How much food does a Tort eat?

[Lady Thompson]

Hi,

I have a 6 week old Hermann Tortoise and I don't know if she/he is eating enough. He eats about 5 bites per sitting. I only brought him home yesterday and he has eaten twice. Is this okay?

How much in one sitting should he be eating?

Thanks, from a nervous new mom.

 

[WillTort2]

It varies from one tortoise to another. Five bites is fine if the tortoise is repeating this numerous times each day.

What are you feeding the tortoise?

 

[Yvonne G]

I put a big pile of chopped food on the feeding tile and go away and leave the babies alone. If, at the end of the day, there is absolutely no food left on the tile, I know I didn't give them enough. You want there to be a little bit of food left over at the end of the day. Tortoises are grazers, so they'll come out and eat whenever the spirit moves them all throughout the day.

 

[Lady Thompson]

He ate again after I posted this, thank goodness. He has kale, dandelion, cactus, carrots and spring mix.

 

[Saleama]

Common advice is a mound the size of your tort and then see how much he is leaving. You want to leave some but not enough to dirty up the enclosure and draw fruit flies. By the end of the day you want him to have eaten everything. Take a few days and experiment with him. It is part of the joy of owning a tort!