Is this good advice?

[tortoise-kid]

I was reading a Red Footed Tortoise care article and I came across this piece of advice:

Hatchlings need to be fed every day, and calcium should be sprinkled into their food every other day. At the age of one year, red-footed tortoises can be fed every other day and their food should have calcium in it two times a week. After they have turned two years old, they can be fed weekly and given a pinch of calcium whenever they are fed.


Is it good advice to follow?

 

[ascott]

Weeeelllllll, I suppose if you set up their routine that way and you make absolutely certain that the food you are offering is of the highest quality and highest nutritional value...then at tort can certainly do that schedule....understand that in the wild they would graze all day to gain what you can offer them in a matter of moments....so the ration in that schedule would make sense....

But my biggest concern would be that the offerings would have to be so bang on with nutrition and I do not believe I would even be confident enough with myself to without doubt do that....lol

Now, I do believe daily food offerings are aok as long as they are in addition to the tort being able to eat good weeds and such to balance out their diet...I do not however think that a tort should be fed a gigantanormous food offering every day nor huge amounts multiple times a day....I believe that this plays a role and affects proper shell growth...others will disagree but it is what I believe....

I personally would not be able to look the torts here in the eye without some type of yummy to offer....lol

 

[Tom]

No. Not good advice. Weekly food is not sufficient for an animal that needs to graze all day every day. If they are in a large well planted outdoor enclosure, they don't need to be fed at all, since they can just eat at will.

They should be fed, or allowed to graze on acceptable foods, every day, at all ages.

The suggested calcium frequency is debatable, but seems reasonable.