Size Question

[Emilyjayne2012]

I know this sort of question has probably been asked before so sorry in advance ....

Basically .... I got Sheldon when he was 14 months old and he was 65mm and 67g's
I weighed Heidi yesterday, she hatched in August so she is 6 months old ... and she is 64mm and 65g's

As she is more then half the age Sheldon was at that size should I be worried she is growing too quick? I know that size isnt necessarily that relative to age but I was just a bit concerned. Heidi was 19g's when I got her at the end of October so she has put on a lot of weight in 4 months. Sheldon has too put on loads of weight so it may just be that their eating lots but I just thought I would ask so hopefully my mind can be put at rest.

[Lane]

Personally I think they all grow at their own rate and go through growth spurts. IMO as long as they are getting the right food and living in good conditions its fine.
Do they look fat? By that I mean are they bulging above the legs out of their shell? My new girl is a bit chubby but I'm not concerned as some daily exercise should burn it off.

[Emilyjayne2012]

Well this is a photo I took recently of the two of them ....





I dont personally think they look fat but I don't know what anyone else thinks? They eat all the right stuff and will get lots of exercise when the weather warms up. It's just Heidi seems to put on about 10-12g's a month which seems like a lot.

[Lane]

They look great! keep a log book of their weights if you don't already but I think some months they pile it on and others they don't. My littlest one struggles to put weight on and just when I think he does he goes and poops it out lol. They are growing babies, I think they are just fine
See what others say tho x

[Emilyjayne2012]

Thank you I do keep a log book of their weights and from what I have noted down it does seem to be going up quite steadily, I just worry that shes over weight thats all
Haha that made me laugh about the pooping out weight! They certainly can poop a lot for such little things.
I know I probably am just worrying too much I just was really shocked yesterday when I realised Heidi is the same size Sheldon was at more then a year old.

[egyptiandan64]

Everything sounds fine to me Also you don't want to judge weight gain against a period of time, but by how big (SCL) your tortoise is.

Danny

[Emilyjayne2012]

Thanks Danny, if you think her weight and size is fine then I'm happy with that.

[Leah Marie]

I have 2 hermans who weigh and measure nearly the same but one is a year older. The younger one is a greedy little thing but is also the most active and is constantly trashing his table whilst the older one just looks on!
I wouldn't worry just so long as they are both healthy and active.

[Marcusanthony24]

i'd say the one on the left is showing early signs of accelerated growth, basically you want to aim for slow growth to get a nice smooth shell, create an area where they can also get humidity as under the lamps there is virtually no humidity, they need an area of 40-60% humidity. Tortoises in captivity reach maturity much faster than in the wild, so don't worry as long as your torts are putting on weight each month, notice how smooth the one is on the right, thats probably more akin to wild tortoises, I've noticed a wide difference with my own. I don't know whether this is coincidence but my male has been slower to put on weight compared to my females. In captivity tortoises can reach maturity in 6 years, in the wild it could be double that.

[Emilyjayne2012]

Thanks Leah, they are both good eaters and very active so hopefully things are fine