Baby Sal is quickly turning into an eating machine!

[BajatheChickenMan]

It's not even noon today and I've already refilled his food bowl and hes going at again. I've also spotted clean 3 dumps just this morning too! haha. He's only 4 months old but he's eating like a beast! It is so fun to watch though.

I'm currently feeding him tortoise safe stuff from the yard with a mushed up tortoise pellet and mushed up hay/grass pellets and i mix it up so he cant avoid the mush stuff. I've only had him a little over 2 weeks and he is starting to eat the mush, although i frequently catch him rooting through it to get to the precious clover! (That seems to be his favorite so far, stuff is a little more limited this time of year, he's in for a real treat come spring!)

I dont think he's "over eating" or anything but his weight was 61 grams when I first got him and hes 70 grams now. From what I've read here that sounds fairly normal.

But just out of curiosity what is the fastest someone here has had a Sulcata grow?

 

[Tom]

It's not even noon today and I've already refilled his food bowl and hes going at again. I've also spotted clean 3 dumps just this morning too! haha. He's only 4 months old but he's eating like a beast! It is so fun to watch though.

I'm currently feeding him tortoise safe stuff from the yard with a mushed up tortoise pellet and mushed up hay/grass pellets and i mix it up so he cant avoid the mush stuff. I've only had him a little over 2 weeks and he is starting to eat the mush, although i frequently catch him rooting through it to get to the precious clover! (That seems to be his favorite so far, stuff is a little more limited this time of year, he's in for a real treat come spring!)

I dont think he's "over eating" or anything but his weight was 61 grams when I first got him and hes 70 grams now. From what I've read here that sounds fairly normal.

But just out of curiosity what is the fastest someone here has had a Sulcata grow?

They can hit 1500 grams in their first year. 800-1000 is pretty normal. 400-500 is normal for a dry started baby that finally gets into the correct growing conditions.

You will soon hit a point where this little tiny thing is putting away two or three whole heads of stuff from the store or eating half a bucket of weeds and leaves and grass every day. You will have a moment of panic where you think to yourself, "How on earth am I going to feed this thing...?" When you hit that point, remember these two words: Grass hay.

 

[BajatheChickenMan]

Baby Sal is gaining weight a nice healthy pace since I got him. His unboxing weight was 61g and now after week 3 he's 76g and each week the gain has gone up a few more than the week before. He's also starting to eat more of the hay/grass pellet mush too

 

[_The_Beast_]

Baby Sal is gaining weight a nice healthy pace since I got him. His unboxing weight was 61g and now after week 3 he's 76g and each week the gain has gone up a few more than the week before. He's also starting to eat more of the hay/grass pellet mush too
View attachment 365363

Loving the updates and pics of this little (soon to be) chunker! Also I love watching them eat. So ferocious but also often missing so many chomps.

 

[BajatheChickenMan]

Loving the updates and pics of this little (soon to be) chunker! Also I love watching them eat. So ferocious but also often missing so many chomps.

It really is fascinating watching them, especially when they miss and then become super determined to eat that one piece lol.

 

[ryan57]

It's not even noon today and I've already refilled his food bowl and hes going at again. I've also spotted clean 3 dumps just this morning too! haha. He's only 4 months old but he's eating like a beast! It is so fun to watch though.

I'm currently feeding him tortoise safe stuff from the yard with a mushed up tortoise pellet and mushed up hay/grass pellets and i mix it up so he cant avoid the mush stuff. I've only had him a little over 2 weeks and he is starting to eat the mush, although i frequently catch him rooting through it to get to the precious clover! (That seems to be his favorite so far, stuff is a little more limited this time of year, he's in for a real treat come spring!)

I dont think he's "over eating" or anything but his weight was 61 grams when I first got him and hes 70 grams now. From what I've read here that sounds fairly normal.

But just out of curiosity what is the fastest someone here has had a Sulcata grow?

In the Stump numbers 2 screenshot below, he was 4lbs @ 1 year and 5lbs one month later.
I'd recommend keeping a similar spreadsheet. It's "tortoise Tuesday" every Tuesday around here. Gives me something to look forward to that I really enjoy.

@Tom, it would be really cool to have a spreadsheet for members to capture all of their data on the forum. Species, rig, temperatures and then some excel data like the screenshots below.




FIGGY... our little runner. 147g yesterday. Unlike Stump this one seems to have had an abnormality in the egg, has two scutes that are joined and took quite a while to want to sprout. Now the sprouting has definitely begun.

Stump numbers 1 2 and 3 below.




As you can see above, quite some time ago I stopped weighing in grams or keeping track of the growth rate. No time for that. I only grab the closest LB to the date that I weigh him. You see we have now entered the 1lb a week club.

 

[BajatheChickenMan]

In the Stump numbers 2 screenshot below, he was 4lbs @ 1 year and 5lbs one month later.
I'd recommend keeping a similar spreadsheet. It's "tortoise Tuesday" every Tuesday around here. Gives me something to look forward to that I really enjoy.

@Tom, it would be really cool to have a spreadsheet for members to capture all of their data on the forum. Species, rig, temperatures and then some excel data like the screenshots below.
View attachment 365390
View attachment 365391
View attachment 365392

FIGGY... our little runner. 147g yesterday. Unlike Stump this one seems to have had an abnormality in the egg, has two scutes that are joined and took quite a while to want to sprout. Now the sprouting has definitely begun.

