Feeding daily?

phebe121

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My leopards i feed daily. And have food growing in there enclosure but the food i feed them last all day in there dish i feed my babies about 3 to 4 cups a food daily a long with fresh water everday and a soak evey other day
 

CindyWho4

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I haven't had this RT long, but I had one for 11 years before...I didn't know not making food available daily was even a thing. Every day it was there. In the colder months, sometimes she'd only nibble at it, but it was there EVERY day.
 

Elohi

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I feed daily. I have little experience compared to the experience of many of you who have been keeping tortoises longer than I've been alive. (And I'm 35) But I am pretty intelligent and hypervigilant in the care of my tortoises. I'm also always learning and always exploring new ideas and theories. After all, it is my belief that learning, changing, and adapting is what we are all here to do. ;)
 

tortdad

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I'm with you. My indoor Redfoots get fed every morning and something's an afternoon snack. My sulcata lives outside and feeds himself twice a day. He comes out of his night box and grazes around 7:30am and comes back out when the sun has set enough that the shadow from my 6' tall fence casts a shadow about 3/4 of the way across his pen.


0.0.1 Redfoot (Spike)
0.0.1 Cherryhead Redfoot (Bruce Wayne)
1.0 Sulcata (Hal Jordan)
 

Tyanna

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I feed twice daily, once in morning, once in evening. :) If the food isn't there at normal times (usually when I get home late and it's husband's job to feed him ;)) he will start nibbling at his substrate and make quite a mess until he's fed.
 

Janine

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I feed my tortoise everyday, I don't understand why people advise to feed them every 2/3 days, I think its rather unfair on them, this way my tortoise gets more nutrients. I feed him little and often. If I worry about giving him too much protein or phosphorus I can feed him something like iceberg lettuce just so it fills him up and keeps him hydrated
 

Alaskamike

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The concern over daily feeding stems from 2 things - one it takes torts time to digest their food, and get the most out of it. Pooping out yesterday's meal to make room for today's might be too fast. I don't know about this one
But the bigger issue ( I believe ) has been the idea that too fast of growth in captive environments can lead to pyramiding and MBD.
There is some good research that supports this. That slow steady growth is better for health.
My belief has been that the more we can provide natural healthy variety , hydration, and natural grazing these issues will not surface. But this is not an invalid concern , especially in the larger fast growth species like Aldabras, Sulcata and Leopards.
 

Janine

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Yes I have heard this too, but I believe if you feed them very little but often its better than feeding them one full meal every few days
 

jskahn

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Thanks Mike, that is by far the best article on pyramiding I have read.
 

Tom

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The concern over daily feeding stems from 2 things - one it takes torts time to digest their food, and get the most out of it. Pooping out yesterday's meal to make room for today's might be too fast. I don't know about this one
But the bigger issue ( I believe ) has been the idea that too fast of growth in captive environments can lead to pyramiding and MBD.
There is some good research that supports this. That slow steady growth is better for health.
My belief has been that the more we can provide natural healthy variety , hydration, and natural grazing these issues will not surface. But this is not an invalid concern , especially in the larger fast growth species like Aldabras, Sulcata and Leopards.


I have heard those theories proposed and illuminated by many, such as Andy the author of that link, who joined the forum here and had an 18 page argument that went nowhere. The problem is that all of those theories sound great and make so much sense on a cerebra level, but they don't pan out in reality. In reality, my fastest growers are also my smoothest and most vigorous within any of my groups. In reality, attempts to simulate what our human perception of what these tortoises endure in the wild, leads to pyramided, stunted tortoises. In reality, I have found ways that really work for anyone anywhere in the world to grow them smoothly and healthy. I'm not talking about theories of wild living. I'm talking about decades of hands on experience actually raising them in our typical captive environments. Attempting to simulate the wild does not work in our captive environments. It can work if you live in a mild climate similar to the area where a given species comes from and you set up and plant a big naturalistic enclosure, but it is not going to work in a glass tank in a living room in New Jersey.
 

tortadise

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I feed daily. Twice to even three times. Depending on species and temperature though. When it's very warm and they're most active they will get fed 3 times. But smaller portions. I won't dump a massive amount in and let them free for all,
 

zenoandthetortoise

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I have heard those theories proposed and illuminated by many, such as Andy the author of that link, who joined the forum here and had an 18 page argument that went nowhere. The problem is that all of those theories sound great and make so much sense on a cerebra level, but they don't pan out in reality. In reality, my fastest growers are also my smoothest and most vigorous within any of my groups. In reality, attempts to simulate what our human perception of what these tortoises endure in the wild, leads to pyramided, stunted tortoises. In reality, I have found ways that really work for anyone anywhere in the world to grow them smoothly and healthy. I'm not talking about theories of wild living. I'm talking about decades of hands on experience actually raising them in our typical captive environments. Attempting to simulate the wild does not work in our captive environments. It can work if you live in a mild climate similar to the area where a given species comes from and you set up and plant a big naturalistic enclosure, but it is not going to work in a glass tank in a living room in New Jersey.

