Wow. Absolutely beautiful tortoise! Great job. This was a neat thread to read through.
Normal growth? Help me :(
- Thread starter thegame2388
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Any thought on the comments I wrote out in the last post?
The new growth looks great.
Every time I move one outside full time the growth slows tremendously for a while, even though temperatures are the same and they are already used to being outside most of the day. I don't know what does it. Keeping the night box humid and warm will help a lot.
Every time I move one outside full time the growth slows tremendously for a while, even though temperatures are the same and they are already used to being outside most of the day. I don't know what does it. Keeping the night box humid and warm will help a lot.
Just curious... Why do you use UV lighting in the box? Or did I miss understand that.
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Thanks! Yeah it seems to me the growth has slowed, but maybe it's just me. I'll have to recheck its weight next week. Humidity is maintained at night only since that's the only time he's inside his box full time. Otherwise, its just roaming around during the day when it's 20% humidity outside in Southern California.
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Because he stills basks under the light to heat himself him. The UV light REALLY ups the heat during the day (so the oil heater never even turns on). This time of the year, the inside of his box is like 90-95F but he's normally outside. During the summer, I anticipate box temps to go into 120-130F (with the UV light on during day time), so I'm just going to remove it for those months.
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My tort was about 1540g on Feb. 28th and now he's only 1611g. He was 1600g last week. I don't know why the growth is slowing down. I hope I'm not doing anything wrong. He was growing like crazy previously.
He's living outside full time now, right? All of mine slow down tremendously when they move outside full time. In about another 8-12 months the growth rate will pick back up and soon after that you'll be wishing it would slow back down...
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Yes full time outside. What is it about the outside that makes them slowdown? Only thing I can think is that they're not surrounded by 80F/80% humidity all the time compared to indoor enclosure. Perhaps more exercise? 8-12 months is more waiting ahhhh
I have pondered this for years. I have no answer.
My 8-9" sulcatas are outside for most of every day in the same enclosure they will move into full time. They come inside to sleep, or during inclement weather they stay inside. When I start leaving them outside overnight, I offer lots of food and I make their night boxes the same temperature as their indoor enclosures. They still get locked up in the box every night. They have the option of staying outside later or going out earlier once they move outside. This might briefly subject them to cooler temperatures than they had previously experienced, but they still sleep warm all night and can warm up in the sun all day.
Tortoises don't seem to like any sort of change in their routine. This "change of their familiar routine" is the only thing I can think of to explain this. The stress of the new routine, hampers their growth until they get used to it. I sometimes see the same thing when I get a new tortoise, or ship out one of mine. This is my best guess so far.
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Sounds reasonable. I do the same thing for my box. It is set to 84F and it maintains that temperature just fine. My only guess is that in their indoor enclosure, they were subject to ideal conditions (80F/80% humidity) 24/7 while outside, everything is ideal but the humidity. That's my only explanation. To combat this, I've set the humidifier to turn on to 75% at night time and maintain until 8am once the sun's out.
84 degrees with 75% humidity sounds good to me. That should yield a heathy young tortoise and continue giving you smooth growth, once he starts growing again.
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Will do. However, let's not forget: those conditions are during the hours of 8pm-8am when he's inside sleeping the night away.
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UPDATE 6/30/2015:
March 18: 1611g
April 7: 1774g
April 20: 1870g
May 12: 2050g
June 30: 2573g
Notes:
1. As previously noted, he/she lives outside 24/7 with everything set up properly.
2. It's getting to about 100-110F in the Southern California inland region; sometimes I fee like "there's now way this tortoise can tolerate this", but then I think about its original environment in central Africa and rationalize it. The fact that they're cold-blooded also help but my God, it's hot!
3. Use of basking light is limited to only 1 hour in the morning to "wake him/her" up, but the rest comes from direct sunlight in California
4. Increasing normal weight. Looks to be about 3000g fairly soon. Tort turns two years old in late August.
5. In the later pictures, I noticed some flaky, white, perhaps dry portions of his shell...not sure if's normal or as a result of the heat if he's just scratching himself when he goes in his "room" within the enclosure or when he's outside going under various backyard sheds.
Any thoughts, comments, concerns? Thank
March 18: 1611g
April 7: 1774g
April 20: 1870g
May 12: 2050g
June 30: 2573g
Notes:
1. As previously noted, he/she lives outside 24/7 with everything set up properly.
2. It's getting to about 100-110F in the Southern California inland region; sometimes I fee like "there's now way this tortoise can tolerate this", but then I think about its original environment in central Africa and rationalize it. The fact that they're cold-blooded also help but my God, it's hot!
3. Use of basking light is limited to only 1 hour in the morning to "wake him/her" up, but the rest comes from direct sunlight in California
4. Increasing normal weight. Looks to be about 3000g fairly soon. Tort turns two years old in late August.
5. In the later pictures, I noticed some flaky, white, perhaps dry portions of his shell...not sure if's normal or as a result of the heat if he's just scratching himself when he goes in his "room" within the enclosure or when he's outside going under various backyard sheds.
Any thoughts, comments, concerns? Thank
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Anyone else? I'd like feedback particularly on my notes at the end.
He is just adorable and pretty darn close to my guy in age (I think a month off!) I would just make sure you hose down his area during the day to keep it cool. When it is horrible I out I will do a night time soak before Tuleo comes in (my guy is not outside full time yet) just to make sure he is hydrated. Your baby is PRECIOUS and you are doing such a great job with him!
Looks like typical scratches and abrasions to me. Nothing I'd be worried about.
It's hot in Africa yes but these guys are recorded as spending a lot of time in cooler underground retreats. I hope yours has access to hides that are cooler than the ambient temps. Underground hides, mud pits, misters or sprinklers.
It's been 100-107°F here is southern Oregon all week. I've been running the sprinklers a few times throughout the day to help cool my tortoise.
It's hot in Africa yes but these guys are recorded as spending a lot of time in cooler underground retreats. I hope yours has access to hides that are cooler than the ambient temps. Underground hides, mud pits, misters or sprinklers.
It's been 100-107°F here is southern Oregon all week. I've been running the sprinklers a few times throughout the day to help cool my tortoise.
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Yes he usually goes under this shed made out of wood and just hangs out there. Sometimes I think it's even hotter THERE...but who knows?
