Many sites warn about overfeeding. Our sulcata is 5 and weighs 1.5lbs. We acquired her about year ago from an unsuitable situation regarding habitat, lighting, heat, diet, etc. Thx to members here we have improved those issues significantly. she is enjoying a growth spurt, a half lb. since aug., 25% increase since Jan. We recently started her on grass mix we grow from exclusively grocery greens before. We supplement her grasses with 25% grocery greens. She "cleans" her plate every night plus cactus for desert. She can easily eat a cup plus full of loose packed grass and greens.Is this overeating? She has a large enclosure 8x3.5 ft. and we now take her outside,it's warm in Vegas. Thx in advance for your help.
what is overfeeding?
- Thread starter astock64
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Nolan1992
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Many say that overfeeding is giving too much of the wrong foods or foods that should be fed in moderation, and you can feed as much of the "right" foods as the tortoise wants to eat.
My wife need to read this, she love them and I think she provided too much food.
I think feeding and exercise go hand in hand. If your tortoise lives in a little box, is fed massive piles of grocery store veggies and can't go anywhere to stretch it's legs...then overfeeding is the least of your worries.
Make sure your sully has lots of room to roam and can graze naturally on grasses and weeds. Feel free to supplement the diet with extra plates of food. Your guy should have a nice, big outdoor enclosure to roam in all day long and it should be heavily planted with edible goodies.
Make sure your sully has lots of room to roam and can graze naturally on grasses and weeds. Feel free to supplement the diet with extra plates of food. Your guy should have a nice, big outdoor enclosure to roam in all day long and it should be heavily planted with edible goodies.
I agree with the above posts about giving not giving too much of the wrong foods and that they need some exercise. My sister surprised me with my sulcata 2 years ago, so she did some quick research on how to care for him before she gave him to me. The thing that I most remember her telling me is not to overfeed, because multiple websites said that overfeeding is the number 1 problem for pyramiding. However now we know that it is mostly caused by lack of humidity, not really overfeeding. Still many websites are not caught up yet, which may be why they stress not overfeeding so much. Although just like with people, dogs, and any other living thing you still don't really want to overfeed.
Nolan1992
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I like to think of it this way. If you are at a chinese buffet (if you like chinese food, but who doesn't like chinese food) you are going to eat way more than what would be necessary to satisfy your hunger because you've been given the opportunity to eat something you love with an unlimited supply. But if you went to that same buffet and the chinese was replaced with chicken breast and broccoli, you are most likely just going to eat enough to satisfy your hunger because the pleasure behind eating is non-existent and even if you did gorge yourself with chicken breast and broccoli (not sure why anyone would do that, unless you are bodybuilder.....I happen to be one), the caloric value isn't high enough to cause the person to gain a significant amount of weight, and their is beneficial content within these food as well. I believe the same goes for all animals. Tortoises will eat enough greens/grasses to satisfy their hunger for that time until they are ready to eat again. If you offer them cherry tomatoes, the result will be similar to the chinese buffet example, eating for pleasure. Although the tortoise will most likely take advantage of it to a higher extent because they don't have the privilege of getting up and driving to get fast food, chinese etc, and when the owner presents the opportunity to eat these type of treats in abundance, well then...NOM NOM NOM....................................therefore the same rules apply for pyramiding of a tortoises shell as pyramiding of a human beings belly. LOL And that is my overly complex hypothesis on overeating.
And that is my overly complex hypothesis on overeating.
M
Maggie Cummings
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I personally think that your particular tortoise needs to be feed as much 'good' food as you can get in her. Can you set her up outside? In my experience I have learned that there are several things involved in raising Sulcata.
1. Exercise...in the wild they walk for miles every day to get their food.
2. Humidity... yes, they come from a desert mostly but they dig 20' long burrows then they poop and pee in their sleeping den creating about 80% humidity.
3. Correct food...and lots of sun or a killer fresh UVB light.
I have had several Sulcata and all of them weighed over 5 lbs at 5 yrs old. I think Bob at 5 was about 25 pounds. Anyhow, I would provide everything I could for her, heat, sun etc. And feed her as much as she will eat. She won't gorge herself, and in my mind she has enough area to get enough exercise...Good luck with her, keep us posted on how she's doing...
The same websites that warn about over feeding also tell you to keep them in dry enclosures and only soak them once a week. All of that is wrong. Your diet sounds great. Let your tortoise run around in a large, safe enclosure outside during good weather and let it eat as much of that good stuff as it wants. This will NOT cause pyramiding. Pyramiding is caused by growth in conditions that are too dry. What will be a problem for your tortoise in your climate is if its all dry all the time. Sleeping in a warm humid enclosure will keep the new growth coming in smooth despite the dry conditions outside all day.
