My sulcata

Flora Belle's keeper

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5 Year Member
Joined
Sep 9, 2014
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38
Location (City and/or State)
North Georgia
Congratulations! Don’t worry about the wait. That is what I remember thinking. I knew very little when i got mine and thought it would take many, many years for a Sulcata to get big, wrong! Use the care sheets from some of the more knowledgeable members on this website and you’ll have yourself a happy healthy tortoise! Take plenty of photos. I even traced the shell of mine with a pen and paper so I could watch her grow every week until in just a few short months/weeks she out grew the page! Just FYI, I doubt yours is as old as you have been told. The photo by my name is my tortoise Flora Belle. That is my husband lifting her. That photo was taken in taken in 2012 or 2013. She was hatched in Jan. 2006. She now weighs around 50 lbs (guessing?, maybe more) and is much bigger than the pic now. Have fun!
 

Joshualee67

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Joined
Aug 9, 2019
Messages
53
Location (City and/or State)
NC
Congratulations! Don’t worry about the wait. That is what I remember thinking. I knew very little when i got mine and thought it would take many, many years for a Sulcata to get big, wrong! Use the care sheets from some of the more knowledgeable members on this website and you’ll have yourself a happy healthy tortoise! Take plenty of photos. I even traced the shell of mine with a pen and paper so I could watch her grow every week until in just a few short months/weeks she out grew the page! Just FYI, I doubt yours is as old as you have been told. The photo by my name is my tortoise Flora Belle. That is my husband lifting her. That photo was taken in taken in 2012 or 2013. She was hatched in Jan. 2006. She now weighs around 50 lbs (guessing?, maybe more) and is much bigger than the pic now. Have fun!

I was told that all the baby tortoises that are sold from tortoise supply are about 5 weeks old so I went with that knowledge. I got him back at almost the end of April so he would have had to be hatched around the start of March
 

Flora Belle's keeper

Member
5 Year Member
Joined
Sep 9, 2014
Messages
38
Location (City and/or State)
North Georgia
I was told that all the baby tortoises that are sold from tortoise supply are about 5 weeks old so I went with that knowledge. I got him back at almost the end of April so he would have had to be hatched around the start of March

OK. He looks good now, just keep up with your care, continue to study the care sheets on proper humidity (helps with overall health and to decrease pyramiding while he grows), temps/lighting, proper and enough food, soaks, exercise and growth will really start to take off!!!
 

Flora Belle's keeper

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5 Year Member
Joined
Sep 9, 2014
Messages
38
Location (City and/or State)
North Georgia
They do start out small but his growth should really increase soon. Make sure he is getting enough to eat. Always leave food with him, if he is not hungry he will stop eating. Also make sure the temperatures are correct as this affects eating. If you do not own a gram scale, buy one and weigh him once a week. If for some reason you do not see much weight change in the next month to 6 weeks at latest, consider having him checked by a vet for internal parasites.
 

Flora Belle's keeper

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5 Year Member
Joined
Sep 9, 2014
Messages
38
Location (City and/or State)
North Georgia
These were my tracings of the growth on mine. The first is the day i brought her home at approx. 3 ish 4 months??? The second is around the beginning of supposed month seven. I did have her checked by 2 vets during this period and her poop checked for worms. Sulcatas do however sometimes grow at different rates and even sizes for reasons we don’t fully understand. Proper care makes a lot of difference too as they should all have the propensity to get quit big. The above tracings were on 8 1/2 by 11 inch paper.
 

Flora Belle's keeper

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5 Year Member
Joined
Sep 9, 2014
Messages
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Location (City and/or State)
North Georgia
Also for frame of reference, in the first tracing she easily fit in the palm of my hand. The tracing looks slightly larger than she was as i was going around the outside of shell with a pen. Pay attention the weight. I didn’t know to use a gram scale then but my vet confirmed the weight. The foot tracings are of of back foot pad.
 

Joshualee67

Member
Joined
Aug 9, 2019
Messages
53
Location (City and/or State)
NC
Also for frame of reference, in the first tracing she easily fit in the palm of my hand. The tracing looks slightly larger than she was as i was going around the outside of shell with a pen. Pay attention the weight. I didn’t know to use a gram scale then but my vet confirmed the weight. The foot tracings are of of back foot pad.

Thanks good info!
 

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