How much food is too much?

[Linzbragg]

Franklin weighs 12oz and eats about a half a cup of romaine and dandilions mixed with grassland tort pellets soaked in warm water, all of which he completely eats. I got him from another person at 1-2 yrs and his scutes have slight ridges. How much should a sully that age eat approximately, and can they have any ridges at all without worrying?

 

[dmarcus]

I give my hatchling a hand full, sometime he eats it all sometimes he doesn't. You just have to know your tortoise and how much he will eat. Not all tortoises will eat the same amount of food even if they are the same size.

 

[Linzbragg]

I've given him more food every time he finishes just so i ,an figure outhowmuch he likes, and he can ear a lot. I just don't know if feeding him all hecan eat all the time is safe bc they don't always eat their fill in the wild.

 

[dmarcus]

They are very good eaters and if you keep giving them food they will eat it, as owners of these captive bred tortoises we have to regulate they food intake when they live inside. If they are outside they will graze and they decided when they had enough.

Think of it as raising a child, we have to watch there food intake because sometimes they don't know when enough is enough.

If its plasusble, you should try to grow small containers of grass inside and when it has grown enough just place it inside the enclosure. Then you feed him the half a cup in the morning then if he eats it all he can graze on the grass that you provide and later in the evening you can feed a little more.

 

[nikki0601]

My Sully is 12 weeks old, weighs right at 70 grams today, he eats a small handful a few times a day, he always leaves a little bit from each serving uneaten but only because he doesn't like it after its dried out, all together he eats at least 1/2 a cup a day, not too much for him I know since he is growing at steady normal rate

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Anothet thing though is I dont give romaine often at all, maybe once a week, just because I've always heard its not the best

 

[Zamric]

Im not sure you can overfeed a Sulcata. You can feed bad, but not over. They grow so fast they use all the nutrition they get.

 

[jaizei]

As long as you are feeding a varied diet I do not think you should worry about overfeeding, but I limit the amount of 'pellet' food that I feed since they are richer/more nutritious.

There is also this if you are interested:
http://sites.google.com/site/tortoiselibrary/nutrition

 

[Tom]

I've given him more food every time he finishes just so i ,an figure outhowmuch he likes, and he can ear a lot. I just don't know if feeding him all hecan eat all the time is safe bc they don't always eat their fill in the wild.

This is a common misconception. I have learned recently that this is not true. During the rainy season (3-4 months) they eat as much as they want all day, every day. Toward the end of the rainy season, they drag grass down into their burrows and line the entire bottom with a foot of it. Then they eat this grass all day for the entire dry season of 8 or 9 months.

In captivity, if conditions are right (temps, humidity, hydration, calcium supplementation, UV, and the right foods) I too do not think you can "over feed" a sulcata. Its all about balance. For about 7 months of every year, my torts live outside surrounded by as much grass and weeds as they can eat. It dries up over the summer, but during the weedy part of the year, they eat as much as they want.

In the past I used to closely control and restrict their food intake with the mistaken idea that this would stop or prevent pyramiding. It doesn't. It leads to small, very hungry tortoises.

 

[Linzbragg]

This is a common misconception. I have learned recently that this is not true. During the rainy season (3-4 months) they eat as much as they want all day, every day. Toward the end of the rainy season, they drag grass down into their burrows and line the entire bottom with a foot of it. Then they eat this grass all day for the entire dry season of 8 or 9 months.

In captivity, if conditions are right (temps, humidity, hydration, calcium supplementation, UV, and the right foods) I too do not think you can "over feed" a sulcata. Its all about balance. For about 7 months of every year, my torts live outside surrounded by as much grass and weeds as they can eat. It dries up over the summer, but during the weedy part of the year, they eat as much as they want.

In the past I used to closely control and restrict their food intake with the mistaken idea that this would stop or prevent pyramiding. It doesn't. It leads to small, very hungry tortoises.

Ok cool, my instinct was to feed him all he can eat. I just throw away whats left away at the end of the night. I do want to grow a patch of grass in his cage so he can graze which i cannot wait to see him do!

 

[Tom]

The idea is to let them eat as much of the right foods as they want. I don't think they could eat too much grass, weeds or cactus. They could certainly eat too much fruit (really I don't recommend any) or vegetables.

 

[Katherine]

The idea is to let them eat as much of the right foods as they want. I don't think they could eat too much grass, weeds or cactus. They could certainly eat too much fruit (really I don't recommend any) or vegetables.

^complete agreement. If you are feeding the right foods/permitting unlimited grazing then I believe no food is too much. If you are feeding pelleted food or fruit treats then it is easy to go overboard. My observations seem to show that tortoises stop eating when they have had enough. Unless of course; theres a huge pile of watermelon/mazuri/strawberry catching their eye, they they will eat until its gone regardless.

 

[Zamric]

I had to cut back on WalkingRocks Mazuri because he wouldn't eat it, then when the sprinklers go off in the morning I was left with a pile of wet food he just would not eat.

 

[Linzbragg]

Bc of his little scute ridges I have only given him a tiny slice of an apple once. My goal us to get rid of those ridges!