Feeding daily?

[jskahn]

Here comes a debate. I have been keeping and breeding tortoises and turtles for over 50 years. I feed almost every day, Except, during cooler weather, or of course hibernation. It seems that my view is not the one shared by many others. I have been reading for years, that keepers feed every other day, or so. From what I have seen, there is almost always food available in the wild. Of course during the cold winter, the food is scarce, but they hibernate. Other than that, there are almost always greens,or insects etc. available on land or in the water. I keep my Adult Stars, Leopards, and Sulcatas outside year round. They have heated dog houses in the cold weather, here in Arizona. Most days over 60 degrees, the stars, and sulcatas, and usually the female leopards, graze some on the yard. All my pond turtles,pretty much stop eating during the winter. On warmer days in late fall, and early spring, they will occasionally eat some of the Mazori I feed the goldfish. In the 25 years I have been in AZ, the only problem I have ever had with any abnormal shell growth, was one summer when I feed the pond on Koi food. I had 5 small Het Red ears, amongst the other adult turtles, and their shells grew irregular. I then realized that Koi are too vegetarian. I never saw what people feel is the problem with almost daily feedings.Only in extreme weather would they not eat in the wild. On many forums, people feel bad, not feeding their pet turtles daily. On young inside turtles and tortoises, I have never let them go with out daily feeding.
I guess now is the chance to tell me I am wrong, but with generations of well formed turtles and tortoises,I feel comfortable with daily feeding, unless the weather is extreme.

 

[Maro2Bear]

Whew, long question. i would go along with the view that turtles in the wild have the option to eat hourly, daily, every other day, pretty much when and what they want. I vote for making food available all the time, let my tortoise and turtles decide.

 

[G-stars]

I agree they should have access to food daily. After all they do in the wild.


— Gus

 

[Yvonne G]

I guess now is the chance to tell me I am wrong, but with generations of well formed turtles and tortoises,I feel comfortable with daily feeding, unless the weather is extreme.

Hi Joe:

I'm going to take this opportunity to tell you that you're never to old to learn new stuff. I had been keeping, raising and hatching turtles and tortoises for over 30 years when I first joined the forum, and while I never had a sick tortoise or lost any to bad care, I can tell you that I learned so much from the people on this forum! I think it's a very good idea to approach the subject with a clean slate and an open mind.

Having said all that, I must agree with you. A wild turtle doesn't say, "Let's see now...Hm-m-m-m...I think I remember eating yesterday, so today I'd better not eat." If the food is available he eats. He goes out looking for food every day. And he eats.

I feed my tortoises daily, especially the younger ones. Maybe the older ones get branches off the mulberry tree or grapevine instead of an all out meal, but they get something to eat every day.

 

[Tom]

I agree that they should be fed daily, BUT they need to be fed the RIGHT foods and also get plenty of exercise in large suitable enclosures. As long as those two extremely important caveats are met, I see no reason to starve them. Hydration and calcium supplementation is important too. As is artificial UV for indoor tortoises.

In the past I raised some sulcatas with the whole low food, low nutrition, skip feeding days technique in a failed attempt to prevent pyramiding. It didn't work to prevent pyramiding at all, but I did end up with stunted, hungry, pyramided tortoises. Theses tortoises all started growing at "normal" rates, even after years of me underfeeding them due to the bad advice I followed. The males are now over 100 pounds at 16 years old and the female is around 45-50 pounds.

Sorry. No debate here. I think you are right. I would like to see lots more pics of your tortoises and enclosures though.

 

[wellington]

Not sure where you found all,your info that made you think you were going to get a debate here. Most to everyone here feeds daily and recommends feeding daily. If my tortoises don't want to eat, that's up to them, but the food will always be there for them. Just an FYI, I have no where near the years in to tortoises as you, Tom or Yvonne.

 

[Maggie Cummings]

Not only do I feed daily, but I give my big Sulcata a breakfast and later a snack of grape leafs and weeds at noon and a bedtime snack. I have a 4 yr old tortoise gets fed morning and night. My Hermanni only eats once a day, but that's her choice. I feed my box turtles every day too. I think any wild chelonian would eat daily even if it's just somebody else's poop...

 

[pfara]

Ya know.. I asked this question recently to a couple of people. I feed my 1-1/2 year old reds daily; it's just a part of the routine that they like following. They seem intelligent enough to eat whenever they feel like it. I would notice days where the food is completely gone or when the piles have just been bulldozed around like children jumping in a pile of leaves. I'd have to agree with Tom: as long as what you feed are the right types of foods fed in the right proportions, I don't see why you can't feed daily. On the other hand, I also don't panic if I have a busy morning and don't have enough time to prepare anything that day.

 

[Tom]

On the other hand, I also don't panic if I have a busy morning and don't have enough time to prepare anything that day.

I have days like that. On those days the SA leopards and sulcatas all have orchard grass hay to eat, and the russians have weeds or leaves to nibble on or dried up leftovers from previous days if they want.

 

[Alaskamike]

I'm certainly not as experienced as many here, but it seems to me that proper food in great variety just makes biological sense. My torts get fed daily , and by fed , I mean placed in front of a variety of foods they don't have in their outside enclosure. In their enclosures they have grass , weeds , a hibiscus bush , etc. but I still offer other stuff daily.

