Weight Gain (good, bad, normal?)

Jay Bagley

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Hello, I hope everyone had a fantastic New Year. I was wondering about my daughter's sulcata tortoise(feels like mine[emoji848]). To the best of my knowledge Shelldon(or Shelly cuz we're not sure yet) should have been right around 3 years of age sometime in the month of this last December. When he came to stay with me just this last October I would have to say he was in rough shape, and weighed only 1 pound. I bought a postage scale with a hundred pound max rating. I know they all grow at different rates from what I have been reading. I have changed his care, his diet, and thanks to you guys constantly learning new ways to improve. Also, when he came to me he was four and a half inches long, today he is 7 and 1/2 inches long. Here are his weights since I have had him. With his biggest weight gain being from December 1st to January 1st. I have many more improvements to make, I just wanted to know if these look like healthy weight gains or not. Thank you to all.

Oct 1- 1lb.(starting weight)
Nov 1- 1lb 7oz.
Dec1- 1lb 12oz.
Jan 1- 2lb 12oz.
 

vladimir

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Hi Jay,

How long have you had Sheldon? Just curious. I'm still a newbie but it sounds like ours are similar in age. We adopted Vladimir when he was about 2 years old in March 2017 (We're going to consider him to be 3 years old March 2018, plus or minus a few months). He's grown a lot since then.

His first day at his new home:
full


We got a food scale and started tracking his weight. In May 2015 he was 1865g (4.11 lbs). By the end of July he was 2863g (6.3 lbs). At Thanksgiving he weighed in at 4367g (9.62 lbs) and yesterday he was 4891g (10.78 lbs).

dpj2tNC.png


Here's Vlad the other day:

full


The floor tiles in that pic are 6" x 12" for reference.

It sounds to me like Sheldon is quite a bit smaller than my guy, but he seems to be gaining steadily.

I hope Vlad's experience helps you in some way :)
 

Jay Bagley

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Hi Jay,

How long have you had Sheldon? Just curious. I'm still a newbie but it sounds like ours are similar in age. We adopted Vladimir when he was about 2 years old in March 2017 (We're going to consider him to be 3 years old March 2018, plus or minus a few months). He's grown a lot since then.

His first day at his new home:
full


We got a food scale and started tracking his weight. In May 2015 he was 1865g (4.11 lbs). By the end of July he was 2863g (6.3 lbs). At Thanksgiving he weighed in at 4367g (9.62 lbs) and yesterday he was 4891g (10.78 lbs).

dpj2tNC.png


Here's Vlad the other day:

full


The floor tiles in that pic are 6" x 12" for reference.

It sounds to me like Sheldon is quite a bit smaller than my guy, but he seems to be gaining steadily.

I hope Vlad's experience helps you in some way :)
Hello, he is roughly 3 years old. I have only had him for 3 months. It's a long story, me and my wife and my daughter bought him online when he was roughly 3 months old. Got divorced, he stayed at the ex's house for the next 2 + years. I didn't really have a lot of access to him, any for that matter. Sounds like his diet for those two years was pretty much lettuce and spring mix and no supplements. When I finally had my own place, I took him into my care.
 

vladimir

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Hello, he is roughly 3 years old. I have only had him for 3 months. It's a long story, me and my wife and my daughter bought him online when he was roughly 3 months old. Got divorced, he stayed at the ex's house for the next 2 + years. I didn't really have a lot of access to him, any for that matter. Sounds like his diet for those two years was pretty much lettuce and spring mix and no supplements. When I finally had my own place, I took him into my care.

It sounds like we're in a similar situation as far as the tortoise changing keepers about the same age. Vlad was much smaller when we got him and was being kept in a 40 gallon aquarium. Fortunately his owners knew that he deserved better and we're so thankful that we were able to take him in. We took him back to visit after a few months and one of the previous owners first comments was "You're feeding him too much" o_O

I think a lot of the growth came from all of his grazing over the summer. I would get him out in his yard as much as possible and he would just go to town on the grass and clovers
 

Jay Bagley

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Hello, he is roughly 3 years old. I have only had him for 3 months. It's a long story, me and my wife and my daughter bought him online when he was roughly 3 months old. Got divorced, he stayed at the ex's house for the next 2 + years. I didn't really have a lot of access to him, any for that matter. Sounds like his diet for those two years was pretty much lettuce and spring mix and no supplements. When I finally had my own place, I took him into my care.
Your tortoise looks very good by the way. Mine has some slight pyramiding, he was kept in in an open tortoise table. He is still in it now, I spray his shell a few times a day, and I soak him daily sometimes twice a day. I bought all the stuff to go inside of a closed chamber, I'm actually going to start constructing it next week. I'm not very mechanically inclined, so my father will be giving me a hand is he is very good at working with wood. I believe the first two years of his life were very very dry with no misting or soaking.
 

vladimir

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Thanks! Yeah, the previous keepers were really good about making sure he was soaked regularly. I think that probably helped. I'm also starting to plan a new indoor enclosure soon. I have zero carpentry skills though, so it could be interesting ;)
 

Jay Bagley

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It sounds like we're in a similar situation as far as the tortoise changing keepers about the same age. Vlad was much smaller when we got him and was being kept in a 40 gallon aquarium. Fortunately his owners knew that he deserved better and we're so thankful that we were able to take him in. We took him back to visit after a few months and one of the previous owners first comments was "You're feeding him too much" o_O

I think a lot of the growth came from all of his grazing over the summer. I would get him out in his yard as much as possible and he would just go to town on the grass and clovers
It looks like you guys are taking very good care of him, he looks great. I live here in Michigan, so when I got him back in October there was only a few nice days left to get him outside before it started getting too cold. He seemed to really enjoy it, and went to town. It was also nice to see him get some natural sun. Looking forward to Summer already to get him back outside.
 

