# is my greedy tortoise overeating??!



## daisyloo4567 (Apr 29, 2011)

Hey
I have a 3 and half year old fiesty hermann tort and he seems to eat and eat. I give him a bowl of mixed leaves and greens morning and evening and in between he roams around the house (or the garden if we are free to supervise). Also he likes eating stones and mud when hes in the garden is this normal too?

What im worried about is i read loads about torts suffering with constipation but mine seems to leave massive puddles and stuff around the house. for a smallish tort is seems physically impossible!! am i over feeding of is this quite normal? any advice or suggestions would be great.

daisyloo

p.s. Alfie has a bit of a foot and sock fetish, has anyone else got this amusing problem


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## Yvonne G (Apr 29, 2011)

Hi Daisyloo:

Welcome to the forum!!

May we know where you are?


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## daisyloo4567 (Apr 29, 2011)

Yer of course i live in hampshire, UK.

Alfie sleeps in a vivarium at night and i keep the temp at just 18-20 and then turn the lamp up in the morning just to warm him up before he stomps around the house


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## coreyc (Apr 30, 2011)

Welcome can you post some pic's of Alfie?


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## daisyloo4567 (Apr 30, 2011)

Alf eating socks (he loves clean socks) and him at Christmas


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## matt41gb (Apr 30, 2011)

I would suggest not letting your tortoise run free around the house. This will eliminate him from eating things on the floor that could possible get lodged in his intestinal tract. Next I would slow down his feeding. Tortoises will graze for a short time during the cooler hours of the day. They mainly eat grasses, which are very fibrous. I would only offer him the greens about twice a week since their digestive systems are very slow. I promise you that he will not starve. 

-Matt


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## daisyloo4567 (Apr 30, 2011)

He's only allowed in a small area of the house and we are very careful that there is nothing he can eat. And thanks for the feeding advice going to feed him less and try and find more weeds in the garden he can eat as well.


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## tortoisenerd (Apr 30, 2011)

Welcome to the group!

I think with lots of space to roam (large indoor and outdoor enclosures) and a good diet (foods similar to that they would find in the wild...low calorie greens/weeds/lettuces), I would not limit food for a growing tort his age. Once they are full grown, track the weight and SCL to see that they maintain a healthy weight, but I'd still feed once a day. I'd rather feed a smaller amount once a day, every day, than only feed twice a week, for any age tort. Just my opinion, but I'd say I rarely read on this board not to feed daily. Its a bit old school to think you need to limit food that much. Do beware that you aren't feeding high calorie stuff like commercial diets, fruits, etc. As much natural grazing outside as possible is ideal. I'd think if fed less often, the tort would gorge when fed (same with if you do timed feedings..as their natural instinct is to graze, bask, graze, bask, etc, not eat a bunch at one time). 

I also agree with keeping the tort 100% of the time in an enclosure, whether its indoors or out. The floor can be scary, cold, dangerous, etc. It doesn't matter if it a small clean area of the house....they need a safe place to call home with access to their heat, water, hides, etc. Because of that, I have no idea if my tort likes socks. I have heard they can be very attracted to painted nails, especially the color red.

If you think your tort needs to be let out for exercise, that may mean the indoor enclosure is too small. You should be able to build a safe outdoor enclosure with a dug-down fence (maybe even something on the bottom so he can't dig out), and wire over the top if needed (more of a hardware cloth than a fine mesh). Then, as temps allow, he can be outside without supervision. Add water, hides, etc, as you would indoors. Have a hide on the top of a slope so if it rains while you are out he can retreat without being flooded. Its normal to see them trying to eat stuff that isn't food, but you do want to try and limit it. With the outdoor enclosure, you can better control this as you can take out any bad stuff and plant safe and organic weeds and greens. Is he actually ingesting the stuff, or just trying it out? If they are white stones, he may be craving more minerals. Do you give a calcium supplement and provide a cuttlebone? Good luck!


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