Can you over feed russians?

[UMDRunner]

I feed mine a decent amount, almost the size of his body in romain lettuce every day and he scarfs is all up in 5 minutes. If I approach his table later, he always approaches me looking for food. Usuaully we give him a piece of lettuce later during the day for a snack and he eats that right up.

Does this mean he needs more food, or is he eating like this since he is still young? Should I feed him untill he is full?

[cvalda]

The general rule is to give them what they can eat in 20 minutes time. If it's weeds that they'd normally eat in the wild, there's not such a concern with overfeeding, but yes they CAN be overfed on other foods!

I was letting mine big out and some of the girls just seemed to never get full, they'd eat and eat and eat. Then I noticed they had jelly rolls of fat around their legs. OOPS! Thats not healthy for them, so I have to limit their intake now.

It's hard though, especially with little ones who come to you wanting food! My little Vanya gets a treat almost everytime he sees me because I can't resist his cute little face! He could use a little extra weight on him, though!

[UMDRunner]

wow, you have a lot of tortoises, where do you keep them all? Are they all outside? In the same area?

[T-P]

You can over feed ANY tortoise.
Which would eventually cause Pyramiding, and if not taken into control it cna ruin a tortoises shell and body.

You should only feed as much as they can eat within 20 mins.

[cvalda]

UMDRunner Wrote:wow, you have a lot of tortoises, where do you keep them all? Are they all outside? In the same area?

Eight of the nine Russians are in a large area I built for them in my basement, there is a thread in this section somewhere with pics. The ninth is in a tortoise table near my computer, but he'll move in with the others in a few months. The Redfoots are slowly being moved into another enclosure inside a portable greenhouse I set up in my basement, as well. (They were each in rubbermaid totes in my dining area before). The Leopard and Greek are in my son's room!

[jenrell23]

Do you only feed Romaine?? If so you might want to check out russiantortoise.org for a good list of foods you can feed, that way you can give your little one a variety of food to maintain a proper diet.

[cvalda]

Agreed! I didn't even catch this! Make sure you are feeding a health, balanced diet and provide variety!

[jenrell23]

This is part of the list from "Russiantortoise.org", Hope it helps They also have a edible plant list you can check out, I plant seeds in my enclosures and then they have a garden of food all year around and then I supplement with the following foods. Good Luck.

Romaine lettuce
Red and green leaf lettuce
Endive
Escarole
Radicchio
*Turnip greens
*Mustard greens
*Kale
*Collards
Spring Mix (mixed salad greens)
*cabbage

* feed occasionally/sparingly

OTHER GOOD CHOICES
Some other favorites of my tortoises that are available:
Hibiscus (flowers and leaves) (Mine love these)
Hosta
Sedum
Mulberry leaves
Hen and Chicks
Ice Plants
Prickly pear flowers, fruit and pads (burn the spines off)
Dandelion (Mine love these as well)
Plantain (not the banana type fruit....the weed plantago major)
Mallow (flowers and leaves)
Henbit
Rose (flowers and leaves....make sure no systemic pesticides were used)
Chrysanthemum flowers
Cornflowers Plagiobothrys ssp
Forsythia (flowers and leaves)
Dayflower Commelina diffusa (flowers and leaves)
Californian Poppy escholzia