HUMPHREY 4 MOS.

[DesertGrandma]

Update on Humphrey the Leopard babcocki. In the last month he has gained 5 grams, now weighing in at 53 grams at 4 months of age. His length has not changed. He is eating well. Last month was such a big increase in weight (13 grams), so I am a little surprised that this month is not as great. Is this a healthy increase or do you think I should feed him more often? He has been outside most of the day in his enclosure this month with tortoise grazing stuff, and then feeding once in the evening. Last month I was feeding him twice a day. Maybe he is not grazing? Whatcha think?

 

[dmarcus]

Humphrey looks good, he may have had a growth spurt last month and now it's going nice and slow. I think there may be several growth spurts in his future, just make sure he does not lose weight.. Again, he looks really good...

 

[ascott]

Beautiful maybe he is exercising more by walking and grazing?

 

[DesertGrandma]

Humphrey looks good, he may have had a growth spurt last month and now it's going nice and slow. I think there may be several growth spurts in his future, just make sure he does not lose weight.. Again, he looks really good...

Thank you. Is there a growth chart anywhere that you know of for normal growth patterns? Like they have for kids. That would be excellent.

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Beautiful maybe he is exercising more by walking and grazing?

LOL that is what I should be doing

 

[dmarcus]

Humphrey looks good, he may have had a growth spurt last month and now it's going nice and slow. I think there may be several growth spurts in his future, just make sure he does not lose weight.. Again, he looks really good...

Thank you. Is there a growth chart anywhere that you know of for normal growth patterns? Like they have for kids. That would be excellent.

With tortoises it would be very hard to have once since they grow so different. Dean's torotises are a good example of how two tortoises that are the same age can grow at different rates.

 

[N2TORTS]

Humphrey....looks right on track ! .... Great looking lil' leo!

JD~

 

[Tom]

I like to let them free feed as babies. If conditions are right, then lots of food is fine.

Don't forget too that they can poop 10 grams a a time. So if you just happened to catch him after a big poop, but before a big meal, he might weigh less. Weigh him again in a couple of days after a good Mazuri feed and before a soak where he poops. I betcha he'll weigh a lot more.

Now here's something very debatable and controversial. This is just MY OPINION and what works for me. It is very hot and dry here. Near 100 most of the summer and single digit humidity. And we don't get the monsoons that you get in AZ either. Its even hotter there in AZ where you are. In the wild small babies and hatchlings do not hang out in that hot dry air all day. They get somewhere cooler or underground. I'm not comfortable leaving babies outside all day in this dry heat. I give them lots of shade, wet down them and the whole enclosure several times an hour, and let them get their sun and exercise for an hour or two. Then I soak them and put them back in their humid enclosures in the warm, but not hot, reptile room. As they get older I leave them out longer. If its a cooler day or an unusually humid day, I might go 3-4 hours, but that's not the norm. I don't like to have them outside at all when temps are over 100. On those days, I either sun them in the morning or skip a day. I'm just talking about little ones now. Not juveniles.

I know that some people put them out all day and build different types of shelters, but that is just not how I like to do it. I did that with my adults when they were hatchlings and they grew very slowly and pretty pyramided. Granted there were many other factors and I did things a lot differently back in the 90's, but I do believe the hot dry air, all day, every day WAS a contributing factor.

 

[ALDABRAMAN]

Very nice.

 

[DesertGrandma]

OMG, 10 grams of poop. I am definitely going to try this out. Humphrey could actually weigh "63" grams then instead of "53". That would be almost 20%of his body weight in poop....I digress....LOL

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Well I probably didn't do the math correctly, never been very good at percentages...

 

[dmarcus]

I like to let them free feed as babies. If conditions are right, then lots of food is fine.

Don't forget too that they can poop 10 grams a a time. So if you just happened to catch him after a big poop, but before a big meal, he might weigh less. Weigh him again in a couple of days after a good Mazuri feed and before a soak where he poops. I betcha he'll weigh a lot more.

Now here's something very debatable and controversial. This is just MY OPINION and what works for me. It is very hot and dry here. Near 100 most of the summer and single digit humidity. And we don't get the monsoons that you get in AZ either. Its even hotter there in AZ where you are. In the wild small babies and hatchlings do not hang out in that hot dry air all day. They get somewhere cooler or underground. I'm not comfortable leaving babies outside all day in this dry heat. I give them lots of shade, wet down them and the whole enclosure several times an hour, and let them get their sun and exercise for an hour or two. Then I soak them and put them back in their humid enclosures in the warm, but not hot, reptile room. As they get older I leave them out longer. If its a cooler day or an unusually humid day, I might go 3-4 hours, buts that's not the norm. I don't like to have them outside at all when temps are over 100. On those days, I either sun them in the morning or skip a day. I'm just talking about little ones now. Not juveniles.

