Hey Guys.

[DanielP58]

Hi, I am 19 years old and I have been interested in keeping tortoises and researching them for almost a year (I do have experience with other reptiles). I live near Seattle, Washington so they would only be outside for about 4 months out of the year but I do have the space, resources and plans for some very nice indoor enclosures. The species that I am interested in are Pancakes, Stars, Redfoots and Leopards(This would be the largest species that I would be able to keep). I am very excited to be a member of this forum and learn from all of the experienced keepers on here. I am also really excited to get my first tortoise! There are a few areas that I still have questions on and one of those is feeding, more specifically the amount and how frequently.
Thanks.

 

[leigti]

Welcome to the forum. There are several of us up here in the Pacific Northwest. I've always heard feed your tortoise a pile of greens the same size as they are. Per day.

 

[wellington]

Hello and Welcome. Hatchlings should be fed so there is food left over and every day for both hatchlings on up.

 

[Merrick]

Welcome to the forum

 

[Grandpa Turtle 144]

Hello Daniel

I would keep in mind torts are grazers that's what they do is pick at food all day . And after about three days of watching the meat you will know how much your torts eat a day ! Have a great tort day

 

[TMartin510]

Redfoots!! Haha and welcome

 

[Tidgy's Dad]

Hello, Daniel and a very warm welcome to Tortoise Forum.
Tortoises won't overeat. There should always be something leftover from what you give them.
Have a look at http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/beginner-mistakes.45180/
to begin and then under the Species Specific sections to read about those species you are interested in.

 

[Yvonne G]

Welcome to the Forum,Daniel!!

 

[ZEROPILOT]

Welcome from the other end of the country.

 

[Alaskamike]

Welcome. It will be interesting to see what species you choose. I have found that's it's all too easy to start " collecting" and I see some new owners just want ' em all.

Better to pick one and put all your effort & resources into that one for a good long while.

Torts will not overeat GOOD food in proper mix. They eat an amazing amount for their size.

The other caution I have about feeding is ...
When you first move a tortoise to a new environment , they will sometimes either pace continually or hide and sleep. Or both. They may not eat for days.

New owners can get panicky ( after all we mammals seem to eat continually) and will offer treats like fruit or head lettus cause they will eat that. Bad move to get them used to that.

Better a mix of good stuff right off the bat. Believe me they will eat when hungry.

I give all mine a bit of Mazuri tort food with their greens 3x / week. It has stuff in it that's good for them. A bit of calcium powder 2x / wk also on greens.

Good fortune with your project. You are one of the few smart ones who does their research FIRST

 

[Careym13]

Welcome to TFO!! Ask lots of questions and read all of the care sheets for each species you are considering.

 

[Speedy-1]

Hi and welcome from the Desert !

 

[DanielP58]

Hello, Daniel and a very warm welcome to Tortoise Forum.
Tortoises won't overeat. There should always be something leftover from what you give them.
Have a look at http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/beginner-mistakes.45180/
to begin and then under the Species Specific sections to read about those species you are interested in.

Thanks for the welcome and the link, it helped a lot by reinforcing what I already knew and cleared up a couple of areas that had conflicting information.

 

[DanielP58]

Welcome. It will be interesting to see what species you choose. I have found that's it's all too easy to start " collecting" and I see some new owners just want ' em all.

Better to pick one and put all your effort & resources into that one for a good long while.

Torts will not overeat GOOD food in proper mix. They eat an amazing amount for their size.

The other caution I have about feeding is ...
When you first move a tortoise to a new environment , they will sometimes either pace continually or hide and sleep. Or both. They may not eat for days.

New owners can get panicky ( after all we mammals seem to eat continually) and will offer treats like fruit or head lettus cause they will eat that. Bad move to get them used to that.

Better a mix of good stuff right off the bat. Believe me they will eat when hungry.

I give all mine a bit of Mazuri tort food with their greens 3x / week. It has stuff in it that's good for them. A bit of calcium powder 2x / wk also on greens.

Good fortune with your project. You are one of the few smart ones who does their research FIRST

Thanks for the compliment. I feel like even with the big push in encouraging people to research first and not impulse buy a lot of people still do it, especially in pet stores that don't even know how to properly care for their animals let alone educate other people.
I agree with you about picking one and keeping that one for a while, especially when starting out with tortoises. I wasn't planning to get them all at once however after reading that I am going space it out quite a bit from what I was originally thinking. I think I have it narrowed down to either the Leopard Tortoise or the Indian Star Tortoise.
Also just to clarify do you give greens to your tortoises daily or just when you offer the Mazuri diet?
Thanks again.

 

[Alaskamike]

My tort diets are mainly grass & weed plants. I make sure they have access to them daily. It's easy for me since South Florida grows most everything so I have no need for store bought. Also mine now all live in outside planted enclosures ( except one little Redfoot I'm trying to save )

However , when little , I did use the spring mix from store too at times -It's not bad.

 

[pam]

Welcome

 

[Tidgy's Dad]

Thanks for the compliment. I feel like even with the big push in encouraging people to research first and not impulse buy a lot of people still do it, especially in pet stores that don't even know how to properly care for their animals let alone educate other people.
I agree with you about picking one and keeping that one for a while, especially when starting out with tortoises. I wasn't planning to get them all at once however after reading that I am going space it out quite a bit from what I was originally thinking. I think I have it narrowed down to either the Leopard Tortoise or the Indian Star Tortoise.
Also just to clarify do you give greens to your tortoises daily or just when you offer the Mazuri diet?
Thanks again.

Give your torts as much as they can possibly eat.
They are grazers and eat when they can.
They won't overeat if kept in the right conditions, they'll leave what they don't need.

 

[Rutibegga]

Redfoots!! Haha and welcome

Seconding the Redfoots vote for no reason other than I love them.