Speaking somewhat off the cuff, I don't find the "natural conditions are the healthiest" claims to be that compelling. Natural conditions are seldom optimal and it would stand to reason that optimal conditions (in terms of hydration, diet, and temperature) would promote optimal growth.
The article does raise the interesting idea that high humidity may hide MBD without addressing it. I've not seen any comparative X-rays, but this does seem straightforward to either confirm or deny.
 

Alaskamike

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Tom ,
I know I have not been a part of this historical humidity / hydration debate , and do not have the experience you and many keepers on the forum here have.
There is no doubt that you and others have advanced health in tortoise care immeasurably in this area. I follow your advice in this area with all my torts.
Having said that , however, my scientific brain is always searching for the " whys" and " how's" of biological mechanisms and experience has shown few issues are stand alone without influencing and complicating factors.
Even when we have a ' eureka' moment in research , we always reserve a small doubt and skepticism that we don't know all there is to know and in fact might even be wrong ( God forbid :).
We know allot now about tortoise care unknown 5 yrs ago and I suspect 5 yrs from now we will know even more. One of the reasons I love torts so much are these mysteries and discovery.
What I loved about that article was not so much the speculation on external causes of various forms of MBD but the scientific evidence and explanation of the internal forces going on. This I hope can be appreciated even if you disagree with any speculative conclusions drawn.
I find in any metabolic process. Few things have totally isolated cause and effect.
Food , hydration, heat, sunlight, exercise, stress, bullying and genetics all must have impacts. What , how much and in what combinations is all that we can investigate.
That said , you've shown adequate hydration to be one of the keys.
Sent from my iPhone
 

Tom

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Speaking somewhat off the cuff, I don't find the "natural conditions are the healthiest" claims to be that compelling. Natural conditions are seldom optimal and it would stand to reason that optimal conditions (in terms of hydration, diet, and temperature) would promote optimal growth.
The article does raise the interesting idea that high humidity may hide MBD without addressing it. I've not seen any comparative X-rays, but this does seem straightforward to either confirm or deny.

We agree completely.

I offered to have mine X-rayed and Andy declined. My offer was that if my high humidity raised tortoises had any problems that he was suggesting they would, I would pay for the Xrays myself and publicly eat my words. I asked the same of him. If my torts all demonstrated the healthy bone growth that I know they would, thereby proving my assertions correct, then he would pay for the X-rays and publicly admit his incorrect assumptions. He declined, apparently not willing to put his money where his mouth is. Instead he threw hissy fits and called people names for believing the evidence in front of their own eyes in their own homes, instead of believing in and following his speculative theories about what happens in the wild. His own friend joined him here on the forum and said as much. Frances is saintly in my eyes and made the brilliant suggestion that Andy and I both had items of value to add to the discussion. I agree with her.
 

Tom

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Tom ,
Having said that , however, my scientific brain is always searching for the " whys" and " how's"...

As does mine my friend. Lets all keep learning. To me, and apparently as opposed to Andy, what happens daily in our enclosures is also offering pieces to the "why" and "how" puzzle. I think these pieces ought to be addressed, examined and weighted heavily in our discussions, since we are discussing captive raised tortoises after all.
 

Katherine

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I share your sentiment and feeding philosophy, like you we leave our tortoises outside year round with heated dog houses for thermoregulation in cooler months, so they have access to food and water every day and it's a RARE day they don't come out to eat (save estivation periods for the box turtles). I don't really understand why anyone would advise infrequent feedings, I fail to see a health benefit in withholding nutrients.
 

leigti

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I guess I am a really stupid mewbie. I have heard the theories about feeding every two or three days but I never knew there was a serious debate about it. I just thought the norm was to feed daily but not to get too worried if they skip a day or two for some unforeseen reason. When outdoors in the summer I let my Russian eat all the plants in the enclosure because they are tortoise safe. I give her cactus about once a week out there. I do supplement the box turtle with protein and fruits and vegetables.
 

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