growth spurt

[Colette]

thanks - i have only had them two weeks - so not sure how fussy they are - they love the bit of cucumber i gave them with nutrobal and only aristotle like the strawberry with nutrobal

may get some pre alpin as well as some other fresh foods

[Alan1]

although cucumber and strawberry can come in handy at times, disguising medication for one thing, cucumber is 98% water and has more or less no nutritional value and too much strawberry can cause a gut flora imbalance. for them to gain weight they'd need other types of foods and fibre which I see you say above you are going to get anyway

[Colette]

thanks again -

been researching some more and found this jackson calculator which works the weight to size ratio out for u - thought it may be helpful for other keepers on here

http://www.tortoise-protection-group...k/site/171.asp

[Gem]

Originally Posted by Colette

thanks again -

been researching some more and found this jackson calculator which works the weight to size ratio out for u - thought it may be helpful for other keepers on here

http://www.tortoise-protection-group...k/site/171.asp

worth remembering that the Jackson ratio is used to determine wether a tortoise is fit enough to hibernate or not not for working out wether or not a tortoise is the right size(weight for its age.

Are you sure you are measuring the tortoise correctly might be worth looking at this to determine wether it has been done correctly or not.

http://www.tortoise-protection-group...0measuring.pdf

[kkenny]

Originally Posted by Colette

they are eastern hermanns - they certificate indicates that they are 20 months - but i think they may be older as they are a fair bit bigger than other torts that age

yep - one gained 10g and the other 1g - but the one that gained 10g is still 13g lighter than the other

they are both left to graze during the day as i dont give feed them myself - will only do that if there is weight loss or no weight gain over a couple of weeks

Oh, they do seem big. My eastern was 2 in March and only weighs 58g. Havent measured him yet though

[Alan1]

Originally Posted by kkenny

Oh, they do seem big. My eastern was 2 in March and only weighs 58g. Havent measured him yet though

58g seems very light to me for a two year old tort Karin but at the same time it could well be. the only way to find out is by measuring the Straight Carapace Length (SCL) as accurately as possible the compare it to the Jackson Ratio chart. Age doesn't come into it really but just thinking mine were quite a bit more than that at age 2

[Colette]

i measure the carapace by putting them on a piece of paper, the head end against a board and making a mark where the tail end is - and then measuring from the edge of the paper to the mark

i use kitchen scales that measure in grams - but will check them using a full packet of something with the weight in grams on it

i bought some komodo tortoise pellets today as shops didnt have pre alpin - so will order it online - i added water and they wolfed them down without any ned for encouragement, so maybe it is a familiar food to them and they recognised it!! Not sure how much to feed - it just says twice a day - so i gave them 25 pellets each soaked in water - aristotle ate all and plato left 3 pellets - does this right - too much - too little for 1 feed?

should i leave food out for them at night??

[Alan1]

no, not at night. there are lots of threads on feeding pellets and lots of differences of opinions. some give them twice a week, some every day (with experience), some not at all and some only in winter. overfeeding of pellets can be a problem

[Colette]

thanks - will look through the feeding threads to decide what to do - hopefully they will begin to put weight on

[16 shells]

Originally Posted by Colette

i measure the carapace by putting them on a piece of paper, the head end against a board and making a mark where the tail end is - and then measuring from the edge of the paper to the mark

i use kitchen scales that measure in grams - but will check them using a full packet of something with the weight in grams on it

i bought some komodo tortoise pellets today as shops didnt have pre alpin - so will order it online - i added water and they wolfed them down without any ned for encouragement, so maybe it is a familiar food to them and they recognised it!! Not sure how much to feed - it just says twice a day - so i gave them 25 pellets each soaked in water - aristotle ate all and plato left 3 pellets - does this right - too much - too little for 1 feed?

should i leave food out for them at night??

Colette If you have decided to feed a complete diet, i would start of at 1% of the tort's weight. If 150grams 1.5 grams of Komodo once or twice a week. No supplement's added day of the pellet feed, the other day's can be fed fresh weed's/plant's what ever you can find, i think feeding twice a week pellet diet a no feed day is also possible. All is monitored by tort's weight.
It say's to provide fresh small portion's twice a day, morning and evening, i think they mention this as if temp's are right during the day, the tort will eat in the morning rest and near tea time, i used to feed in table's this way with plant/weed diet only. Since adding pellet's as a supplement to the week's diet i only feed once or twice a week, one meal of pellet's on the mentioned day's.