Question on eating plants vs. food you provide

[newCH]

Hello,
Got a few questions - if you have an outdoor enclosure and you keep live plants inside that
are non-toxic, you are therefore giving the tort the opportunity to graze.
In that situation, when you provide other food and its not completely gone or not eaten, do you look
for missing leaves or smaller plants ? Do you just assume that the tort will eat when its hungry and not worry ?
While outdoor enclosure sounds great with live plants, I'm just thinking that you lose
control of how much and of exactly what they eat/variey ? Like do they favor hibiscus
until the plant is mowed down and then not want to eat spring mix kinda thing ???

 

[lismar79]

I assume the tort will eat when he is hungry. When mine are outside, I let them graze and trust they are doing what they need to. The bennifit of the natural sunlight makes up for my worry over what variety they munch on.

 

[Moozillion]

When I started keeping my Hermann's, Elsa, outdoors for the first time, I fed her the same as always. At first, she ate everything we gave her. Then, over time, as she got familiar with her outdoor enclosure and we saw her eating the plants in it, we reduced her feeding somewhat. We want to make sure she always gets a little calcium, so we always mix in some cucumber dusted with scrapings from a cuttlebone- she ALWAYS eats that!
As long as she is active and behaving normally, I don't feel like I have to monitor every single thing she eats. Although I know many of the plants in her enclosure, I don't know them all- but she never seems to eat a whole lot of any one thing (except her Ice Plant and Wandering Jew, both of which I planted because they are good for her).

 

[Jacqui]

My question is why should we control what and how much our tortoises eat? Does somebody treat you that way? I agree with the above who says as long as the animal is healthy and active, why interfere? While some of my outside tortoises will sit and devour an entire plant, usually they do more of a bit or mouthful or two here, then they move a bit and do the same thing. I never really can see the actual grazing spot, but especially with the sulcatas, I start noticing a more overall trimmed down look (if that makes sense?). If they choose to eat all of one plant for a day or a week, that's fine. Variety comes from the overall diet, not each and every day needing variety. I know sometimes I get in a rut and all I want is one food item for a few days, why should the tortoises be different. In the wild they would make use of available food and for instance if they came along to a cactus with fruit, they might settle in for a few days of feasting rather then pass up a certain food supply or a possible food supply with more variety or no food and starvation..

 

[Jacqui]

Keep in mind too, free grazing is about more then the food value itself. It's about the tortoises getting exercise, using muscles not used when eating cut up food off a dish (reaching, ripping, tearing are all things that need to be utilized to have a healthy tortoise). There is mental stimulation in hunting down food and figuring how to get to it. There is finding trace minerals out there in that dirt. Food free grown outside tends to also be firmer, more fibrous then the soft watery stuff we buy for human consumption in the store. Just so much to free graze that we seldom think about.

 

[Tom]

I think this is a case by case basis. It depends on where you are, what you have growing, the weather, the season, the size and age, the species, etc... In my area my pens are nothing but dry dirt for 7 months a year. Anything I do get to grow is mowed down very quickly as soon as they have access to it, so supplemental feeding is a necessity. For the other five months of the year, the weeds and grass grow so fast that they can't eat it fast enough and I have to weed whack it down in some areas. I would guess that things are more steadily green in South FL for you. So many variables to consider.

I will tell say that the frequently used sentiment that "tortoises do better outside", is not always true. I suppose even this depends on how you define "better". I find that babies especially do much better when kept indoors the majority of the time in properly set up large enclosures. Outdoors all day for babies here dries them out and slows them way down.

In any case, the simple solution to your dilemma is to weigh the tortoise a couple of times a week. A young animal should show steady gains over time while an older animal should at least maintain weight, if not grow a little. If you find that your outdoor grazer is dropping weight, you can always add some supplemental food.

 

[newCH]

Thanks for your replies. Yes, in So. FL it stays green out all year.
I am not a "green thumb" person & have joked that I have trouble
keeping a cactus alive.
I was planning for next year, having our little Sheldon to have a
safe area that he can visit while I'm out working in the yard.
We also have 2 rabbits & I do actually hang out laundry to dry
most of the year. So when im outside, I would like him to benefit from real
outdoor sunshine.
He wont be out when I'm not there, he's too small now.
I was worried about how some people say no to overfed the tort.
Thats why I was wondering about the plants to graze on.
Thanks again