How OFTEN and How MUCH should a Leopard tortoise hatchling eat?

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Redmesa

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Hi guys and gals:

My leopard hatchlng eats a lot - one lettuce leaf twice a day as well as one cucumber slice (small) per day. He eats in the morning and in the afternoon. He nibbles on timothy hay in the meantime but seems to want fresh food the most. He is not into his grass pellets but I think he nibbles on them, too. Does this sound like enough food? Does two big meals twice a day sound like he is eating often enough?

Thanks

-Red
 

matt581

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Ya sounds good.Mine eat everyday at 6:15am and i get home around 4pm and there is still some in there dish i have 2.They are little cows all they do is eat and sleep. But id keep doin what you are doing when he is full he will walk away
 

Tom

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I feed them a pile the size of the tortoise every morning. If they eat it all up then I feed them some more in the after noon.

Lettuce and cucumber is not enough nutrition for a growing baby. Most of the time leopards won't eat dry grass and just recently Neal posted a study that showed grass is not a big component of most leopard diets. They need weeds, cactus, mulberry leaves, hibiscus leaves, much more variety in the store bought leafy greens, etc... Mazuri would help a lot too. What sort of grass pellets are you feeding?
 

wellington

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Mine is 11 months now, but has always eaten twice a day. I give a pile about the size of him or more. You do need to feed a much better variety of food. Check out the tortoise table.org they have a list of safe plants, weeds, flowers etc to feed. Also from the grocery store pick up some spring mix salad add to that some of the dark green leafy greens, like turnip greens, mustard greens, bok choy, endive, dandelion greens etc.
 

Jacob

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You need a varied diet, change it up a lot.
it won't care too much about grass or hay until its older.
you can try feeding, spring mix, cactus, weeds, dandelion , muzuri, dark leafy greens.
 

Zamric

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My 2 hatchling get a pile of Spring mix and a couple of pieces of Mazuri (Soften up with water) in the moning at 6:30am after their soak. When I get home at 4pm I take out whats left (most all the Mazuri and a little wilted spring mix). Then they just nibble on the live succulants in the tank.
 

ALDABRAMAN

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Jacob said:
You need a varied diet, change it up a lot.
it won't care too much about grass or hay until its older.
you can try feeding, spring mix, cactus, weeds, dandelion , muzuri, dark leafy greens.

:)
 

Jacqui

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Welcome! I think everybody has pretty much summed it up with the fact you really need to enlarge the diet with more variety and better nutritional food items.
 

Redmesa

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matt581 said:
Ya sounds good.Mine eat everyday at 6:15am and i get home around 4pm and there is still some in there dish i have 2.They are little cows all they do is eat and sleep. But id keep doin what you are doing when he is full he will walk away



I am feeding him Zoo Med grassland tortoise food, which he doesn't eat unless I grin dit up and sprinkle it on his lettuce/cucumbers.

I am going today to buy Mazuri pellets and despined pricklypads today.

Thank you for the advice.



Thanks, Everyone, for the advice and tips!
 

Redmesa

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Thanks again, everyone. I have added the suggested variety to the diet and I have also tried mixing the vegetables with the softened pelleted diet and my tort hatchling is now eating a greater variety of foods and more. I appreciate your time and advice!
 
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