Normal behavior?

[Gail]

I'm still relatively new to keep torts and I have no idea what is normal daily behavior.
I have 2 babies housed together, they are around 2". They are eating, drinking and pooping but they also spend quite a bit of time sleeping on and off during the day, is this ok?
I'm only fostering them for a bit, they were a unexpected addition so I was quite unprepared.

Also, how much should they be eating a day? I give them there greens around 9AM and if they have eaten all it buy the evening, I usally give them more. They are bottomless pits and I'm sure they would over eat if I let them.

What is average weight gain for a week? I haven't been keeping very good track of their weight but they seem to be gaining really slow. Of course, I'm used to bearded dragons and they grow very fast.

 

[Greg T]

Don't worry, what you are describing sounds fine. Torts are usually active early mornings and later afternoon/evenings. They will sleep all night and just lay around/nap a lot during the day. Feeding can vary depending on who you ask, but most will tell you to give them a pile of food that they will eat within 20-30 minutes, twice a day if they are inside. There isn't much wrong with leaving the food out all day, but they tend to get soft and icky. The little guys will eat quite a bit, and it won't hurt to feed them greens if you think they are hungry. They won't gain much if you only feed greens, but you can expect a higher gain if you feed mazuri or other tortoise food along with the greens.

Keep up the good work.

 

[Gail]

Thank you. I do offer them mazuri but I'm not sure how much they eat, same with the hay I provide. There greens aren't just stuff from the store, they also get dandelion greens, strawberry leaves, mallow leaves and various other weed stuff.
I'm going to start offering orchard grass too since I have a few patches in the yard. Might try to dry some for the winter.

 

[Greg T]

Sounds like you have it well under control. I usually let the mazuri soak in water for several minutes to soften up and give my larger guys 10 or so pieces in the morning with their greens. You could give them a few pieces each day, or every other day to change it up some. If you can get them outside for a few hours of sunshine as much as possible, it will really help them out and they tend to get more active too.