Weight of 3.5 yrs old Sulcata

Emilia said:

Hi,
i think Bilbo might be over weight. I brought him to the vet this week and got a shock. He weighs about 32.8kg. he's the little guy at my profile photo and not so little. i'll estimate he's about 40cm in length. He's extremely healthy. no pyramiding and he's shell has a natural shine and bright yellow. Shine like how baby sulcatas shell are. He has a god appetite which is mainly half mazuri and a mixtur of veg. As he ends to be picky, I give him more on some days and less when he becomes picky. I checked for an average weight but it seems like he's (assuming male) double the weight. Walks perfectly fine. Any advise.

Thanks.

PS: Don't think Bilbo will be happy to be on a diet.

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Tortoisefanatic88 said:

Any pictures of him?

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Emilia said:

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Emilia said:

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Emilia said:

Have introduced dried grass. He didn't like it. He likes fresh grass but they haven't grown enough for me to give him. Agreed on mazuri price. I bought from amazon 11kg. No where else ships to Malaysia. What do you think about his weight? Over the top or just fast growing and should expect a slow down in the next few years?

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Mizcreant said:

That's a big beautiful fella. Are you certain about the age?

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Tom said:

That size is within normal for a healthy, well hydrated, properly raised sulcata, but something is off with either your length or weight. They can't weigh 33 Kg at 40cm long. They'd have to be somewhere around 60 cm to weigh that much.

Mazuri is a very rich food. I would not feed it more than twice a week. Just my personal preference. Here is a list of things that you should be feeding to your sulcata: https://tortoiseforum.org/threads/for-those-who-have-a-young-sulcata.76744/

Your tortoise is picky because it is always well fed and full to the brim with rich nutritious food. You give it the luxury of being picky. If you start reducing the Mazuri and offering the correct foods, your tortoise will eat the correct foods.

You said "they" didn't grow enough grass. Who are you referring to? Can you grow your own grass, find it somewhere safe, or buy the little sprouted what grass plots? Sulcatas need grass in the diet. Lots of it.

To introduce gras hay you can simply feed all the other foods on a bed of the grass hay. In time, they will start eating the grass hay along with the other food as they get used tot the smell, texture and taste of it. You can also chop some hay up with scissors and soak it in some warm water for an hour. Then mix in this rehydrated grass hay with the day's other foods. Start with very small amounts at first and gradually add more rehydrated grass hay as time goes by. It should take months to get up to larger amounts of the hay.

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Tom said:

That size is within normal for a healthy, well hydrated, properly raised sulcata, but something is off with either your length or weight. They can't weigh 33 Kg at 40cm long. They'd have to be somewhere around 60 cm to weigh that much.

Mazuri is a very rich food. I would not feed it more than twice a week. Just my personal preference. Here is a list of things that you should be feeding to your sulcata: https://tortoiseforum.org/threads/for-those-who-have-a-young-sulcata.76744/

Your tortoise is picky because it is always well fed and full to the brim with rich nutritious food. You give it the luxury of being picky. If you start reducing the Mazuri and offering the correct foods, your tortoise will eat the correct foods.

You said "they" didn't grow enough grass. Who are you referring to? Can you grow your own grass, find it somewhere safe, or buy the little sprouted what grass plots? Sulcatas need grass in the diet. Lots of it.

To introduce gras hay you can simply feed all the other foods on a bed of the grass hay. In time, they will start eating the grass hay along with the other food as they get used tot the smell, texture and taste of it. You can also chop some hay up with scissors and soak it in some warm water for an hour. Then mix in this rehydrated grass hay with the day's other foods. Start with very small amounts at first and gradually add more rehydrated grass hay as time goes by. It should take months to get up to larger amounts of the hay.

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Emilia said:

View attachment 268190

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