I weigh my redfoot at the beginning of every week after soaking and feeding (and pooping) for consistency; his growth is relatively constant and consistent.
From last week to this week he gained about half as much weight as I would have predicted... 5g as opposed to 10-15.
He seems healthy and active, so I have a theory...
He spent a lot of time in his outside enclosure last week and I think a combination of lower humidity, more exploring, and less nutritionally dense food led to the slower weight gain.
In his indoors enclosure life, he eats fruits and veggies and mazuri and protein, the temperature is in the 80s to 80s and the humidity is in the 90s.
In his outdoors enclosure life, he eats whatever grass and weeds he comes across, the temperature was in the 80s and the humidity was in the 30-40% range; he spent all the time I was watching him roaming around the enclosure.
These all seem like good reasons for his weight gain to be less than normal, but my assumption is that the gains from getting outside outweigh the slowdown.
My questions to the TFO braintrust:
1) should I limit Darwin's time outside to protect him from dehydration?
2) should I adjust the outside enclosure environment to bring it closer to the inside environment?
3) should I simply keep doing what I've been doing and not worry about it?
Thanks,
Jamie
From last week to this week he gained about half as much weight as I would have predicted... 5g as opposed to 10-15.
He seems healthy and active, so I have a theory...
He spent a lot of time in his outside enclosure last week and I think a combination of lower humidity, more exploring, and less nutritionally dense food led to the slower weight gain.
In his indoors enclosure life, he eats fruits and veggies and mazuri and protein, the temperature is in the 80s to 80s and the humidity is in the 90s.
In his outdoors enclosure life, he eats whatever grass and weeds he comes across, the temperature was in the 80s and the humidity was in the 30-40% range; he spent all the time I was watching him roaming around the enclosure.
These all seem like good reasons for his weight gain to be less than normal, but my assumption is that the gains from getting outside outweigh the slowdown.
My questions to the TFO braintrust:
1) should I limit Darwin's time outside to protect him from dehydration?
2) should I adjust the outside enclosure environment to bring it closer to the inside environment?
3) should I simply keep doing what I've been doing and not worry about it?
Thanks,
Jamie
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