opinions on growth

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ADVANceNA

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hey everyone, first and foremost happy easter to everyone ! sorry if that offends anyone in anyway, i dont mean it to !

anywho, i have to ask peoples opinions on Einsteins growth. Hes somwhere imbetween 10-11 months. i wasnt sure how old he was when i got him, maybe one - two months and ive had him for about 9 months now. i have been looking and sifting through a lot of peoples growth threads for their sully. i understand they can grow at varying rates but i still need to ask for peoples opinion.

Einstein is about 4 inches long and weighes 262.2 grams, and once again, about 10-11 months. His shell is quie smooth i think and he eats like a champ. I dont know if his size now is normal or if hes growing too fast. it seems like just yesterday he find right smack in the middle of the palm of my hand, and now hes as big as as palm of my hand ! hhhmm any thoughts ? thanks everyone and good day !
 

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DeanS

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It looks to me like you're doing everything right! If not, he'd have started to pyramid by now! Keep up the good work!;)
 

dmarcus

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I think he is just fine and his carapace is great with some great color..You are doing a wonderful job..
 

Missy

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I would not worry so much about how fast he grows. You are doing a great job or he would not be so smooth. Do you feed mazuri? Tank is very small for his age but has grown a ton since I started feeding mazuri.
 

Tom

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In my opinion he's perfect. His growth is not too fast not too slow... I think you and Einstein should be an example of how to do it right! He really does look fantastic. Would you please tell us what his routine is. Seriously, the results of whatever you are doing are fantastic. What are your temps, soaking routine, shell spraying routine, food, supplements, sunshine, etc...? My methods are sometimes viewed as extreme, but they work well for me in my area. It would be great to hear what's working so well for you.
 

onarock

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Advancena, nice growth. No need to list your routine anyone can go and read, well... Your Welcoming Thread and see exactly where you got your method from. :). But in the interest of entertainment I would be happy to hear the answer to Toms loaded question.
 

Jacob

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He Looks Great, Dont be Worried they All Grow at Different Rates!
 

ADVANceNA

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hello everyone and thankyou for the good vibes you're all sending. i really thank everyone though collectively because i got all my information from this forum. countless months of reading through old threads and current ones and learning from everyones different perspectives is definitely the biggest contributing factor to this whole experience.

im happy to share what i do, to contribute even a bit to the collective makes me happy. i am a believer in taking a general formula for good health and habitat and applying to one's own personal situation. what might work for me not might work for all, but i am sure that notion is well-known throughout here.

einsteins temps range from a 75 - 100. the only source i use is an exoterra 120v MVB. his table is 4'x3'x11". all wooden. i have wooden removable panels to cover roughlly 75% of the top, and a supplement rubber mat to cover a little bit more while im gone throughout the day to help in holding humidity. the humidity averages around a 65-75% during the day. i must note that i've read around that his humid hide should not be underneath the light. well, i have his right off to the the side of the lights direct beam. i did this with a belief that keeping the coco substrate damp throughtout the day (via morning watering)while im gone, also while constantly being warmed up throughout the day, would make that humid hide really turn into a mini sauna room haha. ive attached pictures also showing that i have his hide kind of buried. it is covered on top with substrate, so it stays a little darker in there and acts as a hill. he likes to hang out on top overlooking his domain. pictured also is another deep hide i made for him with rocks and a small wooden board. i made a bunker of sorts. its dark and damp in there and he likes to hang out in there digging, but the humid hide is his main place of sleep and rest.

i feed him a mixture of dandelion and romaine lettuce mainly. the local grocer here has dandelion for sale in the produce section and its hhuuugggee ! one leaf is longer than the length of my hand. i feed him about a handful a day. i split it in two meals though. one in the morning and one in the evening when i get home from work. in terms of supplements i must once again stress that what works for einstein and i, wont work for everyone. everything is situationally based. with that being said, i dont giving einstein any supplements at all. i did a few times when i first got him but stopped. no specific reason i stopped, i just did. i dont recommend that in ANY way, i understand its benefits fully. but einstein exhibits no need for it i guess because he seems to be growing healthily.

i work a full time job, 8am-5pm. also, i bike to work so im actually gone but 630am and dont get home time 630pm. so with that schedule, i dont have a chance to spray him throughout the day. i wish i did, because we all know how quickly our torts shells soak in water. so, because of my situation i soak einstein twice a day. i dont know the temp of the water i soak him in, i just do it by feel. i guess you can say i just know, by feel, what temp he likes his water. i soak him usually for about 10-15 minutes in chin deep water. once before i leave to work and once when i come home. both soaks followed by that half handful meal i was talking about.

