growth and weight issues

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nicky-mollie

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i was wandering if anyone can give me some advice on wether my 3 yr old hermann is around the right size she is 100mm, i am a bit concerned i brouht her a month ago and her weight has gone down, she weighed 264gm on 12/09/09, then 264gm on .25/09/09 then today she was 262.other than these concerns she looks very healthy bright eyed and shiny shelled!
 

nicky-mollie

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egyptiandan said:
Thats a bit heavy for 100mm. Did you measure the carapace or plastron?
To do weight comparisons, you need to measure the carapace. You can measure like this http://tortoiseforum.org/thread-6948.html

Danny

hi danny sorry i took so long to reply i have measured the carapace and she is 110mm, so difficult as she is not inpressed!:(
 

egyptiandan

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At 110mm she is a bit light at 262g. She should be 298g. Is she eating well? How often are you feeding? Has she been wormed?

Danny
 

nicky-mollie

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egyptiandan said:
At 110mm she is a bit light at 262g. She should be 298g. Is she eating well? How often are you feeding? Has she been wormed?

Danny

:( ok thanks danny, she dosent eat very much at all really, have all her seed mixes growing some in the outdoor enclosure and in the green house, purchased from shelled warriuors, i havent wormed her no, just had her a month. if i offered her a tomatoe she would eat it but its as if she dosent know what leaves are i think maybe she has only known pellets maybe. will i have to go thro a vet to get her wormed? i dont have much faith in her vet after what happened with the chipping:(
 

egyptiandan

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No you don't have to go through a vet to get the wormer. Panacur paste is the easiest to use and you can find it on-line very easily. Make sure you get the 10% paste as it comes in different strengths. Just put a small drop on a piece of tomato and she should eat it just fine.

Danny
 

nicky-mollie

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egyptiandan said:
No you don't have to go through a vet to get the wormer. Panacur paste is the easiest to use and you can find it on-line very easily. Make sure you get the 10% paste as it comes in different strengths. Just put a small drop on a piece of tomato and she should eat it just fine.

Danny

thankyou again danny thats great will get onto it straight away:)
 

tortoisenerd

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Want to discuss her food more? Tomatoes should not be fed as they are too sweet. The leaves are toxic, and I seem to remember the seeds are too (but I could be wrong about the seeds). If she isn't gaining weight after being wormed, and you don't suspect she is eating the graze, then you need to come up with other solutions. I would pull up some of the greens (what types are they) and put them on a plate/tile in an enclosure with no graze so you can keep an eye on her to see if she eats it. Any chance you can call the place you got her to see what she was eating?

I would stay away from most commercial pellets, but Mazuri Tortoise Diet or ZooMed Grassland Tortoise Food are ok in limited amounts as a supplement. If she really isn't eating at all, and you found out from where you got her she was eating something wildly different than what you are offering, start with feeding the old/bad food and then gradually mix in larger amounts of what you want her to eat (the good greens). If she's being kept outside, is there a secure area you could have her in with just dirt/substrate without graze, with a slate tile to feed on, so you can keep an eye on exactly what she eats and how much? Because you say she isn't eating much: many torts can eat a pile of greens almost as big as they are to give you a bit of a reference, but this varies a lot. Not sure how much you've seen her eat, or if you can even tell if she only has graze.

At her age and size she still needs to be steadily gaining weight. I would recommend a vet check up too, because besides worms there are other parasites that a fecal test can check for. A general check up of her health by an experienced tort vet is a great idea to see if you may not be noticing something, and also to get her on file in case you have a future emergency as they will be much more willing to take you on short notice as an established client not a new one. I would not assume it's worms without confirming it, or at least checking into other possibilities like an illness, parasite, or trouble with the food.

Best wishes.
 

nicky-mollie

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hi kate, i offer mollie the seed mixes that i brought from shelled warriors, i have also offer her salad leaves, i wash all off them and she has them on offer all the time. isa filled me in on a lot about foods when i joined especialy bout tomatoes and other fruits, i have never given her pellets, i know they are no good. im going to try contact the reptile center she came from tomorrow. i registered her with a vet when i got her as i had her chipped, they dont know tortoises very well tho,altho they are in contact wiv bristol zoo since they had mollie on board! they are currently trying to get panacur 10% paste as i have had problems trying to get it! i will keep you informed and thankyou for your advice x
 
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