Can you overfeed tortoises???

Kara1014

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I have 2 1-month old Sulcatas. I feed them spring mix dusted with the calcium powder, romain lettuce, cucumber, and the occasional fruit. I bought them the two grey bowls that come together at PetSmart, and use the bigger one for food. I've ended up filling it up 2-3 times a day, all with the usual mixture the past few days. They get plenty of outside time and they're poop is normal, am I not feeding them the right stuff or do they just eat until the can't anymore?
 

Tom

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Hello and welcome. You are not feeding them the right stuff. Lettuces and cucumber do not offer the needed fiber or calcium. They should never be fed fruit. And they should never live as a pair.

Sounds like you've gotten some bad advice. Don't feel bad. You are not alone. Most of the care info for this species out in the world is just plain wrong.

Check these out:
http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/how-to-raise-a-healthy-sulcata-or-leopard-version-2-0.79895/
http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/beginner-mistakes.45180/
http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/for-those-who-have-a-young-sulcata.76744/page-17#post-1518869
 

Cowboy_Ken

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Eating hatchlings is a good thing. It's when they don't eat that it's time to be worried. I've never fed any of my hatchlings fruit because their intestinal systems are not designed to digest the sugars. Cucumber is simply a water plant filler that I don't feed feed hatchlings as well. We've got some fantastic feeding threads at the top of the, "specie select" section that can lay out all you should be and shouldn't be feeding to your hatchlings. Look those over and study them to help you with your current questions and any future ones you may have.
As to your question, I've never worried about over feeding my hatchlings, if anything I've been worried about them growing too fast. Are you weighing regularly and keeping track of the gains?
 

waretrop

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@Kara1014 Not only what these smart guys say above.....but... more to answer your question is, they are grazers. They like to have a snack, find some heat, have a nap, take a little walkabout, eat, more heat somewhere, maybe another snooze, then a snack.......How could life get any better...? My Little Alice gets about 5 big meals a day. The most important seems to be "breakfast" and "dinner". Everything else is a "noshing here" and a "tidbit" there...
 

Tidgy's Dad

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Hello, Kara, and a very warm welcome to Tortoise Forum. :)
I don't believe you can overfeed a tortoise if it has enough space and can exercise enough.
I just put the food down in the morning and if it's all gone in the evening it wasn't enough.
 

Alaskamike

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You've gotten some very good & helpful replies. I myself have 2 Sulcata's - kept separate. One is about 50 lbs & one is now 17 lbs.

They both spend much of their days grazing , returning to their tunnels & then coming out & grazing again. I could not tell you how much they actually eat - but it's allot.

When I raised young ones , I kept a good pile of greens , mostly weeds , available all the time. Never worried about amounts , just variety & " good stuff". It did include Spring Mix sometimes. And a sprinkle of calcium powder several times a week.

The philosophy of diet with torts is similar to raising children. If I let my children fill up on cookies & ice cream - well yes, they would eat too much, avoid the healthy foods & get fat. But I never worried how much lean meat, vegetables, & healthy stuff they ate.

Quality is more important than quantity. Weeds & grass are a Sulcata mainstay.

Good fortune to you.
 

Bee62

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I give my 4 young sullies so much food in the morning that they have enough to eat the whole day long.
You can`t overfeed torts. They know what they need and they eat not more as they need.
 

Clamhandsmcgee

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I think it depends on the tortoise. Like @Tom said and others it's important to feed the right foods and a variety. There's little worry of overfeeding a sulcata different types of grasses, but I'd limit the amount lettuce. I would also limit the amount of calcium that you give him. I prefer a cuttlebone so that mine can get calcium when he needs it.

I would totally remove fruit from his diet, or very rarely give him any. I never give mine any fruit, but some do as a snack. I give mine rose petals and hibiscus flowers as a snack.
 

wellington

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I think it depends on the tortoise. Like @Tom said and others it's important to feed the right foods and a variety. There's little worry of overfeeding a sulcata different types of grasses, but I'd limit the amount lettuce. I would also limit the amount of calcium that you give him. I prefer a cuttlebone so that mine can get calcium when he needs it.

I would totally remove fruit from his diet, or very rarely give him any. I never give mine any fruit, but some do as a snack. I give mine rose petals and hibiscus flowers as a snack.
Just incase you didn't know. Hibiscus could be a bigger part of the diet, totally safe to feed a lot of. Roses feed as the treat.
 

TammyJ

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You have got some great advice here! And I ditto what Alaskamike said.
 
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