weight for a Leopard

[Machin]

I have a 14 month old Leopard and am having a few problems adjusting his diet but have today weighed him, He is 70g and 2.5 inches. Is this about right?

 

[Neal]

That's on the lower end of what I would expect.

That being said, there's so much to consider trying to determine a good weight. Any idea of the size of the parents that produced this tortoise?

 

[Kvoigt]

i would say that is pretty small but it just depends..My 4 month old is 70 grams and almost 3 inches and a 23 month old who is about 8 inches and 900 grams.... like neal said its parents history would help but still i think its small.. what are you all feeding it? and are you soaking him? does he seem active and well? does he have a fav. food? maybe start with that and slowly add tiny bits of other things so that he can secretly get the tast for it and every week add a bit more and more till its well balanced. i like to pick up to 4 different types of greens from the store or sumtimes spring mix and try to get a different veriety everythime. and i also grow grasses and pick dandilions and plantain for them.. i hope you get him on track and growing good

 

[Jacob]

Def on the small side.
What is your routine, diet, temps, lights,humidity?

 

[Machin]

Up until I brought him 2 weeks ago he was fed purely on lettuce! I am now trying to change his diet to mostly grasses and weeds which is what he should be eating but I can't get him to eat them, he just spits them out. I am now going to try as suggested giving him his favourite lettuce but chopped up and adding a few extra bits at a time to try and get him to taste other things but he doesn't really eat that much anyway, he is in an open environment which I am now going to change to having a humid hide as suggested by Neal, I was told by the breeder to keep him dry! His mother was 9 years old and was about 16 inches but the father was considerably smaller, both had very pyramided shells this is why I looked into the correct diet for him. His cool area is 23C, warmer area 26C and under his lamp is 35C, I have been keeping his lamp on 24/7 which is what I was told to do, again I don't know if this is correct and I have been soaking him every evening to wake him up enough to eat which he will do if it's lettuce! the last 2 days I've not given him lettuce hoping he would eat the grass and weeds I had put in but he just refused and went back under his lamp and went to sleep again when I went to purchase him there were 5 all together and all were pretty much the same size. I'm getting really concerned as I obviously want to do the best for him but feel as though everything I've been told is wrong

 

[Neal]

No need to be too worried at this point. You have a really good thing going for you...and that is he is eating something! Again, lettuce isn't that bad and actually has a lot of good properties. I wouldn't bother with the grass...he won't be too interested in that unless he wants to graze. Despite popular belief, there is a lot of evidence that grasses make up a small percentage of babcocki leopards diet.

I assume you are in the UK? Do you have spring mix there? Give that a shot. Mix that with a small amount of the weeds that you want him to eat, then increase your weed to lettuce ratio until he eats a good amount of the weeds by themselves.

Would you be willing to recommend the forum to the breeder? The breeders are where the bad info starts...it would be nice to get more on board with better husbandry practices. Be upfront with them and say that you feel they gave you bad advice, and you want to make sure other people they might sell to doesn't get the same advice.

 

[Machin]

No need to be too worried at this point. You have a really good thing going for you...and that is he is eating something! Again, lettuce isn't that bad and actually has a lot of good properties. I wouldn't bother with the grass...he won't be too interested in that unless he wants to graze. Despite popular belief, there is a lot of evidence that grasses make up a small percentage of babcocki leopards diet.

I assume you are in the UK? Do you have spring mix there? Give that a shot. Mix that with a small amount of the weeds that you want him to eat, then increase your weed to lettuce ratio until he eats a good amount of the weeds by themselves.

Would you be willing to recommend the forum to the breeder? The breeders are where the bad info starts...it would be nice to get more on board with better husbandry practices. Be upfront with them and say that you feel they gave you bad advice, and you want to make sure other people they might sell to doesn't get the same advice.

Thanks very much, Yes I am in The UK and I will go and have a look for spring mix tomorrow and give that a whirl. I will speak to the lady I brought him from and tell her about this forum. Am I right leaving his heat lamp on all night or should I get a night time bulb or just leave it off all together? Your help is very much appreciated, I just want to do the best I can so my little one grows up happy and healthy X

 

[wellington]

I have a leopard also, the babcocki kind and he won't eat grass either. I wouldn't bother with grass. you can order on line some prickly Pear cactus pads and cut that up for him, he may eat it, mine loves it. Mine loves Christmas cactus too, you can give him some of that if you are able to get it, but feed it sparingly. Make sure you are chopping up all the greens you are trying to feed him, along with chopping the lettuce into tiny pieces. Then decrease the lettuce a little each time he eats. Most of us have started our little ones out wrong, until finding this forum. Don't worry, it will all work out. Just stick to the info here and not what you find other places. There is still a lot of bad, or outdated info out there. Also, the paradellis leopards will grow faster and larger then the babcocki, so make sure you do not compare yours to one of those.

 

[JoesMum]

It depends on night time temps in the room. I have a ceramic heater on at night which Joe shuffles under if he wants. It boosts the air temp, but doesn't give out light.

