27g at 3 months?

[DanieltheAnvil]

hey guys. I just did my first weigh in with my sulcata. he looks heathly and eats regularly but After seeing toms post about weight I was super curious. I have had him for almost a month, supposedly he was born july 19th. I weighed my salt shaker on the counter and it was 87 grams and then I weighted Doolin and only hit 27g. according to Toms sheet he should still be in the egg haha. any ideas? he still has marks on his plastron where he was connected. how long does it take for those to go away, could this be a sign that he is younger than 3 months?

his first week at my house he didnt eat or poo or anything, the past 2 weeks though he has a normal appetite.

 

[mctlong]

hey guys. I just did my first weigh in with my sulcata. he looks heathly and eats regularly but After seeing toms post about weight I was super curious. I have had him for almost a month, supposedly he was born july 19th. I weighed my salt shaker on the counter and it was 87 grams and then I weighted Doolin and only hit 27g. according to Toms sheet he should still be in the egg haha. any ideas? he still has marks on his plastron where he was connected. how long does it take for those to go away, could this be a sign that he is younger than 3 months?

his first week at my house he didnt eat or poo or anything, the past 2 weeks though he has a normal appetite.

Are you sure he's a sulcata? Can you post a pic?

Thats very small. Have you noticed any new growth between his scutes since you received him? Has he been to the vet yet? Has he been tested for parasites?

 

[DanieltheAnvil]

yeah he def a sulcata. i have not had him to a vet and I've heard pumpkin helps to deworm but he didnt go for it when I offered it to him. Anything else I can do to help deworm?

I'm working on getting new pics up but my icon pic is him

 

[DanieltheAnvil]

Hopefully they all show up. I've attached 3 pics of Doolin. He was eating right before so excuse the messy face.

 

[Neal]

That's definitely below average. If all I had to look at was the picture, I would say he was only a couple of weeks old...

How are you keeping him? How did the breeder keep him?

There may be nothing wrong, some tortoises are just runts or grow a lot slower than others. If he is eating and pooping then that is encouraging.

 

[mctlong]

yeah he def a sulcata. i have not had him to a vet and I've heard pumpkin helps to deworm but he didnt go for it when I offered it to him. Anything else I can do to help deworm?

I'm working on getting new pics up but my icon pic is him

I recommend taking him to a vet & having his poop screened for parasites. If parasites are present, the vet will prescirbe panacur or a similar strong medication to clear it up.

There was a very similar post here a couple of weeks ago. A person had a severley underweight hatchling. It died from parasites shortly after he posted a "help my tortoise is underweight" thread. The parasites went undiagnosed until after the tortoise died. It was a shame because the tort's death was preventable. I don't want to see the same thing happen to you. Please take the tort to a vet and have his poop checked and get appropriate meds from the vet.

 

[DanieltheAnvil]

That's definitely below average. If all I had to look at was the picture, I would say he was only a couple of weeks old...

How are you keeping him? How did the breeder keep him?

There may be nothing wrong, some tortoises are just runts or grow a lot slower than others. If he is eating and pooping then that is encouraging.

He is in a 50gal storage bin with eco earth and clean top soil 50/50. His temp is 90 warm side and 82 cool side with 76 at night. He gets 30min to an hour of sunlight each day and grazes that entire time. Then I feed him Zoo Med tortoise food with mixed grasses flowers and springmix while he is in his enclosure.

The breeder I got him from is a local family who has 16 sulcatas and because I knowthem gave me a hatchling. They have acreage devoted to there torts and keep them well. They range from 25 to over 100 lbs. If you can think of anything to try I'd be grateful.

 

[Dizisdalife]

You can probably take a sample to a Vet and have it tested for worms without having to pay for the office visit. My Vet charges $25. It could answer your question or at least eliminate one possibility. My tortoise had pinworms when he was about 6 months. Well, that is when I had him tested. He was only about 80 grams and I was concerned about his weight. He seemed to be eating and pooping and he was active too. I am glad I did it because humans can get pinworms and as much as I handle the tortoise I would have developed a case myself.

 

[Tom]

Often the little guys catch up. He looks to be more like two weeks out of the egg to me, but if he's just not grown much for three months, I could be wrong. Only one pic showed up. Does he still have an egg tooth?

Try re-zeroing your scale and weighing him again. Try weighing four quarters and come back and tell us what your scale says. 27 grams would be very small for a hatchling. Mine come out of the egg between 35 and 40 usually. I had a tiny runt once at 32 and a giant once at 44 grams, but those extremes are pretty unusual.

