How Much is Too Much?

[DoversMama]

There are a lot of threads on here asking about the right things to include in a Russian's diet, but how about quantity? I read on russiantortoise.org that whatever they eat in 20 min every day is good enough. Our vet suggested doing this TWICE a day, which seemed like too much to me, especially for a mostly-indoor tort. I don't want to overfeed Dover, but I don't want to be putting him on Jenny Craig either!!! (Although he'd be a handsome spokesman)

We've been weighing him on our digital kitchen scale, but we're not sure what numbers we should be looking for. Any suggestions?

 

[GBtortoises]

Russian tortoises are well known for their ability to gorge on food if they're allowed to. This is most likely an instinctual habit based on the conditions they may encounter in their natural habitat. Eat as much as you can when the food is available to build up stored energy.

In captivity they can actually become fat and even obese if the quantity and quality of their diet is not kept in check.

Many people go with variations of the 20 minute rule, some say 15 minutes, some say 30 minutes. Some people like myself put the food in and walk away. I have to do it this way out of necessity because I feed mine in the morning before going to work. I don't have 15, 20 or 30 minutes after putting the food down to wait to take it back out. The exception is when I feed them on the weekend. I can then pay closer attention to how much they are eating and adjust as needed. I then use that approximate amount when feeding during the week. If mine start losing interest or walk away with a certain amount of uneaten food left behind I cut back on the amount. If they devour everything without stopping I increase the amount slightly for a while. I feed mine every other day.

Then when I put them outdoors for the summer the above process is out the window! Outdoors they forage and graze on their own and I supply additional weeds and plants about every other day.

I try not to feed them with time limits but by monitoring them and constantly adjusting the amount always taking into consideration the variety and quality of their diet.

Twice a day feeding is probably okay too as long as you're not feeding huge amounts each time. With twice a day I might be inclined to use the time limit method to restict the amount of food at both feedings.