Growing Too Fast?

[Marz ??&?shelly]

My baby, Shelly, spur thighed, gained 5.1 grams in three weeks. Am I feeding her too much?

 

[JoesMum]

Short answer: No!

You cannot overfeed a tortoise. They will grow quickly, but 5g is negligible... a poop can weigh more than that.

You should be offering a mound of greens roughly the size of your tort’s shell first thing every morning and leave your tortoise to browse. If it’s all eaten during the day then offer more.

Please read the following care guide and compare it with your setup so you can be sure of offering the best for your tortoise

The Best Way To Raise Any Temperate Species Of Tortoise

I chose the title of this care sheet very carefully. Are there other ways to raise babies and care for adults? Yes. Yes there are, but those ways are not as good. What follows is the BEST way, according to 30 years of research and experimentation with hundreds of babies of many species. What is...

www.tortoiseforum.org

 

[Marz ??&?shelly]

Short answer: No!

You cannot overfeed a tortoise. They will grow quickly, but 5g is negligible... a poop can weigh more than that.

You should be offering a mound of greens roughly the size of your tort’s shell first thing every morning and leave your tortoise to browse. If it’s all eaten during the day then offer more.

Please read the following care guide and compare it with your setup so you can be sure of offering the best for your tortoise

The Best Way To Raise Any Temperate Species Of Tortoise

I chose the title of this care sheet very carefully. Are there other ways to raise babies and care for adults? Yes. Yes there are, but those ways are not as good. What follows is the BEST way, according to 30 years of research and experimentation with hundreds of babies of many species. What is...

www.tortoiseforum.org

thank you so much joes mum ?

once againyou have been extremely helpful

and that’s exactly what I do each morning- a mould of greens and then at around 1 I pick up all the remaining left overs and out another fresh mild outas I can tell she wants to eat again as she goes to her food again

Also Shelly had her first check up at the vets yesterday and she is all well and healthy as far as the vet could see so that was a relief ?

 

[Marz ??&?shelly]

Short answer: No!

You cannot overfeed a tortoise. They will grow quickly, but 5g is negligible... a poop can weigh more than that.

You should be offering a mound of greens roughly the size of your tort’s shell first thing every morning and leave your tortoise to browse. If it’s all eaten during the day then offer more.

Please read the following care guide and compare it with your setup so you can be sure of offering the best for your tortoise

The Best Way To Raise Any Temperate Species Of Tortoise

I chose the title of this care sheet very carefully. Are there other ways to raise babies and care for adults? Yes. Yes there are, but those ways are not as good. What follows is the BEST way, according to 30 years of research and experimentation with hundreds of babies of many species. What is...

www.tortoiseforum.org

Hey thanks for you’re reply - I put a pile of leaves out for my baby Shelly every morning - and she eats until she has had enough - but once she has had a bath at around 2 she then goes back to the food dish looking for more so I replace her left overs dried out leaves and put a fresh pile out - she then eats away and either goes to bed or goes and sun baths - if I feed her twice a day could this lead to me over feeding her ? We have had her 4 weeks now and she started off at 21.6 grams and now she is 31.3 grams ????

 

[Maggie3fan]

Hey thanks for you’re reply - I put a pile of leaves out for my baby Shelly every morning - and she eats until she has had enough - but once she has had a bath at around 2 she then goes back to the food dish looking for more so I replace her left overs dried out leaves and put a fresh pile out - she then eats away and either goes to bed or goes and sun baths - if I feed her twice a day could this lead to me over feeding her ? We have had her 4 weeks now and she started off at 21.6 grams and now she is 31.3 grams ????

Be grateful she's eating and healthy. I fed twice a day also. They would graze all day in the wild, not just once

 

[Tom]

Hey thanks for you’re reply - I put a pile of leaves out for my baby Shelly every morning - and she eats until she has had enough - but once she has had a bath at around 2 she then goes back to the food dish looking for more so I replace her left overs dried out leaves and put a fresh pile out - she then eats away and either goes to bed or goes and sun baths - if I feed her twice a day could this lead to me over feeding her ? We have had her 4 weeks now and she started off at 21.6 grams and now she is 31.3 grams ????

It doesn't matter how many times you put food out. There should always be food available. Just make a big pile and leave it for the day.

If the food is drying out too much, you might want to move the food dish away from the heat sources.

 

[Yossarian]

Hey thanks for you’re reply - I put a pile of leaves out for my baby Shelly every morning - and she eats until she has had enough - but once she has had a bath at around 2 she then goes back to the food dish looking for more so I replace her left overs dried out leaves and put a fresh pile out - she then eats away and either goes to bed or goes and sun baths - if I feed her twice a day could this lead to me over feeding her ? We have had her 4 weeks now and she started off at 21.6 grams and now she is 31.3 grams ????

Torts are grazers, they eat a bit of this and a bit of that until they have eaten as much as they want. Thats why you should make food available throughout the day. Unless you are feeding the wrong things, the tort cannot really overeat.

Edit: lol, Ill leave the comment but obviously I lost the simultaneous post sweepstakes haha.

 

[Marz ??&?shelly]

Be grateful she's eating and healthy. I fed twice a day also. They would graze all day in the wild, not just once

Thank you

It doesn't matter how many times you put food out. There should always be food available. Just make a big pile and leave it for the day.

If the food is drying out too much, you might want to move the food dish away from the heat sources.

thank you ❤️❤️

 

[Marz ??&?shelly]

Torts are grazers, they eat a bit of this and a bit of that until they have eaten as much as they want. Thats why you should make food available throughout the day. Unless you are feeding the wrong things, the tort cannot really overeat.

Edit: lol, Ill leave the comment but obviously I lost the simultaneous post sweepstakes haha.

Thanks ❤️