Don't change a thing.

You can add Mazuri or T-Rex tortoise diet once or twice a week and you will be blown away by the results.

Ed

Hi -Ej
I've just wiped the sweat from my brow,
thats great to know,
where would I get this stuff and what actually is it and how would it help my little man.
Sorry about the questions but I've not heard of it.

Both of the diets mentioned are formulated complete diets. Many keepers are dead set against using the stuff but most if not all of them have either never used it or have used it briefly.

What the use of the diet provides is a complete and balanced nutritional menu.

It takes all of the guesswork out of providing your tortoises nutritional needs.

Are you in the US or elsewhere?

Ed

Substrate is what he is crawling and living on like dirt or Aspen.
Wc/Cb Wild caught or Captive Bred. If he is small and he looks like he may be I would say CB.
I would watch the amount of broccoli I fed him as a treat or once in a while is fine but like cabbage and spinach it is not good as a steady diet. Do you have access to cactus or succulents like Jade plant, grape leaves or mulberry leaves, wondering jew those are a few things that are really good for them, as well as geraniums flowers and leaves, rose flowers and leaves, pansies, hibiscus flowers and leaves.
I think you have a fine looking little shelled one and I am sure with your care he will thrive.

Hi, is was cb and the flooring is compressed hay, 100% biodegradable.

Ill have to ease off the broccoli with your advice, I'm in London (UK).

hi i think that is a good idea i would also stop the peppers these sort of foods were reccommended over 20 years ago and i used to feed them to my hatchlings i havent used them for at least 15 years and i am seeing a vast improvment in growth and shape with almost zero signs of pyramidding in some species and none at all in others.broccoil and indeed most brassicas are high in oxalic acid which inhibits the absorbpsion of calcium from the diet and peppers have a high phosphoruos to calcium ratio so actually do more harm than good to the growth of a young tortoise.the best diet i have found is a selection of green leafed weeds with a high percentage being coarse fibrous plantain types and then access to natural graze whenever possible.i dont like to talk about artificial diets as i have no experience of them other than seeing the price in shops and the realisation that i couldnt keep over 50 tortoises as the feed bill alone would be higher than the electricity bill,
terry

home bred youngsters from my own collection

Terry, You bring up a couple of points for the reason I highly recommend some manufactured diets.

First... knowing what to feed and in what proportions. Have you always raised good looking tortoises? Probably not. I'll bet your greatest achievements occured only after many years of experience and learning.

Learning all the acceptable available plant material and the proper proportions is very time consuming and almost impossible to convey to the new keeper sufficiently enough to produce the same results you or I or anyone obtains. This is why the catch phrase 'variety is the key to good nutrition'.

As to cost... It costs me $22 for 25 lbs of the Mazuri diet and I only have to feed once a week and twice a week in the summer.

It would cost me 3 or 4 times that for me to feed a green diet for all the plant eaters I keep.

Ed

hi Ed im shocked at how cheap your mazuri diet is compared to the pellets in the UK.as you have said its taken a few years of experimentation to get get their diet balanced and i feel encouraging them to be active and exercise is a factor in their general well being i have for many years heard people often suggesting a weeds only diet, with no other information and people have often asked "why am i seeing some pyramidding when i only feed weeds" a weed is just a plant thats in the wrong place, so in theory all plants are weeds depends on were they are growing.i feed sowthistle ,hawksbeard,hawkbit,dandelion,vetch,mallow,and mixed plantain about 30 to 50% of weeds fed being ribwort plantain.in addition to this i have to say all my adults have free range to most of these weeds daily, and during summer i actually feed very little they survive on graze.my juveniles have access to grass for graze most days during the summer months to encourage exercise and muscle development.
terry

This post was last modified: 05-24-2008 10:40 AM by terrypin.

Activity level is definetly an important factor... to go further... they are not going to be active unless the temperatures are just right.

Another point in your case is you obviously have the fertile well planted yard. I'll bet you also watch your tortoises and what they eat. You propably collect those same plants for them when the can't get out.

The Mazuri diet here is very cheap and I still don't fully understand why it works so well but as I said in the past... I trust the people who developed it and as far as I cant tell they haven't missed a thing. I'm only more amazed as time goes on.

Ed