Stump numbers 1 2 and 3 below.

View attachment 365393
View attachment 365394
View attachment 365395
As you can see above, quite some time ago I stopped weighing in grams or keeping track of the growth rate. No time for that. I only grab the closest LB to the date that I weigh him. You see we have now entered the 1lb a week club.

That is quite a bit of data keeping! haha I was planning on doing something similar but i was planning to measure his length once a month. So far I am just keeping a weight journal for every wednesday. Looking at your numbers though, there definitely seems to be a consistent take off period!

 

[_The_Beast_]

Our weigh in day is Fridays! I love the data collection - I'm definitely going to add carapace size to mine and maybe a column for food. Thanks for sharing ryan

 

[BajatheChickenMan]

Baby Sal was 105 grams this morning and showing no signs of slowing down now! lol. He is doing great and I imagine the numbers are going to start increasing a lot more now. The past couple of weeks have been about 10g's a week.

 

[ryan57]

Baby Sal was 105 grams this morning and showing no signs of slowing down now! lol. He is doing great and I imagine the numbers are going to start increasing a lot more now. The past couple of weeks have been about 10g's a week.

The figster was 175g last Tuesday and 200g last night. That's the most I've seen yet. Just wait until yours is doing 1lb a week or more.

 

[BajatheChickenMan]

The figster was 175g last Tuesday and 200g last night. That's the most I've seen yet. Just wait until yours is doing 1lb a week or more.

haha dang! That's quite a leap! I imagine once spring gets here and there's more variety for food he'll start growing even more.

 

[ryan57]

haha dang! That's quite a leap! I imagine once spring gets here and there's more variety for food he'll start growing even more.

I called and emailed Mazuri when Stump was small. They said Mazuri small tortoise LS for the first year grew from just a pinch to a quarter cup or so the Mazuri LS tortoise from year one on. Stump eats noe about half of a coffee cup soaked and I will not ever increase the portion. Once they start eating that (and everything else) they have 100% of the nutrition they need to thrive. You should give it a shot if not already.

https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/product/mazuri-small-tortoise-ls-low-starch-food-8-oz-bag-2352553?cid=Shopping-Bing-Product2352553-&utm_source=bing&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=Shopping%20-%20All%20Products&utm_term=4585375807245420&utm_content=All%20Products

then after year one. I actually started a half and half about 9 months.

https://www.chewy.com/mazuri-tortoise-ls-low-starch-food/dp/218005?utm_id=470553214&utm_source=bing&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=Shopping_NC_S_Specialty%20Consumables&utm_term=4584551179194197&utm_content=Food

 

[BajatheChickenMan]

I called and emailed Mazuri when Stump was small. They said Mazuri small tortoise LS for the first year grew from just a pinch to a quarter cup or so the Mazuri LS tortoise from year one on. Stump eats noe about half of a coffee cup soaked and I will not ever increase the portion. Once they start eating that (and everything else) they have 100% of the nutrition they need to thrive. You should give it a shot if not already.

https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/product/mazuri-small-tortoise-ls-low-starch-food-8-oz-bag-2352553?cid=Shopping-Bing-Product2352553-&utm_source=bing&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=Shopping%20-%20All%20Products&utm_term=4585375807245420&utm_content=All%20Products

then after year one. I actually started a half and half about 9 months.

https://www.chewy.com/mazuri-tortoise-ls-low-starch-food/dp/218005?utm_id=470553214&utm_source=bing&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=Shopping_NC_S_Specialty%20Consumables&utm_term=4584551179194197&utm_content=Food

Oh okay thanks I do plan to try Mazuri in the future. He was started on the ZooMed Grassland stuff where I got him, so I did get a small container of that starting out. I also use a timothy hay/alfalfa pellet mixed with greens. I havent seen him go for a whole pellet just yet but when its on the leaves of his other foods he is getting a small amount. I figure it's just a matter of time before he wants to eat the pellets whole lol.

 

[BajatheChickenMan]

Breakfast time is the best time!

 

[BajatheChickenMan]

@ryan57 I think it has begun, todays weigh-in 133grams. last week was 113!

 

[ryan57]

@ryan57 I think it has begun, todays weigh-in 133grams. last week was 113!

YES!! That's great.

Figgy had a 206g to 217g week. This little one was 200g @ 6 months old. Stump was 423g or almost a pound @ 6 months.

 

[BajatheChickenMan]

YES!! That's great.

Figgy had a 206g to 217g week. This little one was 200g @ 6 months old. Stump was 423g or almost a pound @ 6 months.
View attachment 366777

I see figgy has had a couple big jumps too! Stump on the other hand... you may be looking at a Clifford type situation down the road

 

[_The_Beast_]

@ryan57 I think it has begun, todays weigh-in 133grams. last week was 113!

Go Sal Go!!!

 

[ryan57]

"I see figgy has had a couple big jumps too! Stump on the other hand... you may be looking at a Clifford type situation down the road "

10 days until 2 years old from hatching and Stump was 27lbs 3oz and over 16" long, 11" wide and 8.5" tall last night... Tortoise Tuesdays.

It will be cool when Sal is exploring your outdoor setup. Loads of fun.
Almost spring. I've got to get the lead out of my butt and get busy outside.

 

[ryan57]

Breakfast time is the best time!
View attachment 366332

Sal is growing good. Look at those growth lines!