Sometimes they eat like starved piglets , sometimes it's a light snack and they are off on their walkabouts.

There is a biological mechanism called homeostasis. There are some complexities to it , buts in its most simplistic operation it basically is the body's attempt to get what it needs for optimum health.

I know this will sound a bit weird, but when I feed my torts I do it in little piles; Mazuri, grass, purslane, mulberry leaves, hibiscus flower , etc.

I set my torts in front of the stacks, and let them choose what to eat. And I've watched very closely. Right now I have 2 leopards, a 10 mo old Aldabra, and a 2 yo Sulcata.
Every one of them varies what they chose to eat most of each day.

Not recommending , just interesting to me.

 

[jskahn]

I agree that they should be fed daily, BUT they need to be fed the RIGHT foods and also get plenty of exercise in large suitable enclosures. As long as those two extremely important caveats are met, I see no reason to starve them. Hydration and calcium supplementation is important too. As is artificial UV for indoor tortoises.

In the past I raised some sulcatas with the whole low food, low nutrition, skip feeding days technique in a failed attempt to prevent pyramiding. It didn't work to prevent pyramiding at all, but I did end up with stunted, hungry, pyramided tortoises. Theses tortoises all started growing at "normal" rates, even after years of me underfeeding them due to the bad advice I followed. The males are now over 100 pounds at 16 years old and the female is around 45-50 pounds.

Sorry. No debate here. I think you are right. I would like to see lots more pics of your tortoises and enclosures though.

As far as pix goes, according to Yvonne. you are never to old to learn, But I am really computer ignorant, and can't download my pix on the forum. I know how to email them, and have been able to download them on some forums, but had a problem here. To answer the question, where have I heard not to feed daily, was mainly on Austins Turtle Forum. As I had said,many of the people have one or a few pet turtles, and are always feeling bad about not feeding them daily. The members keep telling these people that it makes them grow too fast, and is not natural. I never wanted to voice my opinion. I guess I should have, but I didn't want to step on some" experts" toes. I was fairly new to the group.Thinking back, I guess I should have.

 

[pfara]

I've read the warnings on fast growth, too. Honestly, it seems kinda blown out of proportion to me. I treat all my RF equally and they're all hatched around the same month. Yet, one is freakishly humongous for his age while the smallest seems to be "the norm". All have smooth, even growth, alert, and active. Despite the "fast growth", my guy seems healthy and eats whenever he chooses.

 

[Tom]

I wish you would have spoken up too.

About pics: I am pretty ignorant when it comes to all things computer too, but the pic thing is pretty easy. If I may: Go to http://tinypic.com . Click on choose file, pick your pic, then upload. When its done it will give you several choices of lines of code. Copy the IMG code, then paste it into a forum post. Its really pretty easy. No harder than making a post here. And tinypic is hassle free, and just plain free. No fees or accounts. No giving out any personal info. Just a free easy to use site.

 

[jskahn]

What is copy and paste? How do you get it to a forum? What is the IMG code? I am going to try to go to tiny pic
Thanks

 

[jskahn]

To prove how computer ignorant I am, I can't even figure out how to fill out the first page. Sorry

 

[Kathy Coles]

I also feed my red foot daily. Quantity is another matter. She will eat what she wants of the spring mix and then leave it. BUT mazuri is another matter. I think if I put the entire 2 pounds in front of her it would be consumed or she would die trying. In 2 years she has grown from 4 inches to over 8. So it is tough love. Today is veggies and that's it young lady.

 

[keepergale]

I can't imagine not feeding every day. (Neither can my tortoises)
When the timer turns their light on in the morning they head to the feeding tiles within minutes. If breakfast isn't ready they begin pacing back and forth until fed.


Sent from my iPhone using TortForum

 

[smarch]

I feed every day, I guess I understand the not everyday argument because isn't that a common argument with snakes, and feeding too often shortens the lifespan? (I'm no snake expert, I just remember reading that) But tortoises and turtles? No way, Franklin would throw a fit and then refuse to do anything if he missed a day (and unfortunately on a few occasions that has happened so I actually know). Russian Torts sleeping through the day is not healthy! so in my opinion witnessing that said it all. As long as they're fed proper diet they can eat all they want. Maybe its different with protein, I mean i'm sure Red Foot owners don't feed protein every day (again no expert, just something I've gathered by reading). Tortoises are food monsters, if you don't feed them as often as they want they will find things that they can eat even if its not food ... in fact even if you do feed them often they may still decide to eat whatever then want (The recent Frankie tales involving a sock!)
My opinion changes if they're in an outdoor enclosure heavily planted, technically if its planted right you wouldn't need to "feed" at all since they could do it themselves. Though I still hear of people who's torts while outside will wait for the "real" food on a plate.

 

[Yvonne G]

I'll engage you in a Private Conversation later after I've done my chores and put the garbage cans out to the curb. Don't have time right now. Putting up pictures is very easy, and I'll help you with the nomenclature. No sense in taking up space in this thread about posting pictures. Sorry I've run out of time to help you right now, but I promise...I'll come back to the subject in a couple hours.

 

[johnsonnboswell]

I thought not feeding every day was for box turtles, not tortoises. Even so, if the foraging is good, they get fed what I find when I find it. The tortoises prefer two smaller meals daily.