Does my leopard tortoise look healthy?

[baileypete]

I received my hatchling leopard tortoise in May of 2020. I bought him from a place called Tortoise Town, and now, doing further research on this place, I've realized this probably wasn't the best place to get him from, since it seems like they start their tortoises in a dry environment. I got afraid that he was stunted.. since it seemed like he wasn't growing. I started weighing him on November 18th, he came out to be 32.22 grams. I've been weighing him ever since, and today he came out to be 64.50 grams. I'll post before and after pictures of him, and of his enclosure as well. He also gets a varied diet of greens, such as turnip greens, mustard greens, and weeds. I also feed him prickly pear cactus pads and mazuri pellets.

 

[TeamZissou]

What kind of temps and humidity are you able to keep inside the enclosure? Are you giving him all the food he can eat every day, and is there some left over?

This tortoise should have grown a lot in the past 8 months. I don't keep leopards myself, but 64 g is still quite small.

Have you read this care sheet? Check it out and compare what's recommended with what you've been doing

The Best Way To Raise A Sulcata, Leopard, Or Star Tortoise

I chose the title of this care sheet very carefully. Are there other ways to raise babies? Yes. Yes there are, but those ways are not as good. What follows is the BEST way, according to 30 years of research and experimentation with hundreds of babies of many species. Babies hatch during the...

tortoiseforum.org

 

[zovick]

I received my hatchling leopard tortoise in May of 2020. I bought him from a place called Tortoise Town, and now, doing further research on this place, I've realized this probably wasn't the best place to get him from, since it seems like they start their tortoises in a dry environment. I got afraid that he was stunted.. since it seemed like he wasn't growing. I started weighing him on November 18th, he came out to be 32.22 grams. I've been weighing him ever since, and today he came out to be 64.50 grams. I'll post before and after pictures of him, and of his enclosure as well. He also gets a varied diet of greens, such as turnip greens, mustard greens, and weeds. I also feed him prickly pear cactus pads and mazuri pellets.

The tortoise looks pretty good from what I can see. It seems to have put on a growth spurt since you weighed it in November since it has doubled its weight in two and one half months. I would say to just keep doing what you have been doing and see how much it weighs monthly. As long as it keeps gaining as it has been recently, you are good.

 

[Ink]

Do you have 2 tortoises together, because one picture doesn't look like a leopard. I am not an expert

 

[baileypete]

Do you have 2 tortoises together, because one picture doesn't look like a leopard. I am not an expert

No, he's the only tortoise I have

 

[TeamZissou]

Do you have 2 tortoises together, because one picture doesn't look like a leopard. I am not an expert

I think you're seeing the 'before' and 'after' pics, rather than two separate tortoises.

 

[baileypete]

What kind of temps and humidity are you able to keep inside the enclosure? Are you giving him all the food he can eat every day, and is there some left over?

This tortoise should have grown a lot in the past 8 months. I don't keep leopards myself, but 64 g is still quite small.

Have you read this care sheet? Check it out and compare what's recommended with what you've been doing

The Best Way To Raise A Sulcata, Leopard, Or Star Tortoise

I chose the title of this care sheet very carefully. Are there other ways to raise babies? Yes. Yes there are, but those ways are not as good. What follows is the BEST way, according to 30 years of research and experimentation with hundreds of babies of many species. Babies hatch during the...

tortoiseforum.org

His basking spot is 95⁰f, the rest of his enclosure is around 80⁰ to 85⁰f. Humidity is at 70-85%.
He always has food leftover, I feed him once in the morning and once in the evening, I also soak him for 25 to 30 minutes in the morning.

 

[zovick]

Do you have 2 tortoises together, because one picture doesn't look like a leopard. I am not an expert

The one that looks different seems to be the Leopard when it was much younger, probably shortly after the owner got it.

 

[Ink]

Thank you for answering my question. This is why I am not an expert ?

 

[zovick]

Thank you for answering my question. This is why I am not an expert ?

No problem! It occurred to me that the owner may have posted that one early photo by accident since all the others were obviously more recent.

 

[TeamZissou]

His basking spot is 95⁰f, the rest of his enclosure is around 80⁰ to 85⁰f. Humidity is at 70-85%.
He always has food leftover, I feed him once in the morning and once in the evening, I also soak him for 25 to 30 minutes in the morning.

Sounds like everything is right where it needs to be. Are you able to keep it above 80 F at night as well? Tom stresses that maintaining 80 F at night is critical for sulcatas and leopards.

I admit that I didn't look at the dates you listed as closely as Bill did. Your tortoise seems to be gaining about 3.2 g per week since November which is a good sign. Not sure why the growth was so slow from May till November, but whatever it was may have cleared up by this point. I'll second that you should keep doing what you're doing.

You may have gotten out of the woods with a T.Town tortoise. From what I've read, lots of people's tortoises from there don't last this long.

 

[baileypete]

No problem! It occurred to me that the owner may have posted that one early photo by accident since all the others were obviously more recent.

Yes, it was an accident lol

 

[baileypete]

Sounds like everything is right where it needs to be. Are you able to keep it above 80 F at night as well? Tom stresses that maintaining 80 F at night is critical for sulcatas and leopards.

I admit that I didn't look at the dates you listed as closely as Bill did. Your tortoise seems to be gaining about 3.2 g per week since November which is a good sign. Not sure why the growth was so slow from May till November, but whatever it was may have cleared up by this point. I'll second that you should keep doing what you're doing.

You may have gotten out of the woods with a T.Town tortoise. From what I've read, lots of people's tortoises from there don't last this long.

The temps reach mid 70's during the nighttime, I'm planning on getting a ceramic heat emitter soon to help out with that. I'm so happy he seems to be doing well, I was really afraid after reading the Tortoise Town experiences on here that he was going to be one of those baby tortoises that don't make it.

 

[KarenSoCal]

The slow growth in the beginning was probably due to the dry start.

But it looks like you beat the odds since he has passed the 50 gm mark. Hopefully the growth will continue.

 

[Blackdog1714]

The temps reach mid 70's during the nighttime, I'm planning on getting a ceramic heat emitter soon to help out with that. I'm so happy he seems to be doing well, I was really afraid after reading the Tortoise Town experiences on here that he was going to be one of those baby tortoises that don't make it.

Yep 80's at night are best to keep them warm and healthy. Looks like you will be needing a new hide soon. These are cheap and very effective. Just flip them over and cut out an opening