Over-eating?

[Rachel_tzm]

Hi all,

Got my first pet for Christmas this year. His? name is Sheldon and he's 5 months. I've browsed the threads here and have seen people reporting their baby marginated torts not eating but mine never stops! I feel awful limiting his meals but I know it's important that he only eats the size of his body 5 out of 7 days a week. Just wondered if anyone else has a greedy baby? Here's a pic of him having just demolished some baby leaf watercress.

 

[G-stars]

Hello and welcome.

Your one of the lucky few who worry about eating too much as opposed to not eating enough. If your tortoise has a good sized enclosure to exercise and a healthy varied diet I would let him eat all he wants.

 

[Rachel_tzm]

Thanks I won't worry too much then! Enclosure is fairly big, more then enough room for him to wander about and I let him out in the flat whenever I am home. Will move to a house so he can have a garden in the next few years although I do live in the UK so there won't be many months warm enough for him to enjoy it!

 

[G-stars]

Thanks I won't worry too much then! Enclosure is fairly big, more then enough room for him to wander about and I let him out in the flat whenever I am home. Will move to a house so he can have a garden in the next few years although I do live in the UK so there won't be many months warm enough for him to enjoy it!

What do you mean by flat? Are you referring to the floor indoors?

 

[Rachel_tzm]

You may use the word "apartment" yeah I just mean I take him out of the enclosure and let him walk around.. supervised. That's not bad is it?

 

[G-stars]

You may use the word "apartment" yeah I just mean I take him out of the enclosure and let him walk around.. supervised. That's not bad is it?

Yes we Americans use the word apartment. It could be a bad thing, we have had many members who have lost their tortoises this way. Even people who swore they always supervised them. It only takes a moment for something to happen. Besides there are many foreign objects on the floor which can be harmful if ingested.

 

[Rachel_tzm]

Yes agreed they move surprisingly fast and he's so tiny it could take just a few seconds to lose him. Thanks for your help.

 

[Ryan Kruse]

Beautiful tort!!! I say let him eat what he wants to.

 

[Rachel_tzm]

Beautiful tort!!! I say let him eat what he wants to.

Thank you

 

[russian/sulcata/tortoise]

i can see his shell starting to pyramid, remember to keep the substrate moist and the cage at a high humidity level.

 

[Rachel_tzm]

i can see his shell starting to pyramid, remember to keep the substrate moist and the cage at a high humidity level.

Until I came on here I hadn't realised how important high humidity/moist substrate was. It's really bad how some suppliers know so little about the little critters they are breeding. Thanks for the heads up, I'll be investing in some nicer substrate for him