What's Ever Weight In A African Sulcata Tortoise

What are your opinions to:

Can you overfeed an African Sulcata?

When is too much, too much?

Is there a diet clinic for overweight sulcata's.....LOL

Yesterday I drove over 4 hours to pick my adopted african spur-thighed sulcata tortoise.

He weathered the ride pretty good with a little stress,since I think the ride gave him the runs. He did have a normal bowel movement before the diaharea started. Holy Cow! did he ever. Elephants don't poop that big.

By the way has anybody ever been on a long drive with a 50 lb sulcata on your lap who decides to empty his bowels on your lap, stick shifter and the driver. Boy were we glad to get home.

He has timothy hay to graze on all the time and this morning he had his greens and a small carrot. His greens were endive greens, mustard greens, arugula (all dark greens)

He's active and alert and is showing me how to be a bulldozer.

What a great guy. His name is speedy.

thanks for reading my post
bob

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Awwwww He's a cutiepie.

Originally Posted by Stano40

Can you overfeed an African Sulcata?

I can't answer this question 100% and I don't have Sulcatas. I just make a salad of leafy greens, green beans, cucumber, squash and a bit of fruit and I add Repcal Tortoise food to it. If they eat all of it, then the next day day I make the salad a little bit bigger. I keep making the salad bigger until there is a little bit left at the end of the day and from then on that's the size of the salad. If they start cleaning their plates again, I up the forage. I don't know if the sulcatas are that into fruits but my redfoot loves apples, bananas, canteloupe and watermelon. She also gets cactus which she loves.

I have a redfoot (7" carpace) and a leopard tortoise (10" carapace).

Originally Posted by Stano40

When is too much, too much?

I don't know. Mine eat like horses.

That's a good tip

Thanks Karen

bob

Originally Posted by Karen Hulvey

Awwwww He's a cutiepie.
I don't know if the sulcatas are that into fruits but my redfoot loves apples, bananas, canteloupe and watermelon. She also gets cactus which she loves.
I have a redfoot (7" carpace) and a leopard tortoise (10" carapace).
I don't know. Mine eat like horses.

A Sulcata and Leopard diet should not consist of a lot of fruits. Most of their diet should come from grasses or hays. The rest of their diet is other vegetables.
(It would be hard to fill up a full grown Sulcata) They are like garbage disposals and they are never full.

A sulcata should be fed:

Grasses
Weeds
Flowers
Hays
Cactus

All of those as a base diet.

As treats you can offer veggies with HIGH cal.to phos. ratios ONLY when really needed.

And YES you can have an overweight Sulcata. If that happends you'll need to cut food intake and or give a bigger area to roam around in.