Reptile & Amphibian Forums

i have a female russian who has been with me for nearly a year now. she appears to be very healthy in all but one factor - she is getting huge! her shell has expanded, and she's now a good inch, inch and a half, wider than she used to be. i feed her a varied diet of greens, nothing high in sugar, and she has ample space to be active. the new shell is growing in strong and seemingly healthy. however, she is by far the biggest russian i have seen. my male is growing too, but at a much, much slower rate. they get the same diet. for the past two months i've been feeding them seperately, to ensure that my female doesn't eat all of the male's food. but even on a monitered diet, she keeps growing! my vet told me to put her on a diet, and i did, but it didn't change her rapid growth. any suggestions? ideas on what it could be?

I purchased a female russian tortoise in November of '99.

Abbreviated growth chart

Month/Yr ----- Length ----- Weight

Nov/99 ----- 4.0" ----- 227gms
Nov/01 ----- 5.8" ----- 685gms
Nov/02 ----- 6.7" ----- 1019gms
July/03 ----- 6.9" ----- 1143gms

This growth was achieved on a diet of grocery greens (turnip greens, mustards, endive, collards), weeds (clover, dandelion, etc.), chopped carrots&squash, and a little tortoise chow (Mazuri or Pretty Pets.) Supplemented with calcium powder when outdoors and calcium/d3 when indoors. Also a multivitamin once ever couple weeks.

No pyramiding, no signs of getting fat (i.e. can't pull back into shell).

Females generally grow larger than males, and probabably experience a more dramatic growth spurt.

Unless your tortoise is showing signs of excess or improper shell growth or obesity, I wouldn't worry too much. But of course listen to your vet.