Hi there,
I have a four year old greek tortoise (testudo graeca ibera), who is active, healthy and eats well. I feed him a mixture of dandelion, lavatera, viola, plantain, campanula, clover, vetch, hawksbeard, hawk bit, sow thistle and mallow, and he gets a good mixture of these two or three times a day, plus he has some edible plants in his enclosure which he can nibble on in addition to what I put down. He has access to a couple of water bowls for drinking/bathing which are changed at least twice a day. Accordingly, he eats well and and has never been raised on bad foods, like fruits or pellets or any kind of meat.
However, today, I noticed that he was chewing on something and when I went to investigate I found that he was trying to eat a dead mouse that my cat had caught. It was 'fresh' in that it wasn't there yesterday so the cat must have caught the mouse over night or this morning, but I was very surprised to see that the tortoise was trying to eat it. He had one of the paws in his mouth, and was trying to tear it off. I waited for him to open his mouth and gently removed the mouse before he had a chance to get any further. Now I am aware that it's common for tortoises to eat small invertebrates, either voluntarily or involuntarily, and that they will sometimes eat snails for the calcium in their shells, but I've never seen or heard of a tortoise scavenging on meat.
Has anyone else come across anything similar?
I have a four year old greek tortoise (testudo graeca ibera), who is active, healthy and eats well. I feed him a mixture of dandelion, lavatera, viola, plantain, campanula, clover, vetch, hawksbeard, hawk bit, sow thistle and mallow, and he gets a good mixture of these two or three times a day, plus he has some edible plants in his enclosure which he can nibble on in addition to what I put down. He has access to a couple of water bowls for drinking/bathing which are changed at least twice a day. Accordingly, he eats well and and has never been raised on bad foods, like fruits or pellets or any kind of meat.
However, today, I noticed that he was chewing on something and when I went to investigate I found that he was trying to eat a dead mouse that my cat had caught. It was 'fresh' in that it wasn't there yesterday so the cat must have caught the mouse over night or this morning, but I was very surprised to see that the tortoise was trying to eat it. He had one of the paws in his mouth, and was trying to tear it off. I waited for him to open his mouth and gently removed the mouse before he had a chance to get any further. Now I am aware that it's common for tortoises to eat small invertebrates, either voluntarily or involuntarily, and that they will sometimes eat snails for the calcium in their shells, but I've never seen or heard of a tortoise scavenging on meat.
Has anyone else come across anything similar?