I'm a bit worried.

[mango]

This is a bit long, but please bear with me. I have read a few times, that slow and steady growth is best – and not to over feed. I think someone needs to tell my Horsefield that as he isn’t listening to me! Yesterday I put some Sedum and Dandelion on his slate, with some sprinkled vitamins. 3 Sedum leaves about 2.5 inches by 1.5 inches. 4 Dandelion leaves about 5 inches by 1.5 inches.

He then went wandering. I watched him for ages, as I’m worried about this and wanted to tell you exactly what he ate. He then had another 3 Dandelion leaves, 4 clover flowers and a few leaves, 3 mouthfuls of Sempervivum and then he had the last of the Petunias. The leaves weren’t very big, but he ate all 16 of them! I think he was still hungry after that, as he went for my toe!
His under shell is about 9cm and I don’t know his age. This wasn’t a one off either. He regular eats this amount when outside. This sounds gross, but I have had a good look at his poo and there is no sign of worms. Should I be worried?
Do you think I should remove all the edible plants from his enclosure so he only eats what I give him? Thanks.

[sandy]

Firstly its easier to keep a check on his weight monthly for a while. This will give you a pattern of
how his eating/growing goes. Some tortoises especially if they are active will eat and eat, but burn
it off looking for food. This is the aim of most keepers, to have them look for food, as they would
in the wild.
If he/she has plenty of food in his enclosure then dont give him any extra. Better they are a little
hungry than full up.
If he only puts on 2-3grms per month, then you will have things about right.
If food is available 24hrs mine would be eating<g>. They wouldnt be doing this in the wild, as food
is sparce.

[Pussygalore]

I personally think that if he was in the wild he would eat what and when he wanted, my torts are the other way, I have a good weed area growing (see my pic its no 1 in the comp ) and my babies walk all around it and I end up pulling of leaves for them I think the "watch what they eat refers more to feeding them the wrong food i.e lettuce etc" I,m probably wrong but if they were roaming around the garden etc you couldn,t restrict what they ate then.

[imported_Lowe]

In the wild Horsfields are active for about 3-4 months of the year. For the rest of the time they're dug in escaping either extreme heat or extreme cold of their natural habitat. Because of this they're 'programmed' to eat, eat, eat since food is so scarce. I think I read somewhere once that if a Horsfield eats for 30 mins a day for a month, they have then had enough food to last a year! With that in mind it's easy to see why most captive Horsfields are overfed.

[Pussygalore]

If in the wild food is so scarce why are we encouraged to plant weeds and flowers in their enclosures, surely they are going to eat whatever we plant, mine have access to everything in their home I made it with that intention, they don,t have any extras apart from cuttlefish and limestone but I would have no way of limiting what they eat apart from removing all the plants I have advised to grow.

[sandy]

I think in the wild plants would be available at certain times of the year. Tortoises would scavenge
on whatever they can. They would eat all that was available. We try to mimic as much as we can
the conditions in the wild.
But could you actually see your tortoise go without food for a week at a
time?
I know I couldnt, so at the begining of the year, when my enclosures are full of weeds, my tortoises
dont get any extras. But this time of the year when they have eaten everything in sight, I do feed
them once a day.
Some plants are for shelter rather than food. Shrubs like hibiscus serve both purposes.
Thats why I strongly recommend keeping weight charts. If they are putting on weight too fast, then
a couple of days without food will not hurt them.
Its all about getting to know your tortoises and what works best for them.

[mango]

Thanks for the replies. I think I will start keeping a weight chart now.

I did find something this morning on the ***************** site that has made me even more worried though!

Your general set-up sounds excellent, and your dietary regime is also good, though be careful with bindweed (Ipomea sp.); which can contain LSD-related hallucinogens and potentially toxic levels of nitrates and oxalic acids.

I often feed Bind Weed. My poor hallucinating tortoises!

[sandy]

I have also fed bindweed to tortoises, but like most of their diet, it should be mixed. So they
dont get too much of the same things.
I havent seen any signs of LSD symptoms.

[nina]

I heard that about bindweed (no sign of Boris tripping out yet though), but I also heard that field bindweed (the one with the smaller leaves and the pink flowers) has a lower level of oxalic acid (don't know if that's true though).

Nina