A Leopard's Story

[crazychris2409]

hi, as some of you may notice i have been asking a lot of questions on here recently about husbandry, diet ect about my leopard. i got him a few months ago from a friend who kept him in a glass tank which was FAR to small for him, and he was fed on lettuce, salad, cucumber and tomato. he had newspaper as substrate and a little bowl of water to drink, so no where to soak. after studying animal management in college (Reaseheath) i knew that the way he was being kept was all wrong, his lighting and tempretures and everything was wrong. i kept asking my friend if i could have him and laying hints that everything was wrong, and she kept saying no! he looked under weight for his age and also had a very soft shell. poor little guy

in the end i finally persuaded her, and brought him off her. before i joined this forum i was advised by a pet shop to buy a viv! so i brought the biggest one i could get. after being on this site i have learnt soo much so would just like to THANK EVERYONE ON HERE FOR THE HELP AND ADVISE

i have removed the glass from the viv and replaced it with reptile mesh for good ventilation, he has a uv bulb, a basking lamp at the correct tempretures, a cool end, hes fed on the mixed weed diet, with few plants (all grown by my self thanks to SW ) with a few pellets every other day, supplemented with Nutrobal every other day and unlimited supply to cuttlefish and limestone flour. his poo was really runny, and is now more solid, he gets bathed regularly, his shell is alot harder, and he looks so much more happy, and so much more active! as you may have seen on one of my other threads, ive recently bought him and outside shed and run for the summer which i am currently building, and hes even grown a little since ive had him i feel soo pleased at how much healthier and happier he is already and im looking forward to the summer so he can roam around in his run in the summer grazing, rather then being in a glass tank for 6 years!!

one question.. does anyone know what his weight should be for 6 years? a BIG thanks again to everyone on here. im still learning and trial and erroring some things, but i think im finally getting there

[EJ]

Age has nothing to do with size. You want to focus on the size (scl) vs. weight.

As a general assessement I like using this formula...

Weight= .15 x (length x width x height)mm

This was derived from several different species. The animal should be within 10% of this number but it is not a strict rule. It is intended as a very general guide.

Weight is going to vary dramatically depending on what is inside the tortoise besides natural body mass.

Check out this general guide if you haven't seen it already...

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Sulcata-Leop...ref=pd_sim_b_1

... it covers a great deal of the basic questions a keeper might come up with.