 

[sibi]

Your tort is way too small for 3 months old. I have read about two cases at this forum where their sulcata baby wasn't growing. The one I'm thinking of was "scooter." My heart broke to hear he died from parasites. Please bring him to the vet and have the fecal tested for worms/parasites. It certainly would explain why he hasn't grown much. Then keep us posted.

 

[DanieltheAnvil]

Often the little guys catch up. He looks to be more like two weeks out of the egg to me, but if he's just not grown much for three months, I could be wrong. Only one pic showed up. Does he still have an egg tooth?

Try re-zeroing your scale and weighing him again. Try weighing four quarters and come back and tell us what your scale says. 27 grams would be very small for a hatchling. Mine come out of the egg between 35 and 40 usually. I had a tiny runt once at 32 and a giant once at 44 grams, but those extremes are pretty unusual.

I was hoping you would post Tom thanks. here are some more pics. I know he is at least a month removed from the shell. I saw him the week before I had him. and I've had him 3 weeks. I didnt weigh him until I saw your post about average weights and got curious. the general thought is taking him to the vet which I will do asap.

there is not much more I can do husbandry wise. I feel like I'm good on that front.

excuse the messy chin, he was eating when I took the pics.

 

[Dizisdalife]

He is cute. I hope you find that he is free of unwanted parasites.

 

[DanieltheAnvil]

He is cute. I hope you find that he is free of unwanted parasites.

thanks alot. thanks for commenting earlier too. I'm def trying to check out his poop or get him into the vet.

 

[sibi]

It's been a few days since you posted this thread. Have you taken your lil one to the vet yet? I'm really curious because of his size, and I'm so in love with your baby...he's one of the sweetest babies I've seen so far. Hope you keep us posted.

 

[DanieltheAnvil]

It's been a few days since you posted this thread. Have you taken your lil one to the vet yet? I'm really curious because of his size, and I'm so in love with your baby...he's one of the sweetest babies I've seen so far. Hope you keep us posted.

Well I was going to but I actually was given his brother/sister as well. so now I have two and they both weigh the same. There was a third in the hatch and it weighs the same too. so its really kinda weird. there is no doubt they are sulcatas, their mom is over 100lbs. so I've been monitoring both of them and they seem fine. I did collect a poop sample to have looked at though so thats my final course of action. I've never heard of sulcatas being this small. Doolin this week though did gain another few grams just this week so he is in the 30's now.

the new one I have was biten by a chihuahua and has been nursed back to health. has a puncture on the plastron that is healing nicely. so I'm encouraged about their future. Especially after I get the sample.

 

[lovelyrosepetal]

Keep us posted. I am interested to see what they find about your tortoise. It would sound like your tortoise might just come from a line of late starters or runts. Good Luck!

 

[LiveTilWeLaugh]

I really urge you to reconsider your choice to not take them to the vet. Scooter was my baby and I miss him dearly. Please read through Scooter's story http://www.tortoiseforum.org/thread-54042.html#axzz29UzSYOnC and hopefully this will make you think twice. Scooter acted completely normal, he ate, he slept, he bathed a LOT. He acted completely normally until the day he died. The only hint was that he was so small.

 

[jpmcclure]

I really urge you to reconsider your choice to not take them to the vet. Scooter was my baby and I miss him dearly. Please read through Scooter's story http://www.tortoiseforum.org/thread-54042.html#axzz29UzSYOnC and hopefully this will make you think twice. Scooter acted completely normal, he ate, he slept, he bathed a LOT. He acted completely normally until the day he died. The only hint was that he was so small.

I still think about scooter Liv. And he wasn't even mine. I still loved him and followed his story closely.

 

[mctlong]

I really urge you to reconsider your choice to not take them to the vet. Scooter was my baby and I miss him dearly. Please read through Scooter's story http://www.tortoiseforum.org/thread-54042.html#axzz29UzSYOnC and hopefully this will make you think twice. Scooter acted completely normal, he ate, he slept, he bathed a LOT. He acted completely normally until the day he died. The only hint was that he was so small.

I still think about scooter Liv. And he wasn't even mine. I still loved him and followed his story closely.

Me too. I was really bummed when he passed.

 

[DanieltheAnvil]

Im taking a stool sample to the vet to check for worms. if they find something I'll continue the process. I'm not disregarding that. They seem to be happy and healthy and a stool sample will help confirm or bring up other concerns. Thanks so much for your concern though guys and I'll keep you updated. they are eating pooping and gaining grams so thats a good sign.