New from Long Island NY

[maddylyn]

Hi there, Just got a Russian Tortoise for my 9 year old daughter for Christmas, and I'm absolutely in love with her. Her name is Shelly and she's so cute. I have been reading so much about her care, but i am a bit confused by varying info regarding feeding. Some say 1x daily for 20 minutes, some say only 2-3x a week so you can go away for the weekend and leave her...some say 2x daily the size of half her body...Help!!
Also, is it wrong to feed her by holding the leaves out to her? Probably causes stress, right? Thanks and i really look forward to learning as much as i can for Shelly's sake.

 

[wellington]

I feed mine every day. He eats every day too. I feed enough so there is some to last him throughout the day and most of the time there is a little left over the next morning. I have also gone away for weekends with no one to care for him. The lights and heat are all on timers, I fill his water dish the morning I leave and I give an extra large amount of food to last him the couple days I will be gone. I do the same for my leopard. They will eat the food even if it has dried, just not if it has gone bad or slimy, yuck.

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Oh, I do this and he can choose if he doesn't want too eat. In the wild they have the choice too eat that day or not. Mine gets the choice too. He does always choose to eat

 

[Grandpa Turtle 144]

I'm sorry but I feed mine every day but I
Chop my food up so my RT gets a mix of different foods

 

[Yvonne G]

Welcome to the Forum!

Russian tortoises tend to get overweight, so you have to be careful how much you feed, but I feed every day. It's more important to have the tortoise in a large habitat (or outside, when appropriate), so it can get plenty of exercise.