Good Boy Squirtle

[dav3]

Hello tortoise nutters

Been the long awaited tank upgrade
we have added soil for digging,background paper to get rid of that wood look..yuk! here the pictures, also we are adding a stone section tomorrow














We also changed his diet as he was growing at a rapid pace and the specialist said he was overweight lols

Been hit with a heat wave 27 degrees, so we have a great oppertunity to have him round the back and in the sun.

since all this has been done his attitude has changed..for the better, hes no longer agressive, we can handle him, rub his head,arms or legs and what im most proud of he's started grazing today. We have pictures of his day out but your going to need to wait until tomorrow ano, im a bad man lol

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the pictures didnt turn out the way i wanted =(, the picture in the middle is sapost to be before the update

 

[yagyujubei]

You changed his diet because he was growing? I think your "specialist" is dead wrong. Ask yourself this = Does this "specialist" raise leopard tortoises? Do they look like you want yours to look?

 

[ascott]

Fun stuff and yes, torts can become glutinous pigs....growth is good but too fast is not....in my humble opinion that is....

 

[dmmj]

What is considered to fast A tortoise can grow slowly or quickly depending on how much or litltle food is consumed.

 

[dav3]

You changed his diet because he was growing? I think your "specialist" is dead wrong. Ask yourself this = Does this "specialist" raise leopard tortoises?

it wasnt because he was " growing" it was because he was over growing to the point when under the shell was red, this specialist has had over 20 years experiance as a reptile specialist and yes she has raised tortoises before.
what do u mean by"Do they look like you want yours to look?"

 

[Tom]

Hey Dave. We hear a lot of "expert" opinions here, and the majority of us usually disagree with them. We have a lot of people here with decades of personal experience too. Not someone who " has raised tortoises before", but people who have been heavily into tortoises in every aspect from breeding, to raising hatchlings, to maintaining adults long term. We aren't trying to maul you here, just trying to better understand what it is you are being told and why.

Eating and growing a lot will not turn your tortoises plastron red. That can only be from some sort of irritation or infection. Sometimes when mine lay in the Mazuri I have seen the lines between scutes get a little reddish. A soak, a cleaning and some time in the sun made it go right away.

My friend from Ohio says it best: "Cut them back if they are getting fat, NOT if they are growing."

 

[dav3]

Thats fair enough Tom, i dont mind getting advice and taking it on however Its the way it was said, unlike the way you said it, i didnt take offence.after all its only natural to get defensive over your loved pets.

what im being told exactly is that the ( forgive me for not using the correct term) the bottom part of his shell (belly) if u know what i mean had a red line( not a faint red that you sometimes see in the scutes) but alot darker, it was as if it was halfed down the middle and i got told that these were growing lines to show that hes growing too ,fast after she took his weight and told me he was overweight. So we cut down his food, changed his diet and the lines arent there, she is a brillant vet and i value her advice, she helped us when ivy was about to kick the bucket. she seems to really care about these animals.

if shes wrong and you know something different please do tell, after all im on this forum to learn from others

 

[yagyujubei]

Dave, You certainly have the right to listen to whatever "expert" you like. I certainly am no expert. I do believe that tortoises will grow according to the amount of nutrition they receive. If you want yours to grow slowly, then by all means, adjust the diet. I know, that in the UK, the general feeling is that "growing too fast", can lead to many problems, including pyramiding. I for one do not believe this. I have seen no negative results with mine, eventhough I am sure that most believe that there are potential problems there. I don't even know what "fast growth" is. How is this determined? The pink lines on the plastron are nothing more than new growth, and fade as the newly grown shell calcifies.In the UK charts I have seen, my 20 month old leopards are about the size of 4 or 5 year olds. People can say "well...in the wild" Well here's a newsflash, they're not "in the wild" Captive animals always grow faster than their wild counterparts. I am merely offering you an alternative to traditional approaches. I suggest you make your own decisions, and not just blindly do what a so called "expert" says.

 

[Radiated]

I agree with yagyujubei (Dennis). Although he may not have said it as nicely as Tom, however he is just trying to get his point across which i believe makes a lot of sense. Although i do not own any leopards, i have seen something similar in my ploughshare tortoises, if you just left it there it would have had the same result. Could you show a picture of this Dark Red color?

Oh and what is the new and improved diet?

 

[dav3]

To radiated, im sorry i cannot send a picture, the redness went away

 

[Neal]

You changed his diet because he was growing? I think your "specialist" is dead wrong. Ask yourself this = Does this "specialist" raise leopard tortoises? Do they look like you want yours to look?

Good questions to ask in this situation.

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To the OP - As was said, opinions will differ on matter of growth rates. Personally, I have had better success (smoother and apparently healthier) with tortoises that have grown slower than the fast growers. If you think the changes you've made have made a difference for the better, than that was probably the right thing to do. I would be curious to the details of the changes you made. What exactly were you feeding him before? how often? what are you doing now?