Jay Bagley

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Thanks! Yeah, the previous keepers were really good about making sure he was soaked regularly. I think that probably helped. I'm also starting to plan a new indoor enclosure soon. I have zero carpentry skills though, so it could be interesting ;)

This is his home at the present time. We're going to try to construct a closed chamber after Mark's design. I don't think I will be able to construct it nearly as good as he did, he really did a fantastic job.20171029_200842.jpg
 

vladimir

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Thank you! We're constantly trying to improve. I'm currently struggling with the cold spell up here and keeping his temps up without causing excess dryness. I had thought a CHE would work for his current indoor enclosure (300gallon rubbermaid stock tank, 3/4 covered with hard foam insulation) but it's proving very difficult.

I ordered a radiant heat panel on Tom's recommendation and hope to get it installed this week. Next up is planning his permanent indoor enclosure :)
 

Jay Bagley

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Thank you! We're constantly trying to improve. I'm currently struggling with the cold spell up here and keeping his temps up without causing excess dryness. I had thought a CHE would work for his current indoor enclosure (300gallon rubbermaid stock tank, 3/4 covered with hard foam insulation) but it's proving very difficult.

I ordered a radiant heat panel on Tom's recommendation and hope to get it installed this week. Next up is planning his permanent indoor enclosure :)
Sounds like you're getting it dialed in very well. When you get your new enclosure built, post some pictures I would love to see them. I will do the same.
 

vladimir

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Aww he's cute! I really like the table setup you have there, too bad it doesn't keep the humidity well enough. I just started a planning thread for my project here:

https://tortoiseforum.org/threads/planning-new-indoor-enclosure.163087/

How big were you planning on making your closed chamber? I knew they grew fast, but I was still kind of shocked at how quickly Vlad grew once he started getting better husbandry.
 

Jay Bagley

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Aww he's cute! I really like the table setup you have there, too bad it doesn't keep the humidity well enough. I just started a planning thread for my project here:

https://tortoiseforum.org/threads/planning-new-indoor-enclosure.163087/

How big were you planning on making your closed chamber? I knew they grew fast, but I was still kind of shocked at how quickly Vlad grew once he started getting better husbandry.
8x3x2.. it is absolutely horrible at keeping it humid. Back when we ordered him online, I was rather ignorant look at a few pictures online for enclosures saw something like the one I have and me and my dad built it. Didn't know anything about closed Chambers until I found this forum. In hindsight I wish I would have done my research prior to getting him.
 

Big Charlie

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This is his home at the present time. We're going to try to construct a closed chamber after Mark's design. I don't think I will be able to construct it nearly as good as he did, he really did a fantastic job.View attachment 226517
Have you thought about placing a plastic shower curtain or a plastic greenhouse over the top? You can also buy plastic, like for tablecloths, at some fabric stores, and have it cut to order. That is a cheap solution to make your table into a closed chamber.
 

Jay Bagley

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Have you thought about placing a plastic shower curtain or a plastic greenhouse over the top? You can also buy plastic, like for tablecloths, at some fabric stores, and have it cut to order. That is a cheap solution to make your table into a closed chamber.
I know back when I joined a couple people had suggested that, it sounds like a really good idea. I don't know why I haven't done it yet. I should probably do that until I get his new enclosure built.
 

Jay Bagley

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Have you thought about placing a plastic shower curtain or a plastic greenhouse over the top? You can also buy plastic, like for tablecloths, at some fabric stores, and have it cut to order. That is a cheap solution to make your table into a closed chamber.
on a side note, does his weight gain seem decent? I am hoping he keeps the upward trend.
 

Jay Bagley

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It looks like he is on the right track. Had a slow start but is doing great under your care.

Thank you, that means a lot. Here's some pictures of him from today. His newer growth looks a little smoother compared to the old growth.20180101_143337.jpg20180101_143155.jpg
 

vladimir

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Jay Bagley

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I was using this for a while to try to contain some of the humidity: https://www.walmart.com/ip/Husky-6-Mil-Heavy-Duty-Clear-Plastic-Sheeting/19512220 although the kind I got in the store was only like $8 a roll.
I think if I were to incorporate that along with the shower curtain he would be set up pretty good. My present setup, I'm almost afraid to make it to damp in there. Once the lights go out, I just have a che mounted overhead that he sleeps under. And without anything to keep the heat in I was worried about him getting sick. Those are some good ideas and I really appreciate it. Really shooting to have the new enclosure done 2 to 3 weeks, then I'm going to run it for a day or two to get the temperatures dialed in correctly.
 

vladimir

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One thing to keep in mind - if Sheldon starts growing like Vlad did he may be too big for the 8x3x2 enclosure before you know it.
 
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