Is her weight ok??

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jesst

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I have been reading threads stating that an 8 month old should be 400-500 grams and a yearling should be around 1000g. We got Morla 9/25/11 and she weighed 77g and was 4-5 months old. She is now 304g and is almost a year or a year...we are just guessing. Im just concerned because she is not as heavy as what was stated she should be.

here she is the day we got her
2011-09-25182747.jpg


and here she is a couple of days ago
DSC02528.jpg
 

dmarcus

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Not sure about those numbers.

My 14 month old is only 550 grams not even close to a 1000.
 

Tom

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Some of them get a rough start as babies (the "dry" routine) and just don't grow as fast. The growth rate can be highly variable depending on a lot of factors. I think Morla is fine given the amount of weight she has gained in that time. 227 grams in six months is fine. I think she might have been either younger than what you were told, or a little undersized when you first got her. I would anticipate a growth spurt in her near future, but this will depend a lot on diet, food quantity, temps, hydration, calcium, sunshine exercise, etc...
 

Madkins007

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There is a formula you can use to help determine the right body mass index, but it does not with very young tortoises as well:

"Straight-line Carapace Length (SCL) in centimeters, cubed, times 0.191 gives you a target weight in grams" (SCLcm^3 x 0.191 = WTgr). The further the tortoise is from the target weight, the less likely it is to be healthy.

Underweight is generally considered a bigger concern than overweight, and often indicates that the tortoise is dehydrated.
 

EKLC

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mazuri accelerates growth too, so if she wasnt getting much of that she might be smaller than torts that do. As long as she has a healthy appetite and is consisting growing
 
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