That seems on the small side to me for a 5 month old. Both my Greeks were over 50g at five months. How often, and what do you feed? What are the temps? And the specifics of your enclosure? I'd love to see some pics of it!
Did you go through a rescue to get this baby?
He's a very cute hatchling--makes me wish mine were still that little! Welcome to the forum!
He is so adorable!! I don't think I've ever seen a picture of a desert hatchling. Very cute
My RT Nelson was 45 grams at 5-months but I think I was underfeeding him
I think his size is probably ok. These are two that I've kept from a clutch of 8 because one had a bubbly nose and the other just seems not thrifty:
They hatched last September, so that would make them about 5 months old. They both are slightly smaller that the other 6 that I already adopted out. I put my hand in the picture to give you an idea of their size.
Your tortoise looks just fine to me. Desert tortoises are great animals, getting quite personable as they get to know their keeper. They don't seem shy at all and are very easy to handle. I'm glad you found us here on the forum.
Hi, I got him from a friend's M and F pair, who are perhaps 40 years old and have babies every year. He weighted about 25 grams at first, and it took about 2-3 weeks to get him eating. He ate very well for about a month (and got up to 31 grams), but then winter came. About a month ago I started raising the temperature, and it's in the lower to mid-90s (PowerSun bulb). He eats somewhat (various lettuces and greens + vitamins/calcium powder) but he's still not fully active yet. He has gained 2 grams in the past month. He lives in a plastic tub with yogurt container shelters.
He is so small that I can see him much better in these pictures than in real life!
I don't have a name for him (her?) yet. I'm just calling him "baby desert tortoise" or "Baby" for now. I also have an adult Russian tortoise who I got at the same time, last September. So I am new to tortoises. But, also, I've been keeping aquatic turtles for 15 years (have 5 now), and I have 2 ball pythons (for 2 years). So far, the Russian tortoise is the most demanding, asking for food, to be taken out, making lots of poop, etc., every day.
Your baby is adorable. I just hope he doesn't flip over when no one is home to help him. I don't know a thing about desert torts...do they like to climb? He's so little and cute.