i wish i can get einstein more sunshine but as stated, im gone roughly 12 hrs a day 5 days a week. on the weekend i try to get him outside if the weather permits. anything under 80s and im scared to bring him outside for fear of it being to cold because i live near the beach so it can be a chilly wind coming in from offshore. sometimes on the weekend, mother nature just doesnt give me a chance to bring him out. summer is fast approaching here in southern CA so maybe the cloudy weekends will diminish and i'll get him out more.

so, all in all, this is what has worked for einstein i. on top of all that, i spend as much time with him as i can. i know it sounds crazy, but i talk to him. just so he can hear my voice, and become familiar. my friends and i believe in his developing ability to differentiate voices. for instance, when i get home in the evening, if a friend is with me, ill have him call einstein out. einstein usually doesnt come out, just observes from inside his hide. but when i call him out he stretches his head all the way out looking around and then makes his way over. im sure similar instances have been experienced by others here. fascinating to personally interact with a tort ! ever since i got him i have tried to make him accustomed to being handled and having his head scratched. usually when i watch a movie or hanging out with friend in my room, hes out of his table and in my lap or exploring my bed(he has his own blanket i place on top of the bed when hes on it hanging out). he definitely doesnt mind his head being scratched or the neck beneath his chin being scratched. i definitely think a personable engaging relationship with any animal is equally as crucial as good habitat and diet. i wish i had more time with him, but as one animal trainer told me, its not the amount of time you spend with your animal that matters, its the quality of the time you spend with them that matters.

SCHEDULE:
545am - i wake up and hit snooze several times
600am - finally get out of bed haha and turn on his light. (heres a weird fact: i try to turn on the same music every morning for him along with turning on the light. a bit of a conditioning experiment i guess you can say. its music from Zelda the game so its all orchestra scroes. interesting to note that he seems to come out of hiding quicker when music is played.)
610am - einstein usually out of his hide by then, drowsy, yawning, stretching. this is when i give him a bath and prepare his food.
625am - bathing done, and handfed for several minutes. he always has an appetite after soaks. leave rest of the food out for him, and off to work for me !

630pm-730pm - i come home usually, and usually hes already awake in his hide looking likes hes waiting oorrr hes already doing laps around. then basically i repeat the whole routine of bathing followed by meal. after the meal is when i usually take him out for an hour or so for some interaction. either in my lap or friends lap or exploring the bed.
900pm-930pm - day lights off and nightlight on.

so my answer was pretty thorough and pretty long, my apologies ! i hope it can help someone even in the slightest bit, just as everyone has helped me out bit by bit. if not, i hope it made for enjoyable reading at the very least. good day everyone.
 

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onarock

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No opologies needed. Thats a Fantastic post. I wish more people posted like that when giving a description of their husbandry technique. Good Job!
 

Yvonne G

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onarock said:
Advancena, nice growth. No need to list your routine anyone can go and read, well... Your Welcoming Thread and see exactly where you got your method from. :). But in the interest of entertainment I would be happy to hear the answer to Toms loaded question.

Paul: Why do you feel you have to do this? Not many of us take the time to go back and re-read someone's first postings, and I'm sure Tom didn't. This is starting to feel like harassment to me.
 

Jacob

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Great Thread, I also Handle my sulcata daily and rub the top and bottom of his neck and head!
He seems to Enjoy it :)
 

onarock

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facts a fact Yvonne. ;)

emysemys said:
onarock said:
Advancena, nice growth. No need to list your routine anyone can go and read, well... Your Welcoming Thread and see exactly where you got your method from. :). But in the interest of entertainment I would be happy to hear the answer to Toms loaded question.

Paul: Why do you feel you have to do this? Not many of us take the time to go back and re-read someone's first postings, and I'm sure Tom didn't. This is starting to feel like harassment to me.
 

Baoh

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ADVANceNA, your results, which are excellent, speak for themselves. Good work.
 

Tom

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Great info. Thanks for taking the time to post this. The more of this type of info we see the more we can all pick and choose what works best for our situations. Its clear that you put a lot of thought into your routine. It shows a lot of fore thought too. I found the behavior modification techniques interesting too. I really don't know how well tortoises hear. We've talked about it here several times, but there has been conflicting info and I'm really not sure what to think.
 

ADVANceNA

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thankyou everyone for the positive vibes.

im interested to hear what other have to think about the hearing of our torts. i have observed when playing the wake up music i have for einstein, he reacts more to it when the laptop i have that plays the music, is sitting atop the wooden board that cover his table. there is almost no reaction when i have the laptop playing the same music atop the wheels i have right next to his table. this always led me to wonder if possibly his hearing is a combination of picking up airwaves hitting the sides of his head and also picking up slight vibrations from the ground he is so close to, and processing both together to produce tortoise hearing haha ! another observation i have that supports this is that whenever i have had einstein out in the front yard, he almost freezes and hides when a car is driving by. his back is toward the car and he cant see it coming, but he still will freeze and either half retreat or full retreat into his shell. how intriguing it is to observe and try and comprehend our little family members isnt it ?
 
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