Okay.
Our 7 year old recently acquired Greek "Calvin".

Relieves urates every morning and almost every evening.
Relieves stool about 5/7 days a week in the morning.
He eats morning and evening.

Radicchio, wheat grass, collard greens, dandylion greens at every meal.

We removed the endive we were feeding him. He gets Romaine lettuce a few times a week. We sprinkle the TNT on his salad every other day.

We soak him every other day...HOWEVER...since he keeps walking through his poo and is one nasty mess he is getting daily soaks as of the last week.

Is this normal...it seems too frequent from what I've read before.
What am i doing wrong?

Thanks!

This post was last modified: 12-18-2007 07:03 PM by Cam.

It is a bit to frequent for the urates, everything else is fine though.
The urates are from the diet, especially the collard greens and dandelion. Don't quit giving these 2 you just need to add some more variety to the diet.
The Romaine is a good start also green and red leaf lettuce, curly endive and escarole. Some of the baby greens salads at the grocery store are good, find the ones without spinach.
The more variety you can get this time of year the better.

Danny

Thank you for the diverse list!

You are right the stores are slim pickens these days...I can't even find butternut squash around here.
Can he have yams/sweet potatoes?
(My first choice is the local organic grocery.)

I found a list on tortoise food that said the collard greens are a bad food due to causing MBD and hypothyroidism, so I will eliminate that as well.

How about watercress, arugula, beet greens, carrot greens?

In lieu of grasses are hays that are rinsed off okay?
(not alfalfa of course)

This post was last modified: 12-19-2007 07:20 AM by Cam.

Can you find butternut squash frozen? Thats how I get mine.
Watercress, arugula and beet greens are fine in moderation. Carrot tops are a no.
Testudos aren't made for digesting grasses. So I would stick to fresh grass, but no hay.

Danny

Can you find butternut squash frozen? Thats how I get mine.
Watercress, arugula and beet greens are fine in moderation. Carrot tops are a no.
Testudos aren't made for digesting grasses. So I would stick to fresh grass, but no hay.

Danny

Cam, I found soaking mine cause them to poo and urinate more frequently. When they dirty themselves I simply rinse quickly or wipe them instead of soaking them. I have heard Collard greens are bad but I find most foods fed in small infrequent quantities are OK. I give mine a little collard greens when I fix them for me.
I also use timothy, bermuda (my fav) or orchard hay which I grind (in a coffee grinder) and sprinkle it on their greens-mine don't really eat it otherwise. I also use Mazuri pellets soaked for 90 SECONDS then crumbled fine and sprinkled on their food.

Here is a good link for repalcement foods
Nutrient Analysis of Replacement Turtle and Tortoise Foods - Darrell M. Senneke
http://home.earthlink.net/~rednine/nutrient.htm

This post was last modified: 12-27-2007 05:55 PM by Crazy1.

he he, I think you mean... "I also use Mazuri pellets soaked for 90 SECONDS"!

Robyn you really shouldn't give hay. It has silica in it and isn't tolerated by a greeks gut very well. It's fine for sulcatas and leopards, but not Testudos.

Danny

Can you find butternut squash frozen? Thats how I get mine.
Watercress, arugula and beet greens are fine in moderation. Carrot tops are a no.
Testudos aren't made for digesting grasses. So I would stick to fresh grass, but no hay.

Danny

I have actually never checked

Thank you for the information...
I started a tiny notebook to have in my purse with alll my 'Cliff Notes' on Calvins needs, so I can check it...the short term memory was just a phase for me

Big duh on my part, I hit the ice cream and that's about it in the freezer section...
oh how these little pets make us 'expand our horizons'

Thank you! And great link

I found this link too...some of the infprmation seems a bit contradictory but I will need to print it out so I can see everything side by side to make a bit more sense of their deliniation of requirements.

http://www.turtlestuff.com/avoidthese.html