, of course, should always be a level of concern for a baby tortoise, but within reason. I have seen situations like these turn out bad when owners start to panic and make huge drastic changes because they have been told their tortoise is not healthy, and that will usually lead to a worse situation.

Do you know the size of the adults that produced this tortoise? If you just picked up the scale, I assume you don't know the weight it was when you received it, and probably don't know the hatch weight. There isn't a specific weight your tortoise needs to be in order to survive. So, at this point, you have a weight to compare future weigh-ins...next time you weigh, if you see a weight gain = good...weight loss = bad. In all cases, I would recommend a vet visit...if anything, it puts a worried mind at ease.

You have been given some good advice on better dietary practices. Try to implement those and continue to observe.
 
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