Underweight leopard (sub-adult)

[n3rdchik]

This is my sweet Rumple. He has been with me a week. You can see he had a rough, dry start in life. He is 6.5 years old. Before me, he was housed with 4 other males in IMO close quarters. I suspect he was low on the pecking order and did not get to eat as much as should. For the first few days, he'd eat a few bites, rush back to his hide, get a few more bites, scamper back to his hide, repeat.

He weighs 1050g and has a SCL of 21 cm. According to the Donoghue formula, he should weigh 1768g. So I am dealing with a very light tortoise with a tBMI of 0.59. I have been soaking him once a day and he has a 12" saucer with warm water available at all times. I have been giving him access to fresh greens at all times - replaced a few times a day. I put the whole leaf in, I don't chop it. He chews on his cuttlebone. He has refused moistened Mazuri pellets. He seems pretty active (to me as a novice tort owner).

Any advice on how to put some weight on him? Should I worry?

 

[Tom]

That formula is not going to work for a high domed species and I don't give it much credence anyway. If he is eating and you are giving him the correct conditions, I wouldn't worry about it. He's lived this long, and he should just continually get better as time passes.

You might post pics of his enclosure for us, so we can offer some tips in making sure he is getting the above mentioned "correct" conditions.

 

[Yvonne G]

If you can get him to eat Mazuri Tortoise Diet, that's a great way to get them to grow.

 

[Greg T]

You are doing fine as long as he is eating and growing slowly. You can't change his habits from 6 years overnight. See if you can work in some moistened mazuri into his greens. That will really help to add some weight. Best thing you can do is pay attention to him, keep good food and water available, and give him a good environment to grow in. Like Tom suggested - can you give us a pic of the enclosure or tell us about it. Enclosures will influence growth also.

 

[n3rdchik]

Frankly, I am embarrassed to post a pic of his enclosure It is too darn small - we were planning on a hatchling, not an adult. It is a feed tub, 30" x 50" oval. He has a MVB over his basking tile. That end is ~95 degrees. His cool side is 75. Night temps are 75. We are struggling to get an accurate humidity, but it is a little dry.

We will build habitat 2.0 just as soon as we can finish up his 12' x 30' outdoor enclosure. It should be warm enough soon to keep him out a good part of the day. Normally, it would be fine now, but the weather sensed I planted my tort garden and now it is rainy and cold.

 

[Greg T]

I could tell his enclosure was a bit small. The sooner you can get him outside, the better. Sunshine is his best friend. The humidity is important, but not as important now that he is an adult. He won't pyramid much more if you can keep him in moderate humidity. Just getting him out into a larger area is important now. Warm and sunny is good, probably above 65 degrees minimum is fine. I go to 60 degrees with my adults. Cool and rainy/wet is bad - leads to respiratory problems. As long as it is warm and sunny, you should leave him outdoors once you get the enclosure built. bringing him in at night of it gets cold is okay even in the small enclosure because all he'll do is sleep then. Don't worry about being embarrassed, we're here to help out, not rag on you.