I just got my adorable baby sulcata who, I am estimating, is a yearish old (he/she is a little over 2 inches I believe). Anyways, it just snowed today in good ol' North Dakota and I live in an apartment, so there is not much grazing to be had for him.
I keep reading that over feeding can cause accelerated growth and pyramiding. I'm a senior in college so I will soon have a larger place to live, but that being said, I don't want him to grow faster than the normal rate.
So far I have been giving him a mixture of kale, apples, bananas, chopped bluegrass, sunflower petals, green peppers, and occasionally Nature Bites, juvenile tortoise food (which I do every few days or so, because it looks like it is probably protein fortified). He eats like a champ, and I haven't seen him turn down anything except basil. I feed him about twice a day, maybe the size of a couple small marbles each time. I've been trying to give him a soak every other day, but he always gets annoyed and tries to escape. His living quarters are about 1.5x1.5 feet. I can already tell it's a bit small, but he gets some supervised exercise time on the floor.
And OK, one more newbie question. How much handling is OK for him? I live on campus, so I'm always wanting to show him off, is taking him out of his tank a few times a day bad as long as it's not for too long?
Any recommendations for portion size? Like I said, he's a great eater and I don't think he'd turn much down, so I don't want him to grow faster than normal. Thanks!
I keep reading that over feeding can cause accelerated growth and pyramiding. I'm a senior in college so I will soon have a larger place to live, but that being said, I don't want him to grow faster than the normal rate.
So far I have been giving him a mixture of kale, apples, bananas, chopped bluegrass, sunflower petals, green peppers, and occasionally Nature Bites, juvenile tortoise food (which I do every few days or so, because it looks like it is probably protein fortified). He eats like a champ, and I haven't seen him turn down anything except basil. I feed him about twice a day, maybe the size of a couple small marbles each time. I've been trying to give him a soak every other day, but he always gets annoyed and tries to escape. His living quarters are about 1.5x1.5 feet. I can already tell it's a bit small, but he gets some supervised exercise time on the floor.
And OK, one more newbie question. How much handling is OK for him? I live on campus, so I'm always wanting to show him off, is taking him out of his tank a few times a day bad as long as it's not for too long?
Any recommendations for portion size? Like I said, he's a great eater and I don't think he'd turn much down, so I don't want him to grow faster than normal. Thanks!