How much food should I give my tortoise per day?

[I Love Tortoises]

I have 3 greek tortoises and 1 hermann's tortoise. How can I calculate how much food should I give per day? I searched everywhere and couldn't find a reliable feeding technique. Some people say they should eat a loose fist size and some say that you should put food on their plate then take it away after 15 mins. Can you guys help me?

 

[wellington]

Feed enough that they can eat off and on all day. In the wild or if in an out door pen, they would graze off and on all day.
Feed every day.
Do not take food away after 15 minutes, that's wrong info.

 

[Tom]

I have 3 greek tortoises and 1 hermann's tortoise. How can I calculate how much food should I give per day? I searched everywhere and couldn't find a reliable feeding technique. Some people say they should eat a loose fist size and some say that you should put food on their plate then take it away after 15 mins. Can you guys help me?

You don't calculate it. Your tortoises will tell you. If you put out a large pile and it all disappears before the end of the day, use more the next day. When you have a few scraps and left overs, you've got it just right. If there is a bunch of leftover food at the end of the day, you gave them too much and should feed less the next day.

Most of the care and feeding info out in the world for tortoises is all wrong. Here is the correct info:

The Best Way To Raise Any Temperate Species Of Tortoise

I chose the title of this care sheet very carefully. Are there other ways to raise babies and care for adults? Yes. Yes there are, but those ways are not as good. What follows is the BEST way, according to 30 years of research and experimentation with hundreds of babies of many species. What is...

tortoiseforum.org

Questions are welcome!

 

[I Love Tortoises]

Thank you guys! @Tom @wellington

 

[ZEROPILOT]

The only exception I'd like to mention would be with fruit eating species (that you don't have)
Picking up leftover fruit can stop ants from showing up.

 

[Maddoggy]

I have to keep an eye out for mold since my clime is warm and moist, so any remaining feed Itry to remove before feeding the next day.

 

[myk]

I have 3 greek tortoises and 1 hermann's tortoise. How can I calculate how much food should I give per day? I searched everywhere and couldn't find a reliable feeding technique. Some people say they should eat a loose fist size and some say that you should put food on their plate then take it away after 15 mins. Can you guys help me?

I feed my leopard tortoises about half the size of their shells, HB is 4yrs and 11 inches, Tula is 10 yrs old and 12 inches, I feed them romaine, cucumbers, bell peppers, red leaf lettuce, dandelion and collards, and maturity wet, he eats fast ,she's not a fast eater but wants more, sometimes I give them a stalk of romaine later

 

[Tom]

I feed my leopard tortoises about half the size of their shells, HB is 4yrs and 11 inches, Tula is 10 yrs old and 12 inches, I feed them romaine, cucumbers, bell peppers, red leaf lettuce, dandelion and collards, and maturity wet, he eats fast ,she's not a fast eater but wants more, sometimes I give them a stalk of romaine later

This thread is nearly two years old.

You should really work on offering a better diet to your tortoises. Grocery store foods are not great and they need amendments added to make them suitable. Tortoises are grazers and should be allowed to graze all day long. If they are quickly eating up everything you give them, you should probably be giving them more. The old idea of slowing their growth through forced food deprivation has been proven unfounded and unnecessary. Tortoises should be free fed the right foods.

Is "maturity wet" a horse pellet? If yes, that is probably a good way to go, though I don't have experience with that brand. Here we use Equine Senior from Purina, and I use an assortment of horse hay pellets that I soak and mix in with the greens.

I don't know if you can get them up there, but Will at kapidolofarms.com sells a wide variety of excellent dried leaf options and other tortoise foods to mix in and make the grocery store greens better. Tyler and Sarah at tortoisesupply.com sell an excellent "Herbal Hay" that I've been using for years. My tortoises love it.