Wow they can eat!

[J H]

I have read here that tortoises only eat when they are hungry and not to worry about over feeding. Roxy is about 8 months old now 6months old when I got her according to old owners. She's about 260 grams and growing quickly. She eats ALL THE TIME. Whenever I go into the room she is in she is eating! She seems totally healthy / active and alert. I am just amazed at how much she can eat compared to her body size! That's normal right? She eats spring mix / grass from the yard and is now eating zoomed grassland and mazuri when offered. I'm not worried just amazed!

 

[wellington]

Yes, they can eat. I have a 6 month leopard and I swear she eats more then the adults. Pretty normal

 

[Jodie]

Wait til you see what she eats at 50 pounds. And the piles of poop.

 

[Tom]

Yes. It is amazing. Soon, when your tortoise gets just a little bigger, you will have a brief moment of panic when you realize just how much food this little monster is putting away every day and you contemplate just exactly how you are going to be able to provide that much food on a daily basis. When that day comes, remember these two words: Grass hay. You can begin introducing it at any time. I like to feed young ones on a bed of grass hay. I prefer orchard grass hay or bermuda hay. But grass hay will be your best friend when your tortoise reaches 12+ inches in length.

You should also start looking for local mulberry trees, and plant a bunch of spineless opuntia and grape vines. If you live in the right climate, plant a bunch of hibiscus too.

 

[J H]

The poop is already amazing compared to her size. Everyday I wonder how all that was in there and still room to constantly eat! I swear the poop is the size of my adult redfoot's poop.

 

[Tom]

The poop is already amazing compared to her size. Everyday I wonder how all that was in there and still room to constantly eat! I swear the poop is the size of my adult redfoot's poop.

I had an 80 pound sulcata living next to a 140 pound great dane. The sulcata poops were bigger. And more numerous.

 

[J H]

I could do some indoor growing to a point. I live in Minnesota unfortunately. I only got a sulcata as a rescue situation. I would not have bought from a breeder due to climate. But she was already in MN and totally not taken care of so anything is better than what she had.

 

[surfergirl]

I shovel eight little carmelized hay bales or more every day with my sully. I had a standard poodle for 13 years and he out pooped him every day.

They are so cute and little when i bought mine but he grew up into cute big eating and pooing machine.

 

[Maggie Cummings]

I am fostering a 2 yr old probably female. When I got her on Feb 5th she weighed 800 grams. In 3 months she has gone to 4.5 pounds. She eats like a lion eating a gazelle. She definitely eats more than my adult Hermanni and adult Russian put together. I feed her breakfast and open her doggie door and she goes out, then spend hours grazing. I am amazed at the amount she eats. I pick wild stuff or stuff that is grown for the torts. I have 28 Rose of Sharon trees, so they eat a lot of leaves......She's just like Bob....Did I do that???? Eyes closed she's attacking that food like a lion, sorry it's so blurry, that's her shaking the food......

 

[mike taylor]

I feed my tortoises every morning an after work . They graze all day an still eat something . When you have over 18 tortoises you're going to need good grass an weeds to graze on or you'll break the bank . Haha

 

[amcgath04]

I could do some indoor growing to a point. I live in Minnesota unfortunately. I only got a sulcata as a rescue situation. I would not have bought from a breeder due to climate. But she was already in MN and totally not taken care of so anything is better than what she had.

Hi J H! I am in Minnesota too. We are working on building our warm box and I would love to get some ideas from others in MN!

 

[J H]

Right now roxy is only 4" or so. So for now she is easy to house but before long it will be a different story. There are people on here keeping sulcatas in similar climates but I also am always looking for ideas to make it easier.

 

[J H]

Amcgath04 are you in the city or rural area? How big is your sulcata? Do you plan keeping it in or outside in the winter? I have a few years before I need to figure it out but am trying to get ideas early on

 

[Maggie Cummings]

Here's my advice to you from Minnesota. In Oregon it rains or snows for 7 months yearly. I had a big house for my 125 lb. Sulcata Bob. Now I imagine in MN your guys will be inside for months every year. Those guys need area to burn off that energy they have. Bob's house was 20'X12' and at times I could hear him ramming the doggie door to get out. I finally started opening his door every morning. He went out, rain, snow, ice. Maybe didn't stay too long, but if he could make up his own mind to go or stay he wasn't so violent. Believe me , those "California type night boxes" won't work for the North. They need room to roam, and burn off that energy....

 

[Maggie Cummings]

Bob's Shed, now La Chiquita's

 

[amcgath04]

Amcgath04 are you in the city or rural area? How big is your sulcata? Do you plan keeping it in or outside in the winter? I have a few years before I need to figure it out but am trying to get ideas early on

J H,
I recently adopted "Wilson" and she/he is 10". We live in the city but have a very large yard. We started to make an outdoor area but quickly decided we needed to make it quite larger after reading a comment from "Tom" on here. We definitely will be keeping "Wilson" inside during the winter. Our plan is to move to Florida in 4 years when my youngest graduated high school. My entire family lives there and "Wilson" can be outside all year long. In the mean time, I am scouring this forum for indoor winter housing plans, please let me know what you find!

 

[amcgath04]

Here's my advice to you from Minnesota. In Oregon it rains or snows for 7 months yearly. I had a big house for my 125 lb. Sulcata Bob. Now I imagine in MN your guys will be inside for months every year. Those guys need area to burn off that energy they have. Bob's house was 20'X12' and at times I could hear him ramming the doggie door to get out. I finally started opening his door every morning. He went out, rain, snow, ice. Maybe didn't stay too long, but if he could make up his own mind to go or stay he wasn't so violent. Believe me , those "California type night boxes" won't work for the North. They need room to roam, and burn off that energy....

Thanks for the advice Maggie! How do you heat your shed? How long did you have Bob?

 

[J H]

Amcgath04
I have a friend in Bloomington, MN who keeps 2 smaller adults about 30 lbs. they are in what I would say is to small of an enclosure but it works. It is a large shipping crate. It's about 8x12'. (I know it's small). It's in his heated garage 70 deg all winter. He has heat lights in the enclosure. They stay in that in the winter and cold nights. When weather permits they live outside 24/7.

 

[Maggie Cummings]

He lived in that shed 24/7. It was heated by a DeLonghi oil type heater, at the lowest setting it keeps the shed a steady 85 degrees. There's a sleeping box that Bob always slept in, with a pig blanket in a corner. La Chiquita sleeps on it now. Sad. Anyway, Queenie lives in a tort table in there and has a 100 watt Powersun MVB. So does Mandy the Russian. So those lights help heat the room also. I open the doggie door for Bob daily, and if he wanted to go out in the snow, he did. He lived his life the way he wanted to. Now there's a 2 year old living in his place. She's bad, smart, trouble and pretty. I still open the doggie door, and she figured out how to go in and out the first day. She goes out in the rain, then goes in under her basking light.

Bob was 125 pounds and 17 yrs old when that Vet did him in. I respect most Vets, but not this one, he created a nightmare for me.....Oh, I also run a humidifier 24/7 in the shed.....