Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Mt little rhino hatched 29 Oct 2002. He is a delight. He
grew very slowly and suddenly went through a heck of a growth
spurt. He put on lots of weight and of course ate a lot.
He consumed a large portion of chopped veggies every day.

His growth has slowed considerably. His appatite has
wained with growth. Is this a typical cycle or do you think
something is wrong with his health or care? I recently learned
that it is normal that my tegu grew like a weed and has
slown and will spurt again to reach his full size.

Any thoughts on the Cyclura growth?

Thank you for the help,

Brian

PS: I plan to give him some sun time in my tortoise pen soon.

I'm no expert, but here's a picture of ours also born in Oct 2002, photo taken Apr 2003. Growth rate and appetite have been constant. Diet is wide variety of homegrown flowers,greens, and veggies with some reptile calcium and multivitamins (beta carotene, not sythetic vit A) supplementation (it helps living in the Phoenix area with a wife that loves to garden!). He has a 105-110deg basking site and Desert 7 UV fluorescents on a 15hr/day timer, and a 90-95 deg basking site 24hrs/day. Ambient is 80-90deg. Very tame an friendly for a "teenager" who deserves alot more attention we provide. Hope this helps.
Paul

I hope the info is helful anyway!

Every time I read my own message I see a mistake. Somebody on this forum would probably pounce on this, at least that's what I've seen on the Ball Python forum. So I'll admit my mistakes and go to bed.

I must have a bigger problem because my guy is not nearly so big. My little rhino is half the size of your's, at best. I will re-evaluate my protocol and make a vet appointment.

Thank you very much,

Brian

You don't need to take yours to the vet! Presumably you posted this before reading my follow-ups about brain functionality past midnight. My brain went to the year we got Grendel, early in 2002, he was actually hatched in Oct 2001 by a local breeder. I'm sorry if I caused you any unnecessary anxiety! I'll try to restrict my late-night forum activities to "read only".
Paul

Here are a couple of photos taken of Loofah in his first year and a half. He hatched November 5, 2001 and arrived here at the age of 3 weeks. He was so tiny he fit on my thumb. The first photo was taken March of 2002, the other in February of this year. He was hatched by Bob Ehrig and was supposed to be a female but its very obvious that he's a boy.
His growth did slow a bit over this last winter but he's currently going through a full shed and eating a lot. I'm expecting a growth spurt over the summer months.

Hi, I would say that my tashmoo's growth is similar to Loofah's from the pics there. You can see pics of tashmoo here. They are in chronilogical order on the site. She is a lewisi/caymanensis cross with probably nubila nubila in there too from David Blair. She hatched Sept. 11 2000. I got her in May of 2001 and I think she was a bit small but not surprising for an animal kept in with many others at a breeding facility. She grew by leaps and bounds as you can see.

http://community.webshots.com/album/30948630YFCKCQtMFt in case the link wont work...

Carole

PS I know she isnt a rhino but growth would be sort of similar???

Tashmoo thrut the years.

My little male rhino is a hair over seven months old and about the size of the photo of the lizard in the hand in Jiffy's post. I have been weighing him regularly. That's how I knew he hit a spurt and than slowed. I read so much about their slow growth and long life that I never thought there may be something wrong.

Brian

.

I'm sorry about my erroneous post, my Rhino is a year older than yours. I hope you don't over-react and take him to a vet if he's never been. Although if he's never been in, I would recommend taking in a fecal sample for internal parasite exam by an experienced reptile vet, should cost between $20 and $30 (needs to be fresh poop). Most vets will do the fecal without an office visit, but if they find something they are usually required to see the animal before they can prescribe medication. About the tortoise enclosure, I wouldn't put the iguana in there unless it has been uninhabited for at least a year and been thouroughly cleaned. Tortoises harbor quite a variety of internal parasites because they will eat the poop of just about anything including dog, bird, or native lizards that may have "come and gone" in the outdoor enclosure, that's how they end up with so many. This is normal tortoise behavior and their systems are adapted to carry a nominal level of these parasites with no detrimental effect to the tortoise. Fecal exams from my captive born leopard tortoises housed outdoors come back with "normal parasite levels" results, compared to my lizards and snakes kept indoors that come back with "clean" results. I wouldn't be comfortable putting my iguana in an environment potentially densly loaded with parasite eggs/cysts, just waiting for a new reptile to ingest them! While housed outdoors, your iguana could also carry a nominal level of these parasites with no ill effects, but once brought back in to a much smaller enclosure with greater re-exposure to his own waste, the parasite levels can escalate to harmful levels.
Paul