yes i miss an odd day feeding. a tort in captivity isnt gonna get as much exercise as a tort in the wild so therefore wouldnt need as much food

We can all put on weight from eating too much of ANY food no matter how healthy the food is. Believe it or not I watched a tv program last year where a Dr said over eating on fruit can make you fat, and people just don't think that will happen.

Also surely in the wild a tort has to really search to find a decent amount of food, so that means miles of walking every day. In captivity we place food close by, so plenty of food and not much walking.... You know what that means? You put weight on!!

I know my torts when confined to tort tables put on lots more weight than they do when they are outside all the time, and I still give them the same amount of food.

So yes a tort can over eat and put on too much weight when just eating weeds.

I think in the wild it's seasonal as much as anything. In the spring there will be an abundance of greenery for tortoises to consume, in the high summer less to feed on as everything is dry and in the autumn more food again as things like berries ripen.

Even if you don't intentionally provide a seasonal cycle they are going to experience a cycle based on the ambient conditions... unless you have them in a thermostaticly controlled environment... in that case you should see maximum growth with no noticable growth rings... the shell should be as smooth as a babys' butt.

My tortoises are bigger than they're 'meant' to be and their shells are smooth.

So the theory is that consistent steady temperatures mean that a steady metabolism will process all/any food and produce a steady and smooth growth reagrdless of the amount (over)fed or the season? Its a fascinating subject and i DO believe that there is more to pyramiding and mbd than the pat-answers we are given from apparently reliable sources. Have you read any papers on the subject? i would like to learn more about this! Personally i feed my leos and sulcs fresh weeds every other day and they have hay and readigrass to eat whenever they want. all weeds are supplemented and they are always warm in the daywith a drop in the night. the only time i dont control the temps is when they are outside (whenever they choose) basking and grazing.

My guess is if you get the basic's right you would be unlucky to get pyramiding - ie sensible food, nice warm basking area, water & uvb.

UVB doesn't even have to factor into it but the rest is right.

Ed, I have given my opinion, to the question asked by the OP..

Which was- Overfeeding - will my tort do it

My answer is yes, if you offer endless supplies of food to your tort? it could be classed as overfeeding. The tort will readily eat far more food than it needs to sustain normal, average, growth. Even more so, if you have more than one tort in the same enclosure/enviroment, then competition feeding could also happen.

Who mentioned anything about physical damage???

I used to leave this sort of advice/opinions to other regular tort keepers to answer, which they were quite capable of doing, far better than me in some instances...But you seem to have scared/pissed them off this forum

Its just my opinion ed, just like you are giving your opinions mate...Dont take it so personal, not every thread is designed/destined to be a "show stopper"...T.T.

__________________

Weeds...There free ya know!!!

My Boris would eat until he popped if I let him