Define over eating please

[Snapper925]

My sulcata misty that I recently rescued has been eating like a pig
Tonight she ate;
1.5 romaine leaves
2 turnip leaves
2 mustard leaves
.5 kale leaves,

After this she was still roaming the enclosure looking for food!

Now my question is, can you feed a tort too much?
Should I put more to the point where she will be done and some will be leftover?
Thanks for reading!

 

[Arizona Sulcata]

You won't over feed her. Just make sure there is always food available to her and you'll be good!

 

[Laura]

you can feed to much romaine... I would cut that way back.. and use something else.. dark green or red lettuce.. weeds, grass..
Mine will go thru periods of non stop eating and cant get enough,, then they will slow down a bit.. I think when they have growth spurts
they eat a lot.. be sure she gets plenty of calcium as well. They may also non stop eat if they dont get the proper nutrition.

 

[Snapper925]

All her food is dusted with calcium and Tnt, and as long as weather permits.she will be able to graze on grass
I cut back on romaine a lot compared to what she started with to help hydrate her, I got a list of new greens for my next trip to the store

 

[Yvonne G]

Its really not the food that's the issue. Its no exercise. A tortoise eats as much as it feels it needs, but if there's no exercise, no wandering around and around, then they can get obese (especially Russians).

 

[Tom]

When mine are outside, I just let them eat as much as they want. They just graze naturally. When they're inside, I just give them each a pile about the size they are. If they eat it all up in two minutes I'll give them some more in the afternoon.

If conditions are right and they are getting enough calcium, sunshine and exercise, I don't think over feeding is a problem.

... I guess that's what everyone else said.

 

[Snapper925]

Thanks everyone!
I just wasn't sure because during the day.she.will graze on grass, then she gets a pile of food about her size or a little bigger, then she roams all over looking for more

 

[Madkins007]

It is also a matter of the nutritional density and 'richness' of the food. Tortoises have slow metabolisms and thrive on about half the calories a similarly sized mammal would need. Most of the plants in the typical 'weed diet' (like Tom's grazers are eating) are pretty low in nutritional density and nice and high in filling bulk fiber, etc. No problems there!

Tortoises over-fed on a rich diet can experience several things- inability to withdraw and fatty tissue filling in the shell space, growth patterns where the shell girth grows faster than the length, stress on internal organs, etc.

Mazuri is an example of a very rich food, which is why the label instructions tell you how much to feed, based on weight. Overdo it, and you will see the results listed above. Other 'rich' foods would be things like sweet fruits, meats, etc.