Leopard P. Pardalis not growing....

[Parais11]

On Feb 19 I picked up this little guy, he weighed in at 44 grams. The following week he weighed 52 grams. He has been stuck at 52 grams for 3 weeks now. He’s very active and eats like a horse. Why isn’t he gaining more weight? I do see the growth marks on his shell, but shouldn’t the weight be going up also? Any advise or help would be appreciated. Temps and humidity is in check, and I’ve been dusting the greens with Mazuri so he gets some while he eats.

 

[diamondbp]

I recognize that baby. I sure hope you didn’t pay $400 for it like that were asking.

You will see spikes in growth on occasion for no big apparent reason. If another 3 weeks passes and no growth occurs you may want to share details with the group on how it’s keep and some tweaking may be needed

 

[Parais11]

I ended up getting it for a little bit of a better price ($350). May I ask why you say you hope I didn’t spend that? Is that too high a price for a true P. Pardalis? Thanks again for the feedback.

 

[diamondbp]

I ended up getting it for a little bit of a better price ($350). May I ask why you say you hope I didn’t spend that? Is that too high a price for a true P. Pardalis? Thanks again for the feedback.

I suspect that one to be mixed. I hatch out mixed babies and it have many characteristics of a mixed baby. But knowing the origin of the parents is really the only way to say for sure.

 

[Parais11]

I’m not sure what characteristics you are looking at, but this is 100% a true South African. With the darker colors, freckles, multiple dots on scutes. If you see something I am not seeing, I’d love to know. With all due respect, as I see you are a very well known member here, but to make a bold statement like this, I would like to know what you see that “proves” it is mixed. I looked long and hard for a true South African and when I found this, I could see the difference from all the others.

 

[diamondbp]

I’m not sure what characteristics you are looking at, but this is 100% a true South African. With the darker colors, freckles, multiple dots on scutes. If you see something I am not seeing, I’d love to know. With all due respect, as I see you are a very well known member here, but to make a bold statement like this, I would like to know what you see that “proves” it is mixed. I looked long and hard for a true South African and when I found this, I could see the difference from all the others.

How do you know it’s 100%? Do you know the parent group?

I did not rule out that it’s pure. I’m saying based on the large amount of babies (both mixed and pure) I’ve seen over the years that it appears to be mixed.

The higher dome shell for one. The vast majority of pure babies have a much flatter slightly elongated shape for the first several months of life.

The “browner” scute coloration vs a truer yellow-slightly orange hue. The dot coloration is also browned vs a much more typical black dot that creates a higher contrast.

The freckle size is larger than most display and also it’s at a different density of freckles than what’s typically displayed.

Head shape is a hair blunt

Etc.

Again I’m not saying beyond any doubt that it’s mixed. But I’ve acquired pp babies from almost every proven legit source and that baby does not resemble pure babies from any of the breeders.

I don’t mean to upset you. I see this kind of stuff ALLLL the time.