Tortoise Food

[2young]

I have a Hermann Tortoise which is pretty happy and healthy. He mainly east grass on my lawn. However l have been feeding him frozen Watties mixed veges (peas,green beans,corn,carrots) rinsed under hot water for a few minutes. I also add vit and min supplements with the watties frozen veges.

Could tortoise owners share their thoughts/suggestions on what best to feed tortoise, what is the best supplement to add, and what is the best worming treatment.

Thanks

[Reptor]

hi i let mine eat the weeds in his bit of lawn and also take note of wat weeds he eats and incress him as much as you can in his area mine lovs samll purple pansy too, for his normal diet i lightly blend a few vegs together,cauliflower,brocoli,carrot ,cucumber,sumtimes with capsicun or corn,and a lettuce leaf fresher the better and always wash them first i also spary his mixed food with flukers liquid vitamin helps keep him heathly and is another source of d3 in take i have also started mixing nutrafin max turtle pellets into his mixed veg he lovs these and are gd for vitamins etc have you found a gd way to keep him in doors with the right lighting etc i have a great low cost indoor area for mine can help you with the how too

[2young]

Thanks for your reply. Mine is always outside, but l bring him inside at night. During winter l bring him in and he hibernates for a couple of months. Will try out some of your feeding suggestions.

[repto]

they are not designed to eat alot of the things you mention as a staple but only for an ocassional treat.Abit like offering a kid lollies ,and sweet stuff,after a while they won`t eat what they should.In the natural state they browse tender new growth of various green plants,they also have peaks of intense intake of this type of stuff to coincide with the seasons,ie,spring growth,flushes of growth after rain etc.I would ease up on the vitamin supplements as such and give quality vegetable matter in the form of puha,dandelion ,chicory etc.The idea being that the greenstuff should contain enough vitamins.The kidneys of these creatures are their weak point and any dietry excesses will show up here.What the mainly need is calcium,calcium and more calcium.The plants that grow in their natural range are growing in huge deposits of limestone from a prehisotric sea that has dried up,the name escapes me at the moment?no limestone deposits ..no tortoises!anyway all these plants are as a result high in calcium,they also eat calcium in its raw form from bits of broken limestone rock.You can supplement this by giving them incinerated bones which are really soft and crumbly and they go for them,i also topdress the yard with alot of limesand or crushed lime to imitate this.

[Reptor]

good point some of the foods i have mentioned are sometimes foods and supplements should be use in a aditive like manner and contain calcium amoungst other benefical vitamins. The feed/supplements are my controlled input to his diet like i said at the start of my first message planting favortire flowers, vegs, weeds in the area to incourge foraging and fresh variety of food is best and topdressing the yard to keep calcium up sounds like a good idea i myself would like to no more bout that how offen do you do it, do you water it in, how much you use etc

[repto]

just scatter it about like confetti at a wedding?give it heaps as can get it for nothing,there are little lumps here and there they can find but mostly just falls down among the grass etc.I leave big piles here and there,usually do it a couple of times a year.

[Reptor]

sweet thanks for the calcium tip im on that

[livingart]

good stuff repto

new keepers it pays to listen to the old fellas

[2young]

Thanks Repto. Where can you get limesand or lime rock from?

[repto]

from the limeworks just down the road.

[snake kid]

to be honest since I looked at these recent tortoise posts I never knew they were legal in New zealand :lol:

[PhatMike]

could someone please put a few pics up of their tortoise's.thanks

[radu]

Hi

I thought they were illegal too, if not where can you get them from?

[tinytawnykitten]

Someone is selling some sulcata and radiates tortoises in Wanganui.

[repto]

if thats from T&E I think you will find its a hoax?There was another for monkeys,and macaw eggs at a price too good to be true??(it wasn`t)

[Insect Direct]

dam t&e i found add for tortoises once but ended up some guy overseas who recond he could ship here no problem :roll: , i gave up as all sounded way to good to be true :lol:

[tinytawnykitten]

Yup turns out it is defo a hoax. The same photo is on an American website, perhaps they aren't in Wanganui after all.

[Susan]

On 10/5/2008 at 6:39 PM, tinytawnykitten said:

Yup turns out it is defo a hoax. The same photo is on an American website, perhaps they aren't in Wanganui after all.

Yes also on Facebook one called turtle and tortoise adoption and rehoming they say they in nz they scammed me out of $200 I paid as a deposit for a tortoise 

[JulieW]

Did you end up getting one Susan. ? you can pm me through the fb page.