yearling and hatchling

[firework]

Have a question here:

Up to how old a Greek is a hatchling and up to how old a Greek is a yearling?

I have a one year old Greek, this is my first tort ever. I think it's doing great now, but doesn't grow much bigger than 8 months ago.

I just read a thread from this forum that a hatchling can die of a slow process because of improper care even it looks fine for months. This really scares me. My Greek's been with me for 8 months, do I still need to worry about the so called "hatchling failure syndrome"?

 

[GBtortoises]

I don't think there has ever been any clear time frame identified for what can be considered a hatchling or yearling. Many people continue to call newly born tortoises hatchlings for several months after they're born. I'm guilty of that myself. But normally I consider a hatchling a tortoise up to maybe about three months old. Usually way before that point it has lost it's egg tooth, it's egg sac suture is well healed with no signs of it ever being there and it's overall body shape is beginning to look like that typical of a young tortoise of it's species. I usually consider a yearling anything from that point up to a year old. After that it's all just "young tortoise" up to near adult size. But that's just how I look at them. There are many, many other definitions of hatchling and yearling tortoises, depending upon who you're talking to.

From 8 months to 1 year isn't that long of period in terms of tortoise growth. In the wild your tortoises growth rate would depend very much on it's environment and especially extremes or changes in that environment. In captivity the keeper determines the tortoise's environment and growth rate. I personally wouldn't be concerned if one of my young tortoises showed little growth in a 4 month period. But it would also depend upon it's environment and if there were any reason to cause a slower (or faster) growth. No growth whatsoever is a different situation altogether. Young developing tortoises should always show some growth, even very small during their growing period to adulthood. No growth at all over a several month period can be a sign of other problems. Those problems can stem from a multitude of sources such as drastic environmental changes, digestive flora disruption (which is almost always attributed to overmedicating), undue stress from several sources and so on. For the most part, "hatchling failure syndrome" is usually something that is most evident at a much earlier age than 8 months old. But that is not to say that young tortoises that are a bit older cannot also suffer other problems. What type of diet and how often is your tortoise being fed. Does he normally eat well? Is he being offered calcium and water on a regular basis? What type of enviroment (lighting, heat, substrate, humidity, moisture) is he being maintained in?
There may be no problem at all, but the more information that you can give us the more things that can be ruled out.

 

[firework]

Thanks so much.

I adopted it since it's only 4 months old, he's been with me for 8 months now.

I use a Rubbermaid plastic bin as the cage, topsoil + MVB + CHB. I sprinkle water in the cage every day. I do put a water bowl in it, but I never saw him visited the water bowl even once.

I confess I did not soak him as often as he needs because I did not quite understand the point of doing that. I thought as long as he gets enough water from food and drinking, no need to worry about dehydration. I now realize that I was wrong, my tort shows early signs of pyramiding. I put a few pictures in another thread, people on this forum confirmed it is "a slight start to it". So I started soaking him regularly.

In about 2 weeks, we will move to a new apartment with a porch. I will set up a cage on the porch, so he will get natural sunlight.

I don't think there has ever been any clear time frame identified for what can be considered a hatchling or yearling. Many people continue to call newly born tortoises hatchlings for several months after they're born. I'm guilty of that myself. But normally I consider a hatchling a tortoise up to maybe about three months old. Usually way before that point it has lost it's egg tooth, it's egg sac suture is well healed with no signs of it ever being there and it's overall body shape is beginning to look like that typical of a young tortoise of it's species. I usually consider a yearling anything from that point up to a year old. After that it's all just "young tortoise" up to near adult size. But that's just how I look at them. There are many, many other definitions of hatchling and yearling tortoises, depending upon who you're talking to.

From 8 months to 1 year isn't that long of period in terms of tortoise growth. In the wild your tortoises growth rate would depend very much on it's environment and especially extremes or changes in that environment. In captivity the keeper determines the tortoise's environment and growth rate. I personally wouldn't be concerned if one of my young tortoises showed little growth in a 4 month period. But it would also depend upon it's environment and if there were any reason to cause a slower (or faster) growth. No growth whatsoever is a different situation altogether. Young developing tortoises should always show some growth, even very small during their growing period to adulthood. No growth at all over a several month period can be a sign of other problems. Those problems can stem from a multitude of sources such as drastic environmental changes, digestive flora disruption (which is almost always attributed to overmedicating), undue stress from several sources and so on. For the most part, "hatchling failure syndrome" is usually something that is most evident at a much earlier age than 8 months old. But that is not to say that young tortoises that are a bit older cannot also suffer other problems. What type of diet and how often is your tortoise being fed. Does he normally eat well? Is he being offered calcium and water on a regular basis? What type of enviroment (lighting, heat, substrate, humidity, moisture) is he being maintained in?
There may be no problem at all, but the more information that you can give us the more things that can be ruled out.