Pellets and weight gain

[Essexbrummie]

My tortoises have been fed pellets only for about a fortnight now.I have been feeding 1-2% of their weight daily.they have gained quite alot of weight and some of them are borderline overweight according to the Jackson ratio.Should I be feeding them pellets daily or every other day?(the weeds I planted haven't grown enough to feed) I don't want to stare them but am getting worried about their weights any advice appreciated thanks guys

[Watermelon]

How many pellets are you giving them? I think youre only supposed to feed 2% of their bodyweight in pellets at a given time. That is what someone on here has said anyway before.

It says on the packaging that you can use them as a complete diet but I dont know many people who do that. Usually just 1 - 2 times a week during winter/ when weeds are scarce/ other reasons.

I have fed mine them before, once/twice a week when I havent found enough weeds and didnt want to buy bagged salad and yes mine put on weight... but they needed to put on the weight!

If you cant find weeds and dont want to feed them salad (florettes crunchy salad people usually feed) then how about feeding them every other day? Might be a silly idea... wait and see what other people think... I'm no expert lol.

Good luck x

[NATURALIS]

Originally Posted by Essexbrummie

My tortoises have been fed pellets only for about a fortnight now.I have been feeding 1-2% of their weight daily.they have gained quite alot of weight and some of them are borderline overweight according to the Jackson ratio.Should I be feeding them pellets daily or every other day?(the weeds I planted haven't grown enough to feed) I don't want to stare them but am getting worried about their weights any advice appreciated thanks guys

daily isn't a good idea , i recomend 3 times a week and only 2% of there body weight of soaked pellets

[Essexbrummie]

Ok thanks do I still need to use nutrabol with pellets?I read that you're not supposed to somewhere

[Watermelon]

No you don't need to sprinkle calcium on them.

[Essexbrummie]

Thanks for your help x

[wigwamman]

this weight gain after 2 weeks indicates a full stomache/digestive system.i would not worry about this at the moment as when you wind down your tortoise for hibernation next year you will loose quite a lot of weight and things don't then look as good as you thought.
if your tort is a hibernating species the above will apply.if its not then it doesn't,
then more homework will need to be done.

weigh your tortoise once a month to get a good idea of weight gain dont be overly concerned with day to day fluctuations.

enjoy your pet,there is plenty help available.

[janeL]

Urmmm I don't want to cause ruptions, but I think I am quite old school here. I don't feed pellets and never will, but also when I wind my tortoises down for hibernation, they lose very little weight if any at all.

[wigwamman]

just checked my records,my 5 torts have lost between 20 -50 g each on wind down (4 weeks) being 11 to 4 years old,this weight will be re-gained after about 2 weeks out of hibernation.(less than 10% loss during hibernation)
still old school,but always looking for a new school.
no ruptions here!!!!

[janeL]

Thats cool. I haven't ever had a good experience with pellets. I have never fed them myself, but I have had many of a tortoise arrive in a dreadful state having been fed pellets, but I suspect they were fed almost exclusively on pellets. Two of them felt hollow and I could feel their legs moving through their shell. They were also pooing whole pellets, so you can understand my hesitation. I swapped thier diets to all weeds and they lost weight, but completely filled out. I think they put on a lot of muscle too. It took many years to get them back to the weights they were when they arrived, but this time they were not hollow and they were strong little beings.