I know that some people put them out all day and build different types of shelters, but that is just not how I like to do it. I did that with my adults when they were hatchlings and they grew very slowly and pretty pyramided. Granted there were many other factors and I did things a lot differently back in the 90's, but I do believe the hot dry air, all day, every day WAS a contributing factor.

Thats so funny about the poop thing, I weighed Tejas a few days ago and he weighed 165 grams and during his soak he pooped a lot so I weighed him again before putting him back in his enclosure and he was down to 159 grams...

 

[DesertGrandma]

I know, I'm a little wacky

 

[Neal]

I actually do like to keep even new hatchlings outside all day here...I've done this before, and am currently raising dozens of hatchlings outside in the AZ dry heat and have never had an issue with pyramiding or what I would consider slow growth. What are you feeding him in the evenings? Do you ever offer Mazuri? and are you watching to see if he is still grazing in the morning?

The growth rate sounds normal...they will have months where they grow a lot, and months where they grow very little. As long as the tortoise is active, eating, and feels "solid", I would not be concerned.

 

[DesertGrandma]

He gets a varied diet every evening and gobbles it down. cactus, rubelia, spring mix, kale, mazuri x3 wkly, yellow squash. On occasion I am able to steal some hibiscus leaves/flowers for him from my daughters house. Wish I could find some smaller pkgs of dandelion in the grocery store (have to throw out so much) and have had NO luck growing it. just wondering if he should be fed twice a day because I am not sure if he is grazing. Last week we planted hibiscus and grapevines and wondering how long it will take for them to leach out any pesticides/fertilizers before I can start to feed it.

 

[Neal]

Joy, it sounds like he is doing well and you are doing everything as a responsible person should. So, I don't think there is a problem at all but keep a close eye on him. I feed mine twice a day, and I still see them graze throughout the day. Keep us posted, he really looks great by the way.

 

[DesertGrandma]

Yeah, he is a great looking little guy. I think I will feed him twice a day again and weigh him before he poops, and see what happens next month. He is definitely healthy, solid, and hard. Might be time to replant the outdoor enclosure too with some more tortoise seed mix just to make sure there is enough variety.

Thanks everyone!!.

 

[DesertGrandma]

Okay, I am a believer now about the poop. I weighed Humphrey after he ate tonight and before he was soaked/pooped and he weighed 5 grams more than he did yesterday. Think I will just weigh him less often, maybe every 3 mos.

 

[CtTortoiseMom]

Omg Humphrey is soooo cute!! I alway's weight after a soak and a poop. Also my hatchling's growth has been varying week to week between 3 and 7 grams. So it was probably just a slow week. Keep posting pics of Humphrey

 

[DesertGrandma]

I like to let them free feed as babies. If conditions are right, then lots of food is fine.

Don't forget too that they can poop 10 grams a a time. So if you just happened to catch him after a big poop, but before a big meal, he might weigh less. Weigh him again in a couple of days after a good Mazuri feed and before a soak where he poops. I betcha he'll weigh a lot more.

Now here's something very debatable and controversial. This is just MY OPINION and what works for me. It is very hot and dry here. Near 100 most of the summer and single digit humidity. And we don't get the monsoons that you get in AZ either. Its even hotter there in AZ where you are. In the wild small babies and hatchlings do not hang out in that hot dry air all day. They get somewhere cooler or underground. I'm not comfortable leaving babies outside all day in this dry heat. I give them lots of shade, wet down them and the whole enclosure several times an hour, and let them get their sun and exercise for an hour or two. Then I soak them and put them back in their humid enclosures in the warm, but not hot, reptile room. As they get older I leave them out longer. If its a cooler day or an unusually humid day, I might go 3-4 hours, buts that's not the norm. I don't like to have them outside at all when temps are over 100. On those days, I either sun them in the morning or skip a day. I'm just talking about little ones now. Not juveniles.

I know that some people put them out all day and build different types of shelters, but that is just not how I like to do it. I did that with my adults when they were hatchlings and they grew very slowly and pretty pyramided. Granted there were many other factors and I did things a lot differently back in the 90's, but I do believe the hot dry air, all day, every day WAS a contributing factor.

Thats so funny about the poop thing, I weighed Tejas a few days ago and he weighed 165 grams and during his soak he pooped a lot so I weighed him again before putting him back in his enclosure and he was down to 159 grams...

6 grams of poop. You are almost there.. just 4 more grams and you would be up to the possible 10, haha

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Omg Humphrey is soooo cute!! I alway's weight after a soak and a poop. Also my hatchling's growth has been varying week to week between 3 and 7 grams. So it was probably just a slow week. Keep posting pics of Humphrey

Erin that is a lot of growth every week for your baby. You are being consistent with when you weigh. I will need to be more consistent about when it is if I am going to get a somewhat accurate read.