Tortoise growth sulcata

[hoopytortoise]

My Lil guy is growing super fast. 2 things.. I wonder if he is over eating? His enclosure is always humid.. he gets one soak a day. Calcium he gnaws on a cuttlefish bone plus get reptical once a week. When weather is nice he spends an hour outside. Lately been rainy here. I am worried about pyramiding because someone told me in a fb group that slow growth is the best. Also... thinking his indoor enclosure is getting too small already. Does his shell look good?

 

[BILBO-03]

I would let him eat till he can't eat any more

 

[Gillian M]

I think your tort's looking GREAT! Keep up the good work.

 

[hoopytortoise]

I'm just so paranoid I'm doing something wrong. He seems very happy and is super active. He is just growing so fast

 

[motero]

18 inches in a little over three years is the fastest one I have grown. Your tortoise looks good.

 

[Speedy-1]

# 1 - Please don't take a lot of stock in what you read on fb !

I have always fed Speedy a bit more than he can eat , he has food available from the time he wakes up until he goes into his night box for the night . Once they start , and under ideal conditions they do grow fast ! You need to remember , you are the proud owner of the 3rd largest species of tortoise in the world ! I weigh and measure Speedy once a month , he gained just under 1 & 1/2 Lb,s last month ! If your enclosure is less than 4' by 8' it is probably too small , if that's not an option do the best you can "bigger is better" !
I think he looks fine , and it sounds like you are doing the right things nice job !

 

[hoopytortoise]

Thank you everyone. I feel better about it all. My husband and have been talking about getting a bigger enclosure built soon since out door temps have been gradually dropping.

 

[legan52]

How old and how big? We've had my little guy about a month and haven't noticed any significant growth.

 

[Tom]

My Lil guy is growing super fast. 2 things.. I wonder if he is over eating? His enclosure is always humid.. he gets one soak a day. Calcium he gnaws on a cuttlefish bone plus get reptical once a week. When weather is nice he spends an hour outside. Lately been rainy here. I am worried about pyramiding because someone told me in a fb group that slow growth is the best. Also... thinking his indoor enclosure is getting too small already. Does his shell look good?

Everything you describe sounds great. The shell looks amazing. Good job!

The old "slow growth" myth is from the old days when people mistakenly thought that pyramiding was caused by too much food, or the wrong food, or fast growth. I learned the hard way that all of that was wrong. Pyramiding is caused by growth in conditions that are too dry. In the old days we all raised them dry, with low humidity, dry substrate, desiccating heat lamps, infrequent soaks. The ones that survived were horribly pyramided.

Fast growth should never be the goal. HEALTHY grow due to the right foods, a large enclosure, proper temps, sunshine, higher humidity than the old days, should be the goal. I don't care what speed my tortoises grow at. I care how healthy they are. One measure of a tortoise that is thriving is good growth. Good growth is what I see in your tortoise.

I don't do FB, so I don't know if its all the same page, or if there are multiple FB pages for sulcatas around the country, but the one page I've seen and heard about is filled with old outdated information and people who argue vehemently to perpetuate the old incorrect info. Many friends have told me that they get yelled at and banned for trying to help people understand what you are seeing first hand in your own tortoise. Given this history, I would not advise taking advice from FB on this issue.

 

[saginawhxc]

I follow one such page on Facebook, and several times I've seen things on there that gave me pause. I've never argued though, because who am I to "correct" them. The way I see it they have likely been doing it for much longer than I have, and it's not my place to tell them how to do things. There is nothing worse than an instant expert trying to tell somebody much more experienced how to do things. So I just shake my head and ignore the advice. I think I just follow it still to see pretty pictures of tortoises.

 

[hoopytortoise]

Everything you describe sounds great. The shell looks amazing. Good job!

The old "slow growth" myth is from the old days when people mistakenly thought that pyramiding was caused by too much food, or the wrong food, or fast growth. I learned the hard way that all of that was wrong. Pyramiding is caused by growth in conditions that are too dry. In the old days we all raised them dry, with low humidity, dry substrate, desiccating heat lamps, infrequent soaks. The ones that survived were horribly pyramided.

Fast growth should never be the goal. HEALTHY grow due to the right foods, a large enclosure, proper temps, sunshine, higher humidity than the old days, should be the goal. I don't care what speed my tortoises grow at. I care how healthy they are. One measure of a tortoise that is thriving is good growth. Good growth is what I see in your tortoise.

I don't do FB, so I don't know if its all the same page, or if there are multiple FB pages for sulcatas around the country, but the one page I've seen and heard about is filled with old outdated information and people who argue vehemently to perpetuate the old incorrect info. Many friends have told me that they get yelled at and banned for trying to help people understand what you are seeing first hand in your own tortoise. Given this history, I would not advise taking advice from FB on this issue.

Thank you! I honestly trust the advice given here the best , which is why before I changed what I was doing I posted here. My tortoise is super happy, healthy, and insanely active. We are working on getting him a bigger indoor enclosure built for winter. I have left on fb group and the other one I'm hanging out in just to see all the pretty pictures. I am so grateful for this forum

 

[Tom]

I follow one such page on Facebook, and several times I've seen things on there that gave me pause. I've never argued though, because who am I to "correct" them. The way I see it they have likely been doing it for much longer than I have, and it's not my place to tell them how to do things. There is nothing worse than an instant expert trying to tell somebody much more experienced how to do things. So I just shake my head and ignore the advice. I think I just follow it still to see pretty pictures of tortoises.

I understand your reasoning, and your's is a very mature, sensible and diplomatic point of view.

However, if I ever start doing FB, those people are going to get an earful from someone who does have the decades of experience to back it up. As I did so many years ago here on TFO, I will argue the point and back it up with pics and proof.