How Often Should I Be Feeding My Russian Tortoise?

pinkgirlisnice

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Hi! I recently adopted a russian tortoise, believed to be male, not sure how old. His name is Scooter, he isn’t very big. I’ve had him for a little over a month now, and some days I feel like I’m not feeding him enough. I usually give him a pretty big handful or two of food every day, sometimes I’ll do that twice. He constantly seems to be hungry though, going to his food bowl and looking for food. I usually give him food around the morning/afternoon and he does finish just about all of it by night time. Am I not feeding him enough? Should I be giving him more food when he seems hungry even if I already “feed” him that day? Should I be feeding him more than once a day? Maybe he is just exploring and I’m overthinking? He seems to be doing very well and seems very healthy. I’ve definitely gotten the hang of taking care of him better, but still learning and trying to figure some things out.

Also, does anyone have an idea of how old he might be? I’ll attach a picture. Not sure if there’s a way to tell, and it’s not super important, but would be good to know.
Those two pictures are a month apart from each other. The one of him on top of my hand was from a month ago and the one of him next to my hand was from today.
 

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biochemnerd808

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Hi there and welcome.
Feeding: a good rule of thumb is to feed your tortoise a pile of weeds and/or greens about the size of his shell. He might want to eat more in the Springtime, and might slow down in hottest Summer or coldest winter. As long as you are feeding tortoise safe weeds and greens, it's OK to give him a little more food if he has eaten up everything by noon... But don't feed too much more. You don't want him to suddenly grow really quickly, as it's not good for him.

The Tortoise Table (find via Google) is a really valuable database of various plants and whether they are safe to fred your tortoise. They also have a free printable plant booklet.

As far as age, it's impossible to tell, especially when the tortoise is wild-caught, as yours is. I would say he is likely somewhere between 8-15 years old. In the grand scheme, his exact age doesn't matter, since with proper care, he will outlive his human.
 

wellington

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Feed him enough that it will last all day even with a little left over. In the wild they will graze whenever they want, we need to have enough food available for them to do that.
Also he needs to be in a 4x8 minimum enclosure. Likely the glass tank you probably have him in will not be big enough for an adult russian.
 

Tom

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Hi! I recently adopted a russian tortoise, believed to be male, not sure how old. His name is Scooter, he isn’t very big. I’ve had him for a little over a month now, and some days I feel like I’m not feeding him enough. I usually give him a pretty big handful or two of food every day, sometimes I’ll do that twice. He constantly seems to be hungry though, going to his food bowl and looking for food. I usually give him food around the morning/afternoon and he does finish just about all of it by night time. Am I not feeding him enough? Should I be giving him more food when he seems hungry even if I already “feed” him that day? Should I be feeding him more than once a day? Maybe he is just exploring and I’m overthinking? He seems to be doing very well and seems very healthy. I’ve definitely gotten the hang of taking care of him better, but still learning and trying to figure some things out.

Also, does anyone have an idea of how old he might be? I’ll attach a picture. Not sure if there’s a way to tell, and it’s not super important, but would be good to know.
Those two pictures are a month apart from each other. The one of him on top of my hand was from a month ago and the one of him next to my hand was from today.
Feed your tortoise as much of the right foods as it wants every day.

The right foods and much more are here:
 

pinkgirlisnice

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Joined
Dec 5, 2021
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17
Location (City and/or State)
California
Hi there and welcome.
Feeding: a good rule of thumb is to feed your tortoise a pile of weeds and/or greens about the size of his shell. He might want to eat more in the Springtime, and might slow down in hottest Summer or coldest winter. As long as you are feeding tortoise safe weeds and greens, it's OK to give him a little more food if he has eaten up everything by noon... But don't feed too much more. You don't want him to suddenly grow really quickly, as it's not good for him.

The Tortoise Table (find via Google) is a really valuable database of various plants and whether they are safe to fred your tortoise. They also have a free printable plant booklet.

As far as age, it's impossible to tell, especially when the tortoise is wild-caught, as yours is. I would say he is likely somewhere between 8-15 years old. In the grand scheme, his exact age doesn't matter, since with proper care, he will outlive his human.
Thank you so much! This was all very helpful and reassuring!
 

pinkgirlisnice

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Joined
Dec 5, 2021
Messages
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Location (City and/or State)
California
Feed your tortoise as much of the right foods as it wants every day.

The right foods and much more are here:
Thank you!
 

pinkgirlisnice

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Joined
Dec 5, 2021
Messages
17
Location (City and/or State)
California
Feed him enough that it will last all day even with a little left over. In the wild they will graze whenever they want, we need to have enough food available for them to do that.
Also he needs to be in a 4x8 minimum enclosure. Likely the glass tank you probably have him in will not be big enough for an adult russian.
Thank you! This was very helpful!
 

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