Overweight tortoise?

leaf2002

Member
5 Year Member
Joined
Oct 19, 2013
Messages
53
Hi all,
I just found out that my 1yr old tortoises have been gaining too much weight over the months as they are only meant to be putting one or two grams but ours have been gaining more than that. When we first got the tortoises they both weighed 38g where as now the larger of the two has put on 124g and the smaller has gained 108g, in 6 months!! I understand that I have been feeding them too much but I was hoping you could all give me advice on how to let them grow at a steady pace and how much food I should be giving them a day. Thank you.
 

Yvonne G

Old Timer
TFO Admin
10 Year Member!
Platinum Tortoise Club
Joined
Jan 23, 2008
Messages
93,390
Location (City and/or State)
Clovis, CA
In the wild a tortoise eats as much as it wants to. Wandering, eating, resting...

You would think that it would be the same in captivity, but if you're keeping your tortoise in a small habitat, they're not getting enough 'wandering' exercise, so you have to cut back on the food a little.

The best advice I can give you is to set the tortoises up outside in a large, well-planted and safe habitat, and feed them all they will eat.

You can tell an obese tortoise by how much skin/flesh is pooching out around the upper arms. If there isn't any 'pooching' then the tortoise isn't overweight.

747117wei24kafiu.gif
 

kathyth

Well-Known Member
10 Year Member!
Joined
Feb 28, 2012
Messages
3,156
Location (City and/or State)
Beaumont, CA.
What species of tortoise do you have and how old are they?
Can you post pictures?
 
Top