# oatmeal and brown rice



## Yvonne G (Oct 13, 2014)

I took in two full grown male desert tortoises yesterday that had been cared for by a 90 something year old lady for the past 25 or so years. Every year the month before hibernation this lady would cook up some oatmeal and some brown rice and feed it to the tortoises so they would be ready for hibernation. I had never heard of this before. The tortoises are huge for their species, and in great shape.

Any comments?


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## Maro2Bear (Oct 13, 2014)

Yes, lets see some pictures!


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## tortadise (Oct 13, 2014)

Interesting. From a nutritional stand point, those both carry some very good grains and vitamin content. Not sure how well it works for herbivores. But thinking about it more they do have an absorption factor that could "sponge" other items in the gut maybe. Very interesting.


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## kathyth (Oct 13, 2014)

Never heard of this.
Very interesting.


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## Maggie Cummings (Oct 13, 2014)

My comment is at least I post * PICTURES*


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## bouaboua (Oct 13, 2014)

maggie3fan said:


> My comment is at least I post * PICTURES*



Yeah.......What's wrong with her?? Two full grown male desert tortoises in great shape but no picture?????


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## Jabuticaba (Oct 13, 2014)

I don't think it's biologically appropriate for them, as they wouldn't have that in the wild. That said, it's not very different from feeding Mazuri, imho, except brown rice and oats are higher quality grains and less processed than Mazuri. 


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## leigti (Oct 13, 2014)

If she did it for 25 years and they're healthy and happy, there must be some merit to it.


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## ascott (Oct 13, 2014)

maggie3fan said:


> My comment is at least I post * PICTURES*



LMAOffffff...


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## ascott (Oct 13, 2014)

Yvonne G said:


> I took in two full grown male desert tortoises yesterday that had been cared for by a 90 something year old lady for the past 25 or so years. Every year the month before hibernation this lady would cook up some oatmeal and some brown rice and feed it to the tortoises so they would be ready for hibernation. I had never heard of this before. The tortoises are huge for their species, and in great shape.
> 
> Any comments?




I say, this is one of those things that worked....if the torts are healthy--then there is no arguing it....however, I would simply question how much did what she offered them really affect them as an overall? I mean, I bet that lady is of the group that allowed those torts to do their thing freely and graze throughout the rest of the year...so this would to me have more of an impact than the "likely" small amount she gave them...likely was like a oatmeal/rice ball...unto itself not a big deal....again, just my opinion and nothing more.


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## Yvonne G (Oct 14, 2014)

maggie3fan said:


> My comment is at least I post * PICTURES*



I posted their pictures here:

http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/meet-2014-rescues-63-66.103390/


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## Tyanna (Oct 14, 2014)

That's different and interesting.. Like everyone else's comment. I wonder if she got the advice from someone else or just did it on her own.


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## Ariza (Jul 7, 2015)

Just found this thread. Very interesting! Any more comments about it? Yvonne, do you know how much and how often she fed the grains to the torts the month before hibernation?
Rice and oatmeal have lots of fiber and cleans out the intestines, so it does make sense to me. I do eat lots of brown rice when I get diarrhea. And I doubt they are harmful, even to torts. I'm sure in the wild they browse wild grains and such. I even saw Ariza eating some bird food once.
I'm a vegetarian and just love any grain food. Very infrequently I will offer Ariza tiny amounts of cooked oatmeal or soaked cereal and she just gobbles it up. I wanted to give her more but didn't dare. She's a glutton but if she doesn't like something she'll refuse it, so that makes me feel better about offering new stuff.


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## bouaboua (Jul 7, 2015)

Yvonne G said:


> I posted their pictures here:
> 
> http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/meet-2014-rescues-63-66.103390/


Now I know where MO is coming from! ! ! ! !

Thanks to this old thread. So he can expecting some brown rice in the fall! ! ! !


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