 

[Tom]

They definitely need it dark at night, but still warm. If you are going to use humidity and humid hide boxes then you really need to keep it warm. I suggest 80F around the clock. I like to use ceramic heating elements on a thermostat for this purpose. Once they reach about 6-8" long, I usually relax a bit with the humidity, and the night temps are not so critical.

Can you get Mazuri tortoise chow there? It's a good way to supplement the diet, add variety and once he really starts to like it, you can mix in the appropriate weeds and other greens with it.

Also, plan to make him an outdoor enclosure and get him some sun when the weather permits.

 

[Machin]

They definitely need it dark at night, but still warm. If you are going to use humidity and humid hide boxes then you really need to keep it warm. I suggest 80F around the clock. I like to use ceramic heating elements on a thermostat for this purpose. Once they reach about 6-8" long, I usually relax a bit with the humidity, and the night temps are not so critical.

Can you get Mazuri tortoise chow there? It's a good way to supplement the diet, add variety and once he really starts to like it, you can mix in the appropriate weeds and other greens with it.

Also, plan to make him an outdoor enclosure and get him some sun when the weather permits.

Thanks I will look into getting a ceramic bulb over the weekend as I also need to change the UV light I'm using. I have not heard of Mazuri but will look into it. I plan on putting him out as soon as we get some decent weather it's rain rain rain at the min. I think I will feel a little better once I know he has the correct environment and he starts eating more, I am a bit of a worrier! I have read in many places that they needed a dry environment because if they were continually damp it causes shell infections and so on! it can be rather frustrating!

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It depends on night time temps in the room. I have a ceramic heater on at night which Joe shuffles under if he wants. It boosts the air temp, but doesn't give out light.

Thanks very much for your help, I am going to look for one tomorrow.

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I have a leopard also, the babcocki kind and he won't eat grass either. I wouldn't bother with grass. you can order on line some prickly Pear cactus pads and cut that up for him, he may eat it, mine loves it. Mine loves Christmas cactus too, you can give him some of that if you are able to get it, but feed it sparingly. Make sure you are chopping up all the greens you are trying to feed him, along with chopping the lettuce into tiny pieces. Then decrease the lettuce a little each time he eats. Most of us have started our little ones out wrong, until finding this forum. Don't worry, it will all work out. Just stick to the info here and not what you find other places. There is still a lot of bad, or outdated info out there. Also, the paradellis leopards will grow faster and larger then the babcocki, so make sure you do not compare yours to one of those.

Thanks very much.

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I also have lots and lots of Aloe plants and I read somewhere that they like these, is this true? I think I'm going to have to check everything I do now to make sure its right sorry everyone! But I do appreciate all of you that take the time to help out people like me X

 

[JoesMum]

You are in the UK and mazuri isn't sold here. There are alternative pelleted feeds available in the UK such as Komodo

 

[Machin]

I also have lots and lots of Aloe plants and I read somewhere that they like these, is this true? I think I'm going to have to check everything I do now to make sure its right sorry everyone! But I do appreciate all of you that take the time to help out people like me X

Read more: http://www.tortoiseforum.org/Thread-weight-for-a-Leopard#ixzz1scX98hWU[hr]

You are in the UK and mazuri isn't sold here. There are alternative pelleted feeds available in the UK such as Komodo

Ah right, thanks that saves me searching! I do have some grassland pellets that I picked up but these have been sat in dish for over a week! not even sniffed them, they look a bit to hard and dry for his little mouth to be honest, I did soften some up but again they just sat there and dried out so I threw them out.

 

[JoesMum]

Try making them into Tortoise Meatballs. The link to the recipe is in my sig below

 

[Machin]

Try making them into Tortoise Meatballs. The link to the recipe is in my sig below

Ooo Thanks, I will give anything a try!

 

[wellington]

They can eat aloe, however mine wouldn't touch it. I am not sure what the meatball recipe is, but if he doesn't like that, you can just soften the pellets with some water into a thicker mush. Everyone helps out people like you, because we are or were you at some point.

 

[Machin]

They can eat aloe, however mine wouldn't touch it. I am not sure what the meatball recipe is, but if he doesn't like that, you can just soften the pellets with some water into a thicker mush. Everyone helps out people like you, because we are or were you at some point.

Thanks very much, I'm off to the reptile shop again tomorrow to spend another small fortune!

 

[kingskettle]

My leopards LOVE flowers-------petunia (not white or cream coloured though)pansy and hibiscus flowers. Yours might be tempted by the colour/smell of those. Cucumber can get him eating something else then you can whop a bit of weed on it if he eats it to try and get him started eating different stuff. They LOVE opuntia as well but more than once a week and they scour but that chopped up with other weeds chopped and added might get your tort to try something else. Good luck!

 

[Machin]

Thanks very much, I did look at a hibiscus plant at the garden centre yesterday but they don't flower until August