DakiniHouse
New Member
We live in North Florida. Sorry in advance for the length here but THANK YOU for the forum! It's been a huge help in preparing for...
Recently adopted a 25 yr old male Sulcata who was injured and recovered from a dog attack at age 2. He has 4 puncture deformaties from that attack but his shell is in good shape, a little pyramiding, most likely from weekly showers but no real soaks for years. Rehabilitated and raised by an older couple for 23 years most recently living in a 10' x 12 full shade dirt yard with a nice 3 foot high cinder block shed - heated with a space heater during the few cold nights we get here. He tried to dig his first burrow this summer resulting in a collapse of a wall so they decided it was time to find him a new retirement spot before winter. He seems to be doing pretty good. Diet was mainly Mazuri pellets and banana leaves/yellow squash/zucchini with melons and carrots, papaya, bananas as treats. Seems to be a healthy eater/pooper and sociable.
He now lives in a 25x30 grass yard with a 8x12 quasi insulated metal shed and shower curtain flap entrance. He has a kiddie pool to soak whenever he wants and I'm going to upgrade that to cement sometime. His diet is increasing to what my mother and I grow... ie radish, sweet potato, mustard, collard, winter squashes, hibiscus, Aloe, Boston and Staghorn fern... but I'm having trouble verifying if other native (and non) plants are edible. Perennial peanut and Morning glory vines seem to be unconfirmed either way but he has been eating my morning glory vines with relish (no flowers/seeds). There is alot of conflicting info on the internets. I have Wandering Jew, Spider and Iron plants but I haven't given them yet. I'm trying to find the best resource for this research. Tortoise Table seems to say no to alot of stuff based on lack of evidence and I find ample contradictions.
What say ye to Ginger plants of all kinds?
Also feel free to tell me anything you wish you knew before your tortoise passed 150 pounds!
Thanks for reading!
Recently adopted a 25 yr old male Sulcata who was injured and recovered from a dog attack at age 2. He has 4 puncture deformaties from that attack but his shell is in good shape, a little pyramiding, most likely from weekly showers but no real soaks for years. Rehabilitated and raised by an older couple for 23 years most recently living in a 10' x 12 full shade dirt yard with a nice 3 foot high cinder block shed - heated with a space heater during the few cold nights we get here. He tried to dig his first burrow this summer resulting in a collapse of a wall so they decided it was time to find him a new retirement spot before winter. He seems to be doing pretty good. Diet was mainly Mazuri pellets and banana leaves/yellow squash/zucchini with melons and carrots, papaya, bananas as treats. Seems to be a healthy eater/pooper and sociable.
He now lives in a 25x30 grass yard with a 8x12 quasi insulated metal shed and shower curtain flap entrance. He has a kiddie pool to soak whenever he wants and I'm going to upgrade that to cement sometime. His diet is increasing to what my mother and I grow... ie radish, sweet potato, mustard, collard, winter squashes, hibiscus, Aloe, Boston and Staghorn fern... but I'm having trouble verifying if other native (and non) plants are edible. Perennial peanut and Morning glory vines seem to be unconfirmed either way but he has been eating my morning glory vines with relish (no flowers/seeds). There is alot of conflicting info on the internets. I have Wandering Jew, Spider and Iron plants but I haven't given them yet. I'm trying to find the best resource for this research. Tortoise Table seems to say no to alot of stuff based on lack of evidence and I find ample contradictions.
What say ye to Ginger plants of all kinds?
Also feel free to tell me anything you wish you knew before your tortoise passed 150 pounds!
Thanks for reading!