Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have been raising two P. Pardalis Leopard tortoises for the past 8 years. I live in Minnesota and so they spend most of their time indoors in their enclosure in my basement. I have built several "additions" to their enclosure but being indoor I can only go so big. I am wondering if for leopard tortoises the size of their enclosure will in any way determine their growth? Has anyone experienced this with Leopards or any other tortoise. It would make sense that they don't over grow their environment, but I have no idea.

Thanks,
Ben

There is no organism in which enclosure size limits growth. A small enclosure gets filthy faster, it is the filth that will harm the animal.

I once raised a goldfish in a 1 gallon container. In six months it was approaching 12" long. and was in fact so long it could not turn around in it's enclosure. Clearly in this case cage size was not a limiting factor.

The enclosure was a hard plastic mesh submerged in a 60 gallon tank of fresh clean well filtered water. I fed three or more times a day and the temp was mid-70's.

Had this same experiment been carried out in a one gallon jar the results would have been very different. The filthy water would have harmed the kidneys of the fish allowing for disease and likely death to occur.

As long as you feed them they will grow. They can be stunted buy restricting temperature and food.

>>I have been raising two P. Pardalis Leopard tortoises for the past 8 years. I live in Minnesota and so they spend most of their time indoors in their enclosure in my basement. I have built several "additions" to their enclosure but being indoor I can only go so big. I am wondering if for leopard tortoises the size of their enclosure will in any way determine their growth? Has anyone experienced this with Leopards or any other tortoise. It would make sense that they don't over grow their environment, but I have no idea.
>>
>>Thanks,
>>Ben
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
-----
Ed @ Tortoise Keepers
Trying to keep the fun in Chelonian care

When I start gaining weight, the size of my enclosure(pants) make me stop eating. So in this case, enclosure size does affect growth.

lol

maybe they will stay small if you use an enclosure such as this?