# sprouts??



## J.P. (Nov 18, 2014)

hello everyone!!

i planted some fodder seed mix on my grazing pen. the seeds are now sprouting and my leopards are showing special attention to the baby plants. i thought it's a good thing that they like what i planted, but while going over some tortoise articles, I came across info that sprouts are bad due to high protein and disruptive calcium balance. i do not know if the article is talking about supermarket bean/veggie sprouts, or all sprouts in general even if it's just grass.

should i keep them off the grazing pen until the sprouts have grown, or would it be okay to let them eat?

half of my retarded brain tells me that it's ok, since in the wild, leopard torts will have nothing to eat but fresh sprouts at the start of rainy season...while the smarter half tells me to ask first.....


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## Yellow Turtle01 (Nov 19, 2014)

Some torts like sprouts better then adult weeds... it's weird, maybe because they get bitter 
I'm sorry, I can't help with the nutrition on sprouts  and I'll bet half of what my sulcata eats in the summer are fresh, new sprouts!
I'd let the grow a bit anyway, because (IMHO!) they'll have a higher 'survival' rate if the torts give them a chance to grow and stop eating them down the roots


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## Tom (Nov 19, 2014)

Personally I would want to give the sprouts a 3-4 weeks head start, but eating them now as part of a varied diet will do your tortoise no harm. The protein "scare" was and in some cases still is way over blown. Its not a big deal for tortoises to get some plant based protein now an then. I feed legumes and fresh alfalfa to mine once a week or so.

If you fed nothing but these young sprouts for weeks on end, then you might start to run into some nutritional deficiencies or problems.


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## G-stars (Nov 19, 2014)

I agree with the posts above. Sprouts grow after the rains start which also triggers tortoises to search out and eat. This is why most tortoises are very active and hungry after a soaking (at least all mine do). Sprouts should be fine as long as it's part of a varied diet.


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## J.P. (Nov 19, 2014)

Thanks everybody! 

the sprouts grew a lot overnight and the torts were attacking them this morning. usually, they walk, stop to take a bite of this grass or that, walk again, then bite again, much like how my wife does the shopping, never stopping and always checking out everything, lol! but i noticed a change in their grazing attitude today. once they hit a clump of the young plants, they hunker down and munch away. totally not paying attention to their "old" grass.

i think i will be keeping them off the young plants tomorrow, not for their sake but to give the plants a chance to grow.

i'll also be making another pen, so that i can rotate the grazing areas for regenaration.


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## J.P. (Nov 19, 2014)

i hope their preference for the fresh sprouts is just a novel thing. i'm trying to make the available plants as varied as possible, but since i let them eat on their own, i can't control their preference.

i'd like to think that 'free range" is an ideal scenario, but maybe i should still prepare a mixed plate if it's the only way to ensure they get to eat veriety.


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## dmmj (Nov 19, 2014)

Should be fine, as part of a varied diet like above said. The only way they can block calcium absorption, isi f they are high in oxalates, even then, keeping him hydrated is key. But should not be a problem. Do you know what type of sprouts re they?


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## J.P. (Nov 19, 2014)

it's quite a mix of seeds...alfalfa, clovers, i forgot what else, but i'm sure it's all good. a friend bought fodder mix from the USA for his tortoises and gave me some. i also planted locally available grass type plants such as millets (white, red and black), sorghum, canary seeds, a few veriety of sunflowers, wheat...so far, the most prolific growers appear to be the millets and wheat.

aside from that, my grazing area has about 10 varieties of small grass. i think the only one you'd be familiar with is bermuda, which i baught from a garden store. the other types i just transplanted from the wild. i also give them tall grass which i pick from a vacant lot. i didn't plant tall grass since it's pretty much useless for grazing because the blades are out of tortoise reach.


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## edricivan (Oct 21, 2015)

Resurrecting this thread, J.P. how's your tort? I'm currently looking for seeds/plants here in the Phil and I'm having a hard time. Did you manage to get a steady source for your tort's dietary needs?


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## J.P. (Nov 8, 2015)

edricivan said:


> Resurrecting this thread, J.P. how's your tort? I'm currently looking for seeds/plants here in the Phil and I'm having a hard time. Did you manage to get a steady source for your tort's dietary needs?


 
Thanks for asking. I lost one to RI, the remaining three are doing really well. I regularly feed them a mix of market greens like maringo, jute, water convolvulus, sweet potato leaves, hibiscus leaves, a little pumkin or carrot sometimes (fo Vit A), oppuntia cactus, aloe vera....these are mixed with some grass and sometimes sprinkled with crushed mazuri.
their mix is given twice daily, in the morning before being let out and afternoon before they sleep inside.

i was aiming for a 100% free range diet, but their grazing area is too small to keep up. even if they are full before being let out, they still eat a lot of the grass. i can't wait or them to be big enough so i can let them loose on the yard.

a cheap way to grow fodder is to scatter bird seeds, oats, millet and whatever small seeds available at a poultry store. these sprout within days and th torts loe the young shoots. every few months, i also have to buy grass (carabao, frog, bermuda) at garden supplies to replenish the grazig pen.


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