Over feeding?

[Mich]

My little 3yr old Leopard tort eats like a machine I've only had her for a month now, her shell already has some pyramiding and I'm trying to get her switched over to a proper diet. She'll now eat clover and nibble on a bit of dandelion when she roams the lawn but not much else. In her enclosure she won't touch the timothy hay or orchard grass hay and from what I've read that should make up the larger bulk of her diet, some apparently feed that alone over the winter months. Right now she doesn't get outside much, it's still cool here, but she'll eat 2 big handfuls of spring mix twice a day. Some sites recommend only feeding them every other day .. should I cut back and assume she'll start to eat the hay and grass if she gets hungry. Looking for advise on how much you guy would feed a 3yr old

 

[Tom]

My friend from Ohio said it best: "Cut them back if they are getting fat, not if they are growing." I would feed this tortoise as much as she'll eat. Keep her hydrated, warm and use enough calcium supplement, but not too much.

Leopards do not usually eat dry hay. That is usually more of an adult sulcata thing. Neal showed us a study showing that grass is much less of a part of a wild leopard diet than most people think. For the normal leopards, weeds, leaves and other plants should make up the majority of the diet. Some of them will also nibble on grass in the yard, but mostly they favor broadleaf weeds. I won't say that no leopard anywhere has ever eaten dry hay, but it is certainly not the norm. The South African leopards do like the grass a bit more, but even they don't eat it like a sulcata.

 

[wellington]

Of course I agree with Tom. Mine won't eat grass or hay. I feed him a very large handful of greens every day, enough for some to be left over for afternoon eating and add more if none is left and i have done this since I got him, he is now a year old. He doesn't eat as much as he used to, but it is available if he wants.

 

[Mich]

Great thanks guys!! I was going off this site (under the Leopard section, not Sulcata http://africantortoise.com/leopard_tortoise.htm) .. and then a lot of other sites were going on about too much “wet food” being bad and how they needed dry grass high in fiber and timothy hay and orchard grass seemed to be the ones that were recommended most so I bought a bag of each but she won’t eat grass at all, dry or fresh. I have printed off large edible wild plant lists, mostly weed and a few flowering things so I will take a hike around and see what I can find  Right now her diet is pretty much just spring mix which I know is ok, she also eats a lot of the same leafy greens as my iguana (collard, turnip, endive, etc). I was just under the impression that her diet should mostly be hay/grass because of the link above which now seems a little misleading. She’ll eat a huge handful of greens in the morning and then another in the afternoon, little piggy! Other sites recommend feeding every other day and caution over feeding could be unhealthy as well so it’s good to see how much others are feeding their torts!!

 

[Yvonne G]

I'm not saying anything bad about the other sites, as each place you go to gain information has its own usefulness. But, in my opinion, a lot of those sites have not grown with the times. We (the collective "we", not us personally) have gained a lot of new info on caring for leopards and sulcatas in the past two years, and some of those sites have not changed their care sheets accordingly.

 

[wellington]

Great thanks guys!! I was going off this site (under the Leopard section, not Sulcata http://africantortoise.com/leopard_tortoise.htm) .. and then a lot of other sites were going on about too much “wet food” being bad and how they needed dry grass high in fiber and timothy hay and orchard grass seemed to be the ones that were recommended most so I bought a bag of each but she won’t eat grass at all, dry or fresh. I have printed off large edible wild plant lists, mostly weed and a few flowering things so I will take a hike around and see what I can find  Right now her diet is pretty much just spring mix which I know is ok, she also eats a lot of the same leafy greens as my iguana (collard, turnip, endive, etc). I was just under the impression that her diet should mostly be hay/grass because of the link above which now seems a little misleading. She’ll eat a huge handful of greens in the morning and then another in the afternoon, little piggy! Other sites recommend feeding every other day and caution over feeding could be unhealthy as well so it’s good to see how much others are feeding their torts!!

Last year, around this time in fact, I went through the same thing as you, even went out and bought the hays, like you. Then I found this forum. I search only TFO now for info.

 

[Mich]

Well if nothing else it gives her a nice dry substrate for her hide box and she seems to like to burrow and dig through it before she settles in. If some happens to get eaten then great It's easy to find lots of conflicting info on the web but sometimes the best method is just to ask the more experienced people. I keep and breed a lot of diff types of herps but fully admit when it comes to torts I'm a newbie and this forum is by far the best tort forum I've found!!! It's very active!

 

[Mich]

I was actually going to buy some grazing tort seed mix .. do you think this would just be a waste? This is one of the only sites that will ship to Canada: http://www.sulcatafood.com/Store.html The seed mix is mostly grasses so now I'm thinking it may be pointless.

 

[Jacob]

The best thing you can try feeding is cactus, grass, spring mix, mazuri, weeds, hibiscus, rose pedals, kale, even a tort graze will work.
If your leo isnt eating grass or anything else you tried, find a food your leo likes and mix in the food it doesnt.
After a while he should get a nack for it, or care less.

 

[Tom]

Seed mixes with a lot of grasses are not the best bet for a leopard. Try a Russian tortoise seed mix instead.

 

[Mich]

Seed mixes with a lot of grasses are not the best bet for a leopard. Try a Russian tortoise seed mix instead.

I saw some avail at http://www.carolinapetsupply.com/ca...age=product_reviews&cPath=112&products_id=162

But due to shipping regulations they won't ship from the US to Canada. I checked with canada post and they don't have an issue, perhaps it's a US thing? Either way I'll see how many of the individual seeds I can find on my own. I found a few, but mostly grasses. I'm going to try and start some trays this afternoon .. a seed mix has timothy/orchard/ rye grass, and white clover .. I'm also going to mix in dandelion seed .. I have raspberry bushes and wil strawberries so I gave her a few leaves but there was no real interest. She will chomp at plantain.