Average Weights For Growing Sulcatas

This question comes up frequently, so I thought I'd post some of my averages. These averages are based on three groups totaling 12 tortoises of varying ages. The weights will be shown as an average range for a sulcata of a given age. These weights reflect a best case scenario with no disadvantages or setbacks. These tortoises get soaked everyday, eat an enormous variety of good foods, get Mazuri twice a week, and live in a humid, warm, closed chamber. They get sunshine in a planted, grassy, 4x8' enclosure for an hour or two a day, and a calcium supplement twice a week. They also have some cuttlebone to chew on.

They hatch at 35-40 grams.
By week three they weighed 46-51 grams.
Week four 56-65
Week five 60-67
Week seven 67-81
Week eight 85-105
Week nine 101-128
Week ten 106-137
Week twelve 124-145
Week thirteen 134-151
Week fourteen 157-185
Week sixteen 194-224
Week seventeen 198-239
Week nineteen 216-283

Obviously this will vary with diet, temps, cage size and a whole bunch of other factors, but this is about what mine usually do. All three age groups were pretty close as they reached the same number of weeks, one group after another.

If your baby was started dry for the first few weeks, you can expect your numbers to be much lower than this.

Wow, thanks for posting! Great chart! Your sullys grow fast.

I'm wondering what contribution the mazuri makes to overall growth. Do you feed your 8 "wild ones" mazuri? If not, have you noticed any size difference between the two groups?

Yours do grow fast and really nice. Mine are in the 19 week growth and at 17 weeks they weighed 139, 138, and 128grams. I need to weight them again but they are not growing as well as yours. I wonder what the difference is? They might get more store bought greens than yours. They do not like grass and weeds if I do the picking. Mine also don't like grape leaves or mulberry leaves. They eat lots of grass outside just not inside. Thanks for the chart. It is nice to have something to look at and see where you are.

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I meant weigh them. I typed it too fast and didn't proof read it before I hit the Post Reply tab.

mctlong said:

I'm wondering what contribution the mazuri makes to overall growth. Do you feed your 8 "wild ones" mazuri? If not, have you noticed any size difference between the two groups?

Click to expand...

I'm raising the wild bunch outside all day every day and trying to let them graze as much as they want. Since they ate every thing at their level in the 4x8' enclosure, I've been throwing in bits and pieces of the things all growing all around their pen. These are growing much slower than my closed chamber babies, which I expected, but my comparison is going to be flawed since their diet is different. The wild bunch is getting no Mazuri, but over all they are getting more food, I think. Hard to measure since they graze at will, but they destroy any food I put in their indoor enclosure on the chilly mornings when they have to wait to go out. The size comparison is still interesting to me, but it really doesn't hold much value since there are so many variables. What will be really interesting to me will be the difference in pyramiding and growth line appearance.

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lovelyrosepetal said:

Yours do grow fast and really nice. Mine are in the 19 week growth and at 17 weeks they weighed 139, 138, and 128grams. I need to weight them again but they are not growing as well as yours. I wonder what the difference is? They might get more store bought greens than yours. They do not like grass and weeds if I do the picking. Mine also don't like grape leaves or mulberry leaves. They eat lots of grass outside just not inside. Thanks for the chart. It is nice to have something to look at and see where you are.

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I meant weigh them. I typed it too fast and didn't proof read it before I hit the Post Reply tab.

Click to expand...

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Remind me how you are housing yours. Mine grew slower when I used open topped enclosures. The closed chamber is just so optimal for them in every way, they seem to really thrive. The growth on yours is just fine. You really have no problem and shouldn't be worried at all. My chart is in my opinion a best case scenario. I don't think it should be a benchmark that everyone feels they should match. My wild ones that mctlong and I were talking about are nowhere near as big as the ones posted above. Yet they are still healthy and growing.

I do house mine in a open top enclosure. I have tried to make it more of a closed chamber but it has not worked out very well. I find it interesting that the closed chamber makes that much of a difference. I am in the process of building a new enclosure and am looking for ideas for it but have not found anything that fits what I need. Their enclosure is currently 4'x2' and is a rubbermaid container. I do have a hard time with keeping the humidity above 70% I can get it more humid on the cooler side than the warm spot. My cooler side has 80+% but even when it was closed, as much as I could get it, the warm side of the enclosure was still in the mid to upper 70%. I also wonder if the diet with more store bought greens makes a difference, also. They love hibiscus, squash, and dandelion but won't eat the grass, weeds, opuntia cactus (even when I blend it up), mulberry, and grape leaves. I sometimes wonder why they are so picky but if i put them outside they will graze quite a bit. Now that the weather is cooling down they aren't out as much and they don't seem to eat as much either.
I do like the chart that you have up because I think it is helpful to us newbies.
I will try not to worry too much but I have to admit, I find it so interesting and I do wonder about what variables are making mine grow smaller and if it could be hereditary along with environment. Such an interesting post. Thanks so much Tom!

Mine get a lot of low nutrition food, like grass and cactus. In theory, this should make them grow slower.

I too shared the struggles of trying to maintain good conditions in an open topped enclosure. I just wish I could somehow show everyone what a HUGE difference it makes and how much easier it is to use a closed chamber. Its effortless and uses a fraction electricity, while giving you FAR better conditions for the little electricity that you DO use. I feel another thread coming on...

Tom said:

Mine get a lot of low nutrition food, like grass and cactus. In theory, this should make them grow slower.

I too shared the struggles of trying to maintain good conditions in an open topped enclosure. I just wish I could somehow show everyone what a HUGE difference it makes and how much easier it is to use a closed chamber. Its effortless and uses a fraction electricity, while giving you FAR better conditions for the little electricity that you DO use. I feel another thread coming on...

Click to expand...

Tom, how long do you leave them in the closed chamber? What age or what weight?

As they grow I leave the, outside longer and longer each day. By the time they are somewhere around 6" they are outside all day long and then they come in, have a soak, and sleep in their indoor enclosure, which is the closed chamber. Once they are around 8-10", I just move them outside full time. Sort of depends on the season. If its winter, I keep them in a little longer. If they are pretty close, I might just move them out in spring. My current babies will spend this winter in their humid enclosure and get lots of outdoor time on the warm sunny days, and then I will move them outside in the springtime.

I only keep them indoors for the first year or two.

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Remind me how you are housing yours. Mine grew slower when I used open topped enclosures. The closed chamber is just so optimal for them in every way, they seem to really thrive. The growth on yours is just fine. You really have no problem and shouldn't be worried at all. My chart is in my opinion a best case scenario. I don't think it should be a benchmark that everyone feels they should match. My wild ones that mctlong and I were talking about are nowhere near as big as the ones posted above. Yet they are still healthy and growing.
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How do you close the chamber? I have mine in a larger, plastic tub and I have about half of it covered with a lid to keep some heat in.

Well I guess I have a slow healthy grower
Can't wait to see the difference on his one month period !

Thanks for posting this,Tom!

This is a closed chamber.
http://www.tortoiseforum.org/thread-32333.html#axzz28rlEcEUM

Thats Great, thanks for posting