return to main index

  mobile - desktop
follow us on facebook follow us on twitter follow us on YouTube link to us on LinkedIn
 
Click here for LLL Reptile & Supply
Mice, Rats, Rabbits, Chicks, Quail
Available Now at RodentPro.com!
Locate a business by name: click to list your business
search the classifieds. buy an account
events by zip code list an event
Search the forums             Search in:
News & Events: Herp Photo of the Day: False Coral Snake . . . . . . . . . .  Herp Photo of the Day: Bearded Dragon . . . . . . . . . .  Greater Cincinnati Herp Society Meeting - Apr 02, 2024 . . . . . . . . . .  Calusa Herp Society Meeting - Apr 04, 2024 . . . . . . . . . .  Southwestern Herp Society Meeting - Apr 06, 2024 . . . . . . . . . .  Hamburg Reptile Show - Apr. 13, 2024 . . . . . . . . . .  St. Louis Herpetological Society - Apr 14, 2024 . . . . . . . . . .  San Diego Herp Society Meeting - Apr 16, 2024 . . . . . . . . . .  Suncoast Herp Society Meeting - Apr 20, 2024 . . . . . . . . . .  DFW Herp Society Meeting - Apr 20, 2024 . . . . . . . . . .  Colorado Herp Society Meeting - Apr 20, 2024 . . . . . . . . . .  Chicago Herpetological Society Meeting - Apr 21, 2024 . . . . . . . . . . 
Join USARK - Fight for your rights!
full banner - advertise here .50¢/1000 views
click here for Rodent Pro
pool banner - $50 year

RE: Food/Feeding

[ Login ] [ User Prefs ] [ Search Forums ] [ Back to Main Page ] [ Back to Sulcata & Spurred Tortoises ] [ Reply To This Message ]
[ Register to Post ]

Posted by: tglazie at Sat Jan 26 19:15:33 2008  [ Report Abuse ] [ Email Message ] [ Show All Posts by tglazie ]  
   

This is a matter of experimentation. Feed your tortoise and watch how much it eats. If there is an amount left over, you are feeding too much. Reduce feedings when this occurs. Once your animal becomes larger, it will require greater amounts of food. However, by this time, you should have a grazing area where the animal can decide for itself when enough is enough. To give you an idea, I have a 75 pound male whom I feed two to three zuchini or yellow squash along with a head of romaine lettuce at a single feeding. Then, one day later, I would feed him a bushel of kale, twenty or so dandelion leaves, twenty or so hibiscus leaves, and an apricot. Immediately after consuming all of this, he goes on his merry way, consuming every grass tip that catches his eye. He also consumes grape leaves on the southern corner of my yard in the morning when he suns himself.

With all of this in mind, you should be able to come up with a feeding regimin that works for you and yours. Sometimes, tortoises will be finicky and unwilling to eat. This is generally sign that they've eaten too much. Don't be alarmed. There is very little chance that your sulcata will starve to death. Keep in mind that in the wild, they often experience droughts that last months at a time. They tend to gorge themselves during the rainy season (when there is one) or whenever a food source is plentiful, then retreat from the dry heat in their burrow, sometimes for months on end. I'm certainly not suggesting refraining from feeding for so long a period, as replicating natural conditions in captivity is impossible, nor is it necessarily desirable. Just keep in mind that reptile metabolism is much different than that of mammals, so their requirements are not what one would generally think.

T.G.


   

[ Reply To This Message ] [ Subscribe to this Thread ] [ Show Entire Thread ]


>> Next Message:  RE: Food/Feeding - dawgcr, Tue Jan 29 12:35:35 2008

<< Previous Message:  Food/Feeding - allherpsjake, Mon Jan 21 21:55:00 2008