Hello all-

I'm the new owner of a beautiful Leopard ( Pickle -pics to come) and have read a lot about substrates- he lives in a plastic baby pool, and I'm using wood shavings and hay- is that ok, or would something else be better?

Also, he loves dandelion greens, collards, mustard, and peppers- what else is good for him? Can he eat Camelia flowers? We're in Portland, Oregon, and the Camelias are just getting ready to bloom, so we'll have tons-

My Marginated, Kingston, might like them too-

Thanks-

What kind of shavings are you using? I use a mix of play sand and bedabeast, about 70% sand and 30% bedabeast for my Leopards with Cypress Mulch thrown on top.

Here are some helpful links for edible plants and landscaping.

http://africantortoise.com/edible_plants.htm

http://africantortoise.com/edible_landscaping.htm

http://africantortoise.com/diet.htm

Im in a cold/snowy climate so I have to provide all foods the majority of the year. Currently I feed Spring Mix, Dandelion Greens, winter squashes about once every 2 weeks, chickweed, wheat grass and I have a shipment of the Grassland Mix sent every 2 weeks from ReptileEats.com which has a mix of grasses, weeds and greens in it. I mix in chopped up hay with everything above so that they are getting a high fiber diet. You can mix in the Salad Hay Mix at Carolina Pet Supply. Just mist the greens/weeds with a little water and toss with the hay or you can soak the hay before mixing it with the greens/weeds, be sure to wring out the excess water.

I also use the TNT supplement several times per week from Carolina Pet Supply as well.

This should give you a good start to a healthy diet for you Leopard. Welcome to TFO, I hope you enjoy your stay here. Cant wait to see pics of your Leo! You can find pics of mine in the Leopard boards.

This post was last modified: 02-28-2008 09:03 AM by JustAnja.

Camelia flowers were discussed in another thread here. Here's the link to the thread http://tortoiseforum.org/camilla-flowers-t-1094.html I understand they can be eaten by torts but most won't eat them, I hear they taste pretty foul.

I forgot to mention that I do also use Mazuri Tortoise Chow about once or twice a week for all of my tortoises. (Well except my one finicky Leopard male that wont touch the stuff with a 10ft pole!) lol I mist it with a little water to moisten it a bit for them.

Thanks everyone for your responses- I'll post pics of both Pickle( my Leopard) and Kingston, my Marginated-

He does have some significant pyramiding- I rescued him from a bad situation- he didn't want to eat or even come out of his shell ( he's about 10" or so) - but now, he's eating like mad and happy as a clam-

I just have to say that it is so cool that you have a "Kingston", I had a Russian with that name but he was very sick and I had to take him back to the place I got him, and I think he passed shortly thereafter. I just LOVE the name!

Its great you were able to take him out of a bad situation, kudos to you. Cant wait for pics of both torts!

Look at the label on your wood shavings. You should NOT be using pine. The oil causes eye problems in torts.

Yvonne

What is bedabeast?

Its an organic shredded coconut bedding. It comes in a brick and you add a gallon of water and let it soak and it expands.

Many brand names and common names

BedABeast
EcoEarth
coir fiber
coco fiber