Calcium.or growth

[Tarajane77]

Hi,

I'm enquiring about my 3yr old Horsfield Jemima, I DID WARN YOU ID BE BACK!!!

I've recently noticed that on the peaks of her very front middle and left as you view my photo two shell scales, there are white rings forming (please accept my sincere apologies for the disgraceful tortoise anatomy description). I'd liken them to the inner rings of a tree trunk what you'd count to determine the trees age.

She's fed exclusively wild foraged weeds/flowers. I've explained before I live in a very calcium rich soil village..former limestone quarry mine OASIS!!

I also coat her food with EXO-TERRA calcium dust daily, and VIONATE mineral supplement every other day.

Please could you advise if/what I'm doing wrong??
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THANKYOU
JODY FROM WIRKSWORTH

[Nina]

Hi Jody,

Sorry to be late in responding, but we're having trouble with our email and I'm not getting notifications of forum postings.

Nothing to worry about (or probably nothing to worry about ). Those are natural growth rings (so your tree analogy was spot on). As the tortoise grows his shell must obviously grow too, so new shell material is formed all around the edges of the existing scutes (scutes are what the shell 'scales' are called), and they are usually lighter in colour at first and then darken with time.

The only reason I said 'probably' nothing to worry about is that if you get lots of growth rings (so that band of lighter colour gets wider), then it could mean your tortoise is growing too fast, and you need to monitor the food intake. However, Jemima's growth rings look fine at the moment, so nothing to worry about, but the way to ensure that she doesn't grow too fast is to monitor her weight and aim for an average growth of between 1g - 3g per month (this is where your Observation Records booklet comes in handy). It's only an average and some months she will gain more and some less (and of course if she hibernates then she won't be gaining any weight at all and that affects the average too). So just an average target to aim at and no need to worry about your husbandry and her diet now as it seems fine.

Nina

[Tarajane77]

Thanks Nina,

I had already had the "cutting down" of food talk to Jemima a fortnight ago...of which you can see her response below!!!
[attachment=0]Snapchat-279981184.jpg[/attachment]

So her portions are already cut down, and only offered once a day. Any leftover food I do remove.

She is due a monthly weigh in on the 22nd of this month, of which i will share with you.. (fingers crossed)...!!!

Nina is there a rule what would help me determine her actual portion size, weight or visually??

THANKYOU

[Nina]

Ha ha, she doesn't look happy at all about your proposed diet! When you weigh her -- try and do it in roughly the same circumstances (like just before or after a bath, just after a poo, etc.) because it's amazing how much weight they lose in having a poo!

Regarding portions, it's really difficult, and there are various guidelines -- all she can eat in 20 minutes, once a day; one day a week without food (I'm not fond of that one, but people do use it); enough flowers/leaves etc. to make a little jacket or blanket to cover her shell once a day, etc.). So those are just vague guidelines, but really the average monthly weight gain is the decisive one.

When mine are outdoors they tend to gain a shocking amount of weight because there are tempting plants everywhere, so now I have pretty much got rid of tasty plants in their enclosure and just put the food in for them, but they do have a run around on the grass in the morning before they go into their enclosure (in the last two years they have both developed a taste for grass), so my system isn't perfect.

Nina