Mrs_Gal1981
New Member
Hello all, a little less than a month ago we adopted a young red foot tortoise, about 5.6" small. Not quite a hatchling. He has been pretty shy and does not come out on his own, we only bring him out at feeding time. He seems interested in food and eats right away. I posted before asking about his diet (variety of fruits, leaves, cactus and veggies plus Mazuri twice a week with protein once a week only). I was told as long as I kept it varied it was alright. Now I'm concerned because instead of gaining, he is losing weight. We actually give him more food than he can handle -especially because we don't know how much he actually needs yet- and he eats well but always leaves a little behind. So far he hasn't really disliked anything which is great.
3 weeks ago I started to weigh him weekly and decided to measure him monthly.
At that point he was at 15.9 oz (450 grams); the second week I was hoping to see him at a pound but he was actually 15.5oz (438 grams) and today, the third week weighing him he was only 15.2 oz (430 grams). Is this normal? I try to weight him AFTER he eats, so I'm not sure this is affecting the numbers, like if he just ate a lot that first time I weighed him and today he didn't eat that much, but yesterday he did. I am using a kitchen scale that seems to be pretty accurate. Other than the weight loss he does not show any signs of sickness, he enjoys his warm soaks, when he is out and about he seems curious about us, but as soon as he's done eating off he goes inside his heated house (he is in an outdoor enclosure with a heated house, we are in South Texas).
Anyone has any encouragement / advice? Should I start him on Mazuri an extra day a week? (3 days a week instead of 2? he does like it) or is this normal considering he is new to us and he is still adjusting to the new environment, food, routine? We think he might have been fed exclusively kibble at the store so all the new variety might be new to him.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
3 weeks ago I started to weigh him weekly and decided to measure him monthly.
At that point he was at 15.9 oz (450 grams); the second week I was hoping to see him at a pound but he was actually 15.5oz (438 grams) and today, the third week weighing him he was only 15.2 oz (430 grams). Is this normal? I try to weight him AFTER he eats, so I'm not sure this is affecting the numbers, like if he just ate a lot that first time I weighed him and today he didn't eat that much, but yesterday he did. I am using a kitchen scale that seems to be pretty accurate. Other than the weight loss he does not show any signs of sickness, he enjoys his warm soaks, when he is out and about he seems curious about us, but as soon as he's done eating off he goes inside his heated house (he is in an outdoor enclosure with a heated house, we are in South Texas).
Anyone has any encouragement / advice? Should I start him on Mazuri an extra day a week? (3 days a week instead of 2? he does like it) or is this normal considering he is new to us and he is still adjusting to the new environment, food, routine? We think he might have been fed exclusively kibble at the store so all the new variety might be new to him.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated.