best way to make tortoise grow

[roboticnat]

i have an indian star that has had respitaroy problems and hasn't gained much weight she's about a year and 3 months old now and at her peak weighs 49.5g obviously the repistory problems has stopped her growing but she's had 3 different lots of medicense for it and seems to be better but is still putting weight on really slow is there anything i can do to help?

[gwenq]

sorry to hear your tort is poorly! I think in cases like this feeding pellets would be recommended, Im sure someone will be along soon to give you good advice.
Gwen

[Fred123]

Do you mean that she lost weight and is slowly gaining what she lost or that she is just gaining weight slowly? Tortoises should gain weight slow and steady. Many of the "grown on" tortoises in pet shops have grown too quickly, which can result in various health issues.

As long as she is gaining weight I would just say keep up what you are doing.

[TortBabe]

I think that this wee tortoise might benefit from having a few pellets each week Indian Star tortoises do grow very very slowly, my 2 were not gaining any weight at all until they started getting a few pellets.

[EJ]

hey Fred, what kind of issues have you seen that are the result of a tortoise growth that might appear quicker than what you might find in the wild? Your examples don't have to be first hand accounts.

I bring this up because there are some keepers who throw around certian scare tactics to support their own misconceptions.

Then those same keepers fall back on that the tortoises have not been around long enough when presented with examples of tortoises raised to grow quicker than some are willing to accept.

I'm willing to bet that those tortoises that have food withheld to control the rate of growth have greater health issues.

Originally Posted by Fred123

Do you mean that she lost weight and is slowly gaining what she lost or that she is just gaining weight slowly? Tortoises should gain weight slow and steady. Many of the "grown on" tortoises in pet shops have grown too quickly, which can result in various health issues.

As long as she is gaining weight I would just say keep up what you are doing.

[EJ]

Stars can grow slowly if they are not getting the nutrition they need for proper development.

Originally Posted by TortBabe

I think that this wee tortoise might benefit from having a few pellets each week Indian Star tortoises do grow very very slowly, my 2 were not gaining any weight at all until they started getting a few pellets.

[roboticnat]

i do feed them komdo pellets every other day the one tortoise seems to take to it and the under wegiht one has a nibble but not much any suggestions on something she would eat more happily?

[zx4g]

Hi, My stars won't touch any other pelleted food than
The t rex which I give when I can't get any weeds
(I'm not saying they r the best , mine are just fussy,
but they r all eaten with great relish).
Tho I am awaiting a delivery of pre alpin to trial.
I hope things continue to improve for you x

[Torterra]

Originally Posted by roboticnat

i do feed them komdo pellets every other day the one tortoise seems to take to it and the under wegiht one has a nibble but not much any suggestions on something she would eat more happily?

I feed mazuri tortoise diet, it is eaten without a question. Also i believe it has the good nutritional balance.
Sadly it is not available for sale in Europe. Here the brand is called NutraZoo exotic leaf eater diet. It can be a good investment to buy a whole 25lb bag and store it in airtight container. I keep mine in a medium size dog food plastic bucket with airtight lid.
I feed ZooMed grassland tortoise food before I got hold of Mazuri. It took some time to get used to ZooMed Grassland food but she was eating it and I plan to introduce it again to give some variety.
When we will have Mazuri here in Europe, come on it is great brand and our pets deserve this food.
Mine grow one gram a week, on average. As they get bigger they grow faster rate.

[onarock]

An ongoing respiratory issue? Have you asked your vet to do a fecal? There are some parasites that if gone unchecked can bring on the symptoms of a respiratory infection. And, will cause your tortoise to loose weight or put on weight slowly. Just a thought.