How often am i supposed to feed my tortoise?

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Melina293

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My brother says im feeding her too much. He says im supposed to feed her once every 4 days? I feed her daily. I know shes hungry when shes walking around wandering. If i dont feed her daily, she starts eating the soil there is which has her poo in it..... o__o And im worried she'll get sick. And my brother says we spend too much money on spring mix and santa barbra mix. SO yes please help. Thank you.
 

Madkins007

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Melina293 said:
My brother says im feeding her too much. He says im supposed to feed her once every 4 days? I feed her daily. I know shes hungry when shes walking around wandering. If i dont feed her daily, she starts eating the soil there is which has her poo in it..... o__o And im worried she'll get sick. And my brother says we spend too much money on spring mix and santa barbra mix. SO yes please help. Thank you.
May i ask what kind of tortoise you have and how big it is?

It is common to feed snakes fairly infrequently- they hunt, eat, sleep for an expended period as they digest, then repeat. Tortoises on the other hand almost all hunt for graze or food every day- unless they find a rare pile of good stuff, like a fruit fall, etc. Then they will gorge and sleep it off.

Most keepers feed most days. Sometimes, especially for adults on a 'rich' diet, they skip some days a week, but not everyone does this.

Eating her own poo is not a great idea, and it should be removed whenever possible, but it won't usually hurt her. lots of tortoises do this.

There actually is a formula for determining the daily calorie load for a reptile- WTkg^0.75 x 72 = the daily calorie needs for a typical, active tortoise. (Weight in kilograms to the 0.75th power, times 72) You would cut it back for inactive torts (cool weather torpor, sick, etc.) or increase it for very active torts (mating, carrying eggs, nesting) but this is the basic idea. There is a chart at https://sites.google.com/site/tortoiselibrary/nutrition/guidelines-and-dosages that will show you the caloric need at several weights/lengths.

We can offer more specific advice, like other diet ideas, if we know more about the tortoise.
 

Tom

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Hello and welcome.

I think you should be feeding every day. The best strategy is a big outdoor pen full of weeds and grass and they can graze all day. If you don't live in that sort of area, climactically speaking, then you can just feed a pile of food about the size of your tortoise daily. If mine eat it all up right away in the morning, I will sometimes give them a little more in the afternoon.

Here's how I like o keep babies:
http://www.tortoiseforum.org/Thread-How-To-Raise-Sulcata-Hatchlings-and-Babies#axzz1iwQsaghO
 

Arizona Sulcata

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Don't listen to your brother, although they can go a while without being fed its best to feed them every day and mix up the diet. Eating soil is extremely bad for your tortoise. It will lead to resperatory infections. Also be sure to provide your tort with calcium supplements.
 

JoeB

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Definatly daily. Sometimes twice a day depending on activity.
 

wildponey21

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i have two sulcata that are 4 oz and 76 grams i feed twice a day and they to soak in warm wather once a day. also what you feeding now.
 

handsomeEdger

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We feed once in the morning and once again about 3pm, I wouldn't listen to your brother. Read on here you will find everything you need. I would rather them leave some food then not have anything to eat. We feed twice a day since we live in WA and they are inside, I don't like there stuff to get wilty, so I do two feedings.
 

laramie

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I will feed Wilbur (still a hatchling) before I leave for work in the morning (after I wake him up) and then when I get home from work I will feed him again. I hope that helps:D:D
 

wellington

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Brothers don't know anything:D:D. Just kidding. Except this time he is wrong. So let him know that you were right and he wasn't. That should help the sibling rivalry:p Haha. Listen to the people here, and you will be raising a happy tort.
 
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