Eating

[rachelp001]

Hi
I have 2 sulcata tortoises who are only a few weeks old at a estimate the food bowl is in the cooler end of the tank
When the food is put in bowser goes straight to food bowl and eats where as little foot doesn't bother but if put food on the basking rock little foot eats it straight away my question is do some tortoises only eat if there food is in the warm end of the tank?

 

[Jodie]

Interesting question and observation. I put food in multiple locations for my Leopards, and it all gets eaten.

 

[ascott]

How about placing one each side....then you can really observe to assure they are both equally eating what they should....may I ask, when there is no food present, do they both equally use the basking spot?

 

[rachelp001]

Yes they do they even both use the same hide! And if food is at the basking area and cool area then bowser eats food from bowl and little foot from basking area and then bowser comes to basking area and they eat the food together

 

[ascott]

Yes they do they even both use the same hide! And if food is at the basking area and cool area then bowser eats food from bowl and little foot from basking area and then bowser comes to basking area and they eat the food together

Actually, with this information, I believe you now see the dominant tortoise, Bowser is the dominant tortoise of the pair. Please do take care in keeping an eye on their growth and behavior....if you notice one tort being the outgoing tort and the other the shy one...you may want to create a second equal space so that they can each have their own space....I believe this will eventually be the case, especially for this species of tortoise...

 

[rachelp001]

Actually, with this information, I believe you now see the dominant tortoise, Bowser is the dominant tortoise of the pair. Please do take care in keeping an eye on their growth and behavior....if you notice one tort being the outgoing tort and the other the shy one...you may want to create a second equal space so that they can each have their own space....I believe this will eventually be the case, especially for this species of tortoise...

We are going to separate once they get older and sometimes bowser seems to be more dominant but other times little foot is as he will go up to bowser when he's eating and take food from in front of him but we think bowser maybe a week or so older as he was slightly bigger when got him but after little foot ate the food from hot area he keeps walking down to food bowl and has been eating from it so maybe he just needed a bit of time or a boost of food first

 

[ascott]

We are going to separate once they get older and sometimes bowser seems to be more dominant but other times little foot is as he will go up to bowser when he's eating and take food from in front of him but we think bowser maybe a week or so older as he was slightly bigger when got him but after little foot ate the food from hot area he keeps walking down to food bowl and has been eating from it so maybe he just needed a bit of time or a boost of food first

Perhaps....

 

[tortdad]

We are going to separate once they get older and sometimes bowser seems to be more dominant but other times little foot is as he will go up to bowser when he's eating and take food from in front of him but we think bowser maybe a week or so older as he was slightly bigger when got him but after little foot ate the food from hot area he keeps walking down to food bowl and has been eating from it so maybe he just needed a bit of time or a boost of food first

Bulling happens even with hatchlings. Just keep and eye on them and be ready to separate sooner than you expected. Sulcatas typically don't do well in pairs. You said they use the same hide but do you have multiple hides in case they don't want to share?


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

 

[rachelp001]

Bulling happens even with hatchlings. Just keep and eye on them and be ready to separate sooner than you expected. Sulcatas typically don't do well in pairs. You said they use the same hide but do you have multiple hides in case they don't want to share?

We did have 2 hides however they both ended up using same one inside or one on top one inside etc and bowser get jumping off of the 2nd hide and flipping on his back so had to remove it

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