am i over feeding

[mtdavis817254]

i have two 6month old sulcata hatchlings.. i let them graze on bermuda and dandilion all day untill they are full..or i will prepare their food wich consists of hibiscus leaves, cactus pad and flower, wheat grass ,bermuda grass, dandilion leaves, and their supplements.. how much is over feeding??? on wendsday i didnt feed them anything and they were roaming their cage all day searching and munching on their timothy hay substrate..every care sheet i have warns about overfeeding.. do they mean treats like leafy greens like hibiscus and dandilions, or do they mean overfeeding period... please help me on these questions if you can, like how many times a week should i feed them and how much.. i dont want to put them in danger because of my lack of knowledge...

 

[purpod]

I let my torties roam, munching on the seedlings, grasses, dandelion and succulents, and I also give them the salad mixture I get in the store.. every so often I give them a bit of cacti or the hibiscus flowers to munch as well..

I can't imagine you are feeding too much, altho I dunno for sure as I do not own a sulcata... I would think {again this is just my humble opinion} that if your torts are hungry, they should be fed; I feed mine daily.

You'll get more knowledgable replies soon, I am sure ~

Purpod

 

[krissy2288]

well it sounds like you are kinda over feeding them, normally they should have a loosely packed half cup of greens once or twice a day & you should only let them graze once or twice a week.

 

[Yvonne G]

No one tells a wild sulcata that he can't graze as much as he wants to. If your tortoises are grazing, you are doing the very best thing in the feeding department. Let them graze as much as they want to.

I got my Dudley when he weighed 35lbs. I put him out in his pasture and have never in all this time (about 12 years) fed him. He now weighs a little over 100lbs. He grazes as much as he wants to, then he goes into his house and rests. Later in the day he comes back out and grazes some more. Occasionally I toss him a couple branches from the Mullberry tree, but he exists on weeds and grasses.

Yvonne

 

[Maggie Cummings]

well it sounds like you are kinda over feeding them, normally they should have a loosely packed half cup of greens once or twice a day & you should only let them graze once or twice a week.

I disagree with this. You cannot overfeed a Sulcata that is grazing. I have raised numerous hatchlings and I feed them way more than half a cup. I don't mean any disrespect, but where did you get advice that says you should only let them graze twice a week? That just doesn't make sense to me, they would graze everyday in the wild. If you can, they should be allowed to graze everyday. If they are grazing I would still give them additional food in the evening, babies have small stomaches and so I would graze them in the morning or thru out the day and offer a healthy treat like the original poster said she feeds hibiscus leaves, cactus pad and flower, wheat grass ,bermuda grass, dandilion leaves in the evening.
I may be new to this forum, but I am not new to keeping tortoises and I say they need to be fed twice a day while they are small. I have a 3 yr old and I just stopped feeding him twice a day when I brought him in this fall...

 

[purpod]

Yeah, I didn't think you could over feed a tort ~ Thanx for the confirmation Ladies!

Purpod