Hatchling questions

[kaitiejane]

I first got my hatchling in December and was told that it was 1-2 months old. But I had just posted another picture on a different thread and was told he was looked to be the size of a tortoise that is a year old. Can anyone help? I'm very confused as the age.

 

[wellington]

Because so much can affect their growth, it's really hard to age a tort. Also, they do not all grow the same. If you got it from a breeder, I would stick to what they said. If you got it from a pet store, then it's anyone's guess.

 

[kaitiejane]

I got him from Arizona tortoise compound.

 

[G-stars]

If you got it from ATC, that's a trustworthy source.

 

[Tidgy's Dad]

I don't know how old it is, but one thing for sure.
It is a very, very beautiful young tortoise.

 

[kaitiejane]

Does his shell look okay? Someone also mentioned pyramiding so now I'm freaking out about that!

 

[tglazie]

It always amazes me how much certain types of hatchling Greek tortoises look like hatchling Marginated tortoises. I mean, I've been working with both species for years, and even I often find myself having difficulty telling the two apart.

T.G.

 

[Tidgy's Dad]

It's difficult for me to tell with my poor eyesight, but maybe just slightly.
My lovely Tidgy has a little, perfectly smooth shells are rare.
Just ensure your humidity levels are kept up and the little one should grow fine.
He's gorgeous, honest.

 

[tglazie]

There's a little bit of pyramiding, but it doesn't seem like it is anything to fuss over. If you're soaking him every day, ensuring he has a substrate that is moist below a dry surface into which he can dig (this is especially important beneath his shelter, which should have a good amount of excavable soil), and has the ability to thermoregulate between an area in the upper eighties/lower nineties under a basking lamp/naturally sunny outdoor area and a shaded, cooler section in the seventies, all should be well. I like to provide mine with plenty of outdoor time, which I vary from spring to fall. In spring, I put mine in a protected outdoor pen at the warmest part of the day, which here in San Antonio, is usually in the lower eighties. Once the days start heating up, which they do here in early April, I put them out in the morning, but bring them in once the outdoor temperature starts to pass ninety. I keep this routine until things begin to cool in late September, at which point I resume the process of midday outdoors, as I would in the spring. Any time the torts are not out, they are either covered kept in a covered tub with moistened top soil or are given a brief free run in a kiddie pool with a topsoil substrate, lit by a 150 watt spot bulb and a 100 watt ceramic heating element. After the first year, you will find your little tortoise to become increasingly adaptable. His increased size will allow him more time outdoors. Eventually, after he's surpassed four inches in length, it will be time for him to spend the entire day outdoors.

All of this, of course, is entirely dependent upon your climate, which I am unfortunately unaware. But yes, that's the way I do it. To reduce pyramiding in the future, ensure that he entire enclosure is covered over night. This will cause the humidity to be quite high overnight. Greeks, Margies and Hermanns don't require a hot and humid closed chamber the way sulcatas, leopards, and other tropical torts do. Instead, ensure that they can create microclimates for themselves, all the while using any down time they may spend to see they receive adequate amounts of humidity. I help ensure this in an outdoor enclosure by allowing a hide with moistened excavable soil and by growing numerous weeds (dichondra or kidney weed is great for this purpose, given that it is low to the ground and regenerates quite rapidly; I've also planted lamb's lettuce and various clovers). Plant growth encourages watering of the enclosure, which produces the desirable level of humidity.

T.G.

 

[kaitiejane]

Thank you! I'm actually also in San Antonio! Small world!

 

[tglazie]

Awesome. You don't meet that many Greek keepers here in San Antonio, unfortunately. At the local herp society, I'm the only Margie/Greek keeper in attendance, usually. If folks around here do have torts, they are usually sulcatas, redfoots, and Russians (which isn't to say anything bad about those folks; I've kept those types myself; there's just something about the Mediterraneans that I find irresistible).

T.G.

 

[kaitiejane]

What is the herp society?

 

[Tidgy's Dad]

Awesome. You don't meet that many Greek keepers here in San Antonio, unfortunately. At the local herp society, I'm the only Margie/Greek keeper in attendance, usually. If folks around here do have torts, they are usually sulcatas, redfoots, and Russians (which isn't to say anything bad about those folks; I've kept those types myself; there's just something about the Mediterraneans that I find irresistible).

T.G.

Me too.

 

[tglazie]

Strange, their website is down. Here's a site with basic info on them. To be perfectly honest, I haven't attended a meeting in over six months. Busy busy.

T.G.

http://www.supergreenme.com/SouthTexasHerpetologyAssociation