Megatron Age

[Yellow Turtle]

Here is my last picture of Megatron

From seller info, his age is around 1 year and 9 months. Please help to predict whether it is the true age, because when I compare to Greg's aldabra with same age, then mine looks tiny

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Sorry I need to add that the length is 12 cm for his age.

 

[ALDABRAMAN]

I think Megatron looks between 1 1/2 and 2 years old. I do not think he is small for that age, actually slow steady growth is better in my book. Ours at that age are usually around four or five pounds. Aldabra growth rates vary and are influenced by many factors.

 

[Yellow Turtle]

Thank you for the reply Greg. Yeah, actually I am chasing some steady slow growth initially, that's why I feed him less protein based food. But lately for like 3 weeks I give him more mazuri, because I think he is small, not so much, only 4 pieces everyday. But he still has access to hay and grass. Maybe I should reduce his mazuri a bit.

Please share your thought on his shell. I think he is a bit pyramided, but I think his new growth is better, although I am not so sure of it due to my lack of experience with tortoise. My aldabra seems prefer to stay in dry area, on stone or tile where humidity is around 50%, compares to his hide or the carpet with around 70-80% humidity.

He has access to sun light, but I still use some uvb tube and mvb, setting with timer. I am thinking of reducing the timer frequency to both lamps to give wider area of humidity, since it seems that under the mvb is one of his favorite spot. What would you think of this?

 

[ALDABRAMAN]

Please share your thought on his shell. I think he is a bit pyramided, but I think his new growth is better

From your picture, maybe slightly pyramided, however his new growth seems way smoother!

What would you think of this?

That is hard, your environment is probably challenging to manage and produce ideal results. Our humidity here is in the high 80's and even higher on a regular basis. For example, right now it is naturally 86% humidity.

Maybe I should reduce his mazuri a bit.

We feed mazuri in small quantity at that age, like once a week.

hay and grass.

The majority of our aldabras diet consist of grass, weeds, cactus, and hay.

He has access to sun light

That is great, he can thermal regulate himself. Ours tend to stay in the bushes during the heat of the day and are always out during the morning and evening hours browsing.

* Megatron seems to be happy and active in your picture!
* One thing to always keep in mind, when a tortoise stands high on his hind legs is a good indicator that he is strong and healthy!

 

[Yellow Turtle]

From your picture, maybe slightly pyramided, however his new growth seems way smoother!

That is hard, your environment is probably challenging to manage and produce ideal results. Our humidity here is in the high 80's and even higher on a regular basis. For example, right now it is naturally 86% humidity.

We feed mazuri in small quantity at that age, like once a week.

The majority of our aldabras diet consist of grass, weeds, cactus, and hay.

That is great, he can thermal regulate himself. Ours tend to stay in the bushes during the heat of the day and are always out during the morning and evening hours browsing.

* Megatron seems to be happy and active in your picture!
* One thing to always keep in mind, when a tortoise stands high on his hind legs is a good indicator that he is strong and healthy!

Yes I actually never see smooth aldabra pictures when they are being kept in my country. Always some degree of pyramiding. I've seen many smooth sulcata pictures raised locally, but never aldabra, even they are raised by experienced and dedicated breeders.

I actually have a thought to control his growth rate based on our season. As we have only dry and rainy seasons, I want to try feeding majority of grass and hay only during dry session as average humidity is lower and feed him more protein during rainy season to compensate the lack of growth during previous season. We will soon enter the rainy season, I will check the humidity range first before applying this.

For a month I've regularly once per week put some baby oil on its shell and skin to prevent it being too dry. I spray water on the shell regularly as many times as I or his babysitter can. But I find that the water just dry up too fast. So I started to apply the baby oil too keep them more humidified. I have a thought that this helps a bit. Have you ever heard of this practice and what will be your opinion?
I will stop the oil once we go through rainy season and humidity really increases.

Thanks for the tips! He actually does that regularly. I'm glad that it is good indication.

 

[Yellow Turtle]

Oh I forget to mention that cactus pad is also his regular feed. The not so regular are hibiscus flowers and leaf rotating with various vegetables and a bit pumpkin.