Started dry, growth rate?

[LeiiMaa]

Hi everyone.

I've posted on here a few times about the two Leopards I've rescued. Both have obviously been started dry due to their size and the faint pyrmiding on their shells. From what I got told about the pair, I cam estimate that one is 12 months, and the other 13. Tetley, the smaller of the two who's had the most problems (calcium deficiency, most pyrmiding) came to me at the beginning of December weighing 70 grams, she's now at the 75 gram mark. Tetley, the bigger of the two, came to me at 80 grams and is now 89 grams. Again at the beginning of December. I've followed Toms care sheets to the letter, their in a planted, enclosed chamber, soaked for 30 minutes a day, eating a diet of home grown weeds and plants and grasses. And a few dark salad mix leaves and both eat like they've never been fed! Both have been checked over and over by my good friend who is a reptile vet and has experience with Leopards before and so far, all is good!

I guess my question is, to those people who have had torts start off dry, what's their growth rate like? I've been watching @eholi and her little Lady October is growing at an unbelievable rate!! At 12 weeks she's already much bigger then my two. I obviously understand that she's been started off correctly, but once a tort is changed to the humid conditions, do they continue to grow slow? Or do they pick up some speed!?

 

[tortdad]

Hi everyone.

I've posted on here a few times about the two Leopards I've rescued. Both have obviously been started dry due to their size and the faint pyrmiding on their shells. From what I got told about the pair, I cam estimate that one is 12 months, and the other 13. Tetley, the smaller of the two who's had the most problems (calcium deficiency, most pyrmiding) came to me at the beginning of December weighing 70 grams, she's now at the 75 gram mark. Tetley, the bigger of the two, came to me at 80 grams and is now 89 grams. Again at the beginning of December. I've followed Toms care sheets to the letter, their in a planted, enclosed chamber, soaked for 30 minutes a day, eating a diet of home grown weeds and plants and grasses. And a few dark salad mix leaves and both eat like they've never been fed! Both have been checked over and over by my good friend who is a reptile vet and has experience with Leopards before and so far, all is good!

I guess my question is, to those people who have had torts start off dry, what's their growth rate like? I've been watching @eholi and her little Lady October is growing at an unbelievable rate!! At 12 weeks she's already much bigger then my two. I obviously understand that she's been started off correctly, but once a tort is changed to the humid conditions, do they continue to grow slow? Or do they pick up some speed!?

Mine have all been started right but from reading other threads like yours I seem to remember more experienced member like @Tom saying that it takes a while for them to start to rebound from the damaged they sustained when they were started incorrectly. Some will stay small for a while and others will hit a growth spurt and eventually catch up To where they should be. Are you sure you are following toms care sheet properly? I would also think 2 months is not enough time yet. Keep tracking weekly progress and post up pics of your set up and your care routine.

 

[diamondbp]

some of my leos were started off dry and grew incredibly slow for many months. Some have now taken off and grow at faster paces than the ones that were raised hot and humid from the start. So be patient and keep providing ideal conditions.

 

[Jodie]

My understanding is that once they start growing they take off. In the meantime growth is very little. My dry start baby grew less than 15 grams in 11 months. Sadly he didn't make it to 12 months. Best of luck with these 2. Patience and diligents seems to be all you can do.

 

[wellington]

I rescued a leopard that was about three at the time. She was obviously started dry and housed poorly, couldn't walk very good either. She was much smaller then my other three year old that was also started dry, but other then that he was kept correctly and I had him since hatchling. I rehabbed the small one and had here a year now and although she eats and has always ate like a pig, she has just now, about two months ago or so, started to grow. One thing that helps to put size on is feeding Mazuri. However, it does seem to take some time to get some "bad starters" to start growing.

 

[jshaw9_]

I got mine at 2 years old he was started dry (found this forum when he was 3-he was probably only 5inch in length-not sure on weight-changed housing to Toms spec (closed chamber-correct diet) and he is now 6 year old and roughly 13 inch in length and 3.2kg. All torts are different but that is my story. He gains weight (growth spurt) during winter months when he is in his closed chamber all the time (his closed chamber is 8ft by 4ft)

 

[jshaw9_]

He gained 400g in a month during November/Dec

 

[franz_see]

I have two Leopards in my tortoise growth chart collection : http://bit.ly/tortoise-growth-charts . I believe both are taken cared of in a high humidity fashion. Also, although there's not much data, both seem to be growing at roughly 13% per month.

Also, I'd like to add that although I don't have much information about starting dry vs starting hydrated, I would say that they can still roughly grow at the same pace. If you look at Juju and Srirache for example (under the sulcata section), they're roughly the same age. But Juju is already at 2.6kg while Sriracha is at 1.1kg. And both of them are growing at roughly 18% per month? So what gives? Well, at 0.3yrs old, Juju was already 120g, while Sriracha was only at 57g. So even though they're growing at the same rate, Juju will be gaining more in actual grams than Sriracha. And that's probably because of how Juju started off.

So I would say, in terms of grams per month - sure, there would probably be a big difference in growth rate between starting dry vs starting hydrated. However, in terms of % per month, there *might* be no difference

Oh, and if you're willing to donate your growth chart as well, that would be really great! Would help a lot of other leopard owners as well

 

[Tom]

Be patient. It can take a long time for them to really start growing after a dry start. Sometimes a couple of years. I would just continue offering the best diet and conditions you can and do your best to keep them healthy.

One thing that would help is housing them separately. Living as a pair adds stress that they don't need.