Amount of food

[Carol S]

Hi:

I don't want to over-feed my baby Russian tort. If he is in an outside enclosure that has lots dandlions and other plants to eat will he over-eat and grow to fast, which I have read on the forum is bad?

As of now, I have him in an under-the-bed Rubbermaid enclosure that he stays in outside during the day so the only food he gets is what I give him, but in the future when he gets bigger I will be making an enclosure where he will have more room to roam around and will have dandlions and other plants inside it. When he has free access to all the food he wants will he pig out and over-eat?

When I first got him he did not like dandlions, but now he loves them. He liked Mazauri which I first got him and I gave it to him 1-2 times a week for the first few weeks, however, now he does not seem to like it anymore. Do you think that Mazauri is important for him to eat?

He is approximatley 4 1/2 months old so how much dandlions and other plants, etc. should I be feeding him every day? I try to give him a variety of things everyday. He likes Baby Spring Mix, dandlions, grape leaves, alyssum and collard greens so far. When I first got him he liked petunia, however, now he will not eat them.

Thank you for any information so I will know what is best for my baby tort.

Carol S

 

[Yvonne G]

The "living" season (good weather) in a Russian tortoise's home world is quite short and consequently, they are hard wired to eat as much as they can. Without a lot of exercise a Russian gets obese quite easily. I only feed my babies once a day, and I offer the amount of food they can clean up entirely. If they walk away, leaving food at the station, then I've given them too much. If they eat it all in no time at all and look for more, then I've probably not given them enough. Its not an easy question to answer, because you have to learn from YOUR tortoise what is good for him. But most of all, give him enough room to get lots of exercise...placing the food at the opposite end of the habitat from where he sleeps.

Yvonne

 

[Carol S]

The "living" season (good weather) in a Russian tortoise's home world is quite short and consequently, they are hard wired to eat as much as they can. Without a lot of exercise a Russian gets obese quite easily. I only feed my babies once a day, and I offer the amount of food they can clean up entirely. If they walk away, leaving food at the station, then I've given them too much. If they eat it all in no time at all and look for more, then I've probably not given them enough. Its not an easy question to answer, because you have to learn from YOUR tortoise what is good for him. But most of all, give him enough room to get lots of exercise...placing the food at the opposite end of the habitat from where he sleeps.

Yvonne

If there are weeds - dandlions, etc. growing in his future outside enclose will he overeat?

Carol S

 

[Maggie Cummings]

Generally speaking no he won't...

 

[Yvonne G]

If there are weeds - dandlions, etc. growing in his future outside enclose will he overeat?

Carol S

If you make the enclosure too small, then it is quite possible that he will overeat. They need to be able to do quite a bit of walking and get lots of exercise. When my Russians come out in the morning, they all line up next to the fence in the sun. After a bit they all go and graze. They whole time you actually see a Russian in my pen, they are grazing. After they graze a while, they go back into hiding. If they come out again in the evening, they graze some more. In the spring there is WAY too much food growing for them, but as the weather warms up the graze dwindles and there isn't as much. They really gorge themselves in the spring time.

Yvonne

 

[tortoisenerd]

When they are outside grazing, hopefully they have a much larger area than inside. They will walk around all day munching when they are not hiding. It's a different lifestyle really. Many torts in "small" enclosure with a huge pike of food readily accessible will overeat. Sometimes owners will also feed foods that are higher in calories than what they would get grazing or in the wild. That is another thing to look out for. A handful of food could differ greatly in calories depending on the type (Mazuri for example is high calorie compared to greens so you would feed less of it at a time). There is a difference between the two scenarios.

No, Mazuri is not important for him to eat. On this forum it is one of the only commercial foods we would ever recommend, that's all. If he doesn't like it that is fine. The fresh stuff is probably better! I think the variety you are offering is good. The more you can provide in terms of variety, the better. An average spring mix will have at least 4-6 kinds of greens. I even vary the brand to get more variety as they will differ.

Do keep in mind that dandelion greens are high in oxalic acid, as are some other greens. You don't want those high in oxalic acid to be the sole part of the diet. Variety in that sense is good as well. The future enclosure sounds great--there are dozens of things you could plant and create a tort paradise.

Tortoise's dietary likes and dislikes will change over time. For my tort, I think this could be due to what is offered. If I offer three foods one day, I may think he likes something because he chooses it first, then eats on other thing, and then leaves the third. If I then offer that food I think he liked best, and two other foods, compared to the other foods, now he may not like that first one! I think as long as you find enough foods he likes that are healthy it is fine. You can always keep offering something if you have it on hand and are not paying for it though. I now know there are a few things my tort doesn't like, but may eat if it is the only thing offered. I try to stick to things he really likes as everything I give him is healthy anyways (I don't even do the "treat" foods).

Best wishes.