How much?

[Ninja]

This is kind of a dumb question, but in all of the reading I've done I haven't gotten a good guideline on how much/how often to feed?

Ninja is 6 years old, about 25 lb, and has free reign of our yard to eat as much grass as she wants. It's rye grass in the winter (Arizona winter lawn) and bermuda in the summer. I've only had her 3 months. Initially she ate grass all the time, now that it's cooler she's slowed down a little.

I also feed her a variety of greens, kale is her favorite, but she also likes collard greens and escarole. She loves pumpkin. I have ordered some seeds to plant dandelion, endive, kale and mustard greens to keep a fresh supply of stuff on hand (if I can keep it growing). I've also given her hibiscus, aloe vera and she eats the yellowbells flowers that fall on the ground.

So, the big question, since I think I have variety right, is how much and how often to offer her stuff other than her access to grass? I am now feeding her about every other to every 3 days a moderate sized pile of something (usually 1/4 to 1/2 a bunch of what I've got in the fridge). I also give her calcium in pumpkin puree about once a week. Usually I feed her what she wants to eat and when she's done that's all she gets.

I also sneak in a little rehydrated bermuda hay, works best in the collard greens rolled up like a burrito. That only is successful about once a week at best.

Thanks for any comments.

 

[Laura]

the grazing should be enough, with a little treat given now and again...

 

[Yvonne G]

Every type of grazing animal that I've ever owned would much rather wait by the gate for the food goddess to bring that bucket of concentrated food (oats for the horse, 4-way grain for the cow, a pile of greens and veggies for Dudley (the sulcata)). Its much easier (and better tasting, like candy) to fill your stomach eating a pile of food from the food goddess than it is to get full by biting mouthfuls of grass, walking, biting, walking, biting.

Like Laura said, Ninja doesn't need you to feed her anything. Grazing is just fine and quite enough. You can give her a special treat every so often, but she doesn't need a meal. If you'd like to give her a vitamin/mineral supplement every now and again, a treat of Mazuri, greens or veggies is a nice way to deliver that.

 

[Ninja]

OK, I was thinking that all along but I love to feed her! I'll scale it back.

She seems to go a couple of days or more sometimes not eating anything and then consequently not pooping anything, and I worry she doesn't like the grass enough, picky tortoise. But I know about teaching tough love to my pet owners (I'm a small animal vet) so I'll take my own advice and not give in...

Oh, and I worry the rye grass in the winter isn't fibrous enough/appropriate type of grass. I know the bermuda will be perfect though

But I love to watch her eat! Ok, I'm done now...

 

[Yvonne G]

Hi Sarah:

My sulcata, Dudley, lives outside year round. I don't feed him at all. Here in Central Calif. we have some pretty cold winter days, but never cold enough to snow. During the winter, after the frost, the Bermuda grass goes dormant and turns brown. There are a few winter type weeds and grasses, but mostly Dudley's winter pen is brown grass. That's what he lives on. I might occasionally toss him a big branch off the mulberry tree, or some grape vines, but he just grazes. And he weighs 110lbs.