How much is too much?

dragonflypearl

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My baby Russian is a piglet. He (I think it's a he) is four months old and eating 1.5 times his shell size almost in one sitting. He will take about an hour break, then eat some more. I give him a bit more food late afternoon so that he has something into the evening and early in the morning. That said, I oftentimes find that he has nibbled on his plants in his enclosure (jade, agave, hosta and African violet). He rarely nibbles the hosta and has never taken a bite out of the violet leaves.

His primary diet is made up of mallow; thistle; radicchio or a lettuces; and either rose of Sharon petals, a grape leaf, pansy or African violet flowers).

I am worried he will gain too much weight for his little shell. I have read somewhere that it is possible for a tortoise to become overweight. How does one assess if a tortoise is over eating?

Fwiw, he does a good bit of walking and climbing throughout the day.
 

JoesMum

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No they won’t overeat; they just grow faster. Russians do have a reputation for being piggies.

As long as you provide a good large enclosure for exercise all will be well :)
 

Gillian M

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Any pics of your tort and his enclosure?

And a very warm welcome to the forum.
 
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Yvonne G

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As long as the enclosure is big enough that the tortoise has LOTS of room to exercise, he won't get too fat, and his body certainly WILL NOT outgrow his shell.

Too much is when there's food left at the end of the day. Not enough is when they clean it up and go looking for more.
 

RosemaryDW

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Welcome!

I don’t follow the rule for feeding the size of the shell for my adult Russian. She’s outdoors and exercising all of the time so I give her all she can handle. If I didn’t, she’d eat our entire yard. :eek:

I’ve thought she might explode on a couple of occasions but she’s definitely not fat.
 

dragonflypearl

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Thank you for the welcomes and reassurance that I'm not stuffing his little shell.

I forgot to mention that he's only 4 months old. He came to me happy and healthy from @Carol S, and has been a little pistol straight out of the gate. He's pooping regularly. His urates (sp?) are coming out, during his bath, the consistency of egg whites.

Groot is definitely getting plenty of exercise. There are two hides, rocks and hills for climbing, a water dish (he loves walking through it to get to the other side) and, he's doing some digging. He stretches his neck when he hears me in the morning, so I pick him up to say hello. He seems to like being petted on his shell and having his head gently rubbed. I put him down after a little lovin' and he's off again.

Sorry no pics right now since I'm on a computer at work, and all of my pics are on my phone. I'll add a pic tonight.
 
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