- Joined
- Jul 23, 2010
- Messages
- 233
You definitely got some big fellas there, congrats!
i will message you today! I know I missed your mailing date, so any time you get a chance I would love some of your seeds!Welcome to the world of tortoise ownership. It's great! I just read your thread. Perhaps look under the marketplace section under trading, there's a thread where we all get on there and post what we have to trade or just give away. It's been a great source for me. I just got cactus pads, mulberry leaves, actual mulberry trees, some cold/wet hardy spineless cactus plants, people have A lOT of things to offer. You can work out a trade or if you ain't got stuff for trade perhaps pay for shipping. As for your budget, I would say grow all the food sources you can. Your in a great location to grow about anything. When I first got my torts I started picking edible stuff up off discount rakes. I found grape vine plants for 3 bucks at lowes last year, now you have to get them out the soil they come in due to chemicals and let them grow for about 6 months before you can feed but after that it's a free food source. I have grape vines, banana trees, roses, hibiscus, mallow, purslane, cactus,etc, the list just keeps going. I just picked up like 30 strawberry plants costed $3 for em all at the local nursery. You can pick up or find someone willing to trade stuff all the time. Like me, I have an abundance of hibiscus seed, if you would like some I will send you some for free. Then instead of having to spend 10-12 bucks on 1 plant and wait for chemicals to leach out, you can grow 20-30 plants and it cost ya 0 bucks. Hibiscus are easy care, I do nothing to mine. They are like 5 foot tall, full of leaves and blooms and my torts give them a pretty good beating and they hold up just fine. Good shade makers too. I am dropping a couple other envelopes of seeds off Tuesday for some other folks so if you'd like some just send me a mailing address in a private message, I will send ya out.
I'm gonna try to measure them later today!You definitely got some big fellas there, congrats!
much thanks!I have no experience with Browns or blacks. Those sure are beauties though! Also, please don't leave the dog alone with the tortoises. It happens all the time where the dog had never showed any sign of aggression toward any tortoises and one day they just eat them like a bone. Even if your dog is always around them and never touches them, what if it happens? Why risk it? You may have already known this and plan not to leave them alone near each other but I just wanted to tell you. Love your torts and hope they do great for you!
so now that I've had the tortoises for a few weeks, how do I know if I'm doing things right?
-they're still kind of shy. I thought they'd own the yard and be all up in my space, but they still hide a lot. how long does it take for them to "come out of their shell" (yay bad puns!)
-how do I know if I'm feeding the right balance of the right foods? too much or too little?
-with three, how do I know who's eating how much?
-my work schedule is constantly changing. some days I work 7-3:30, some days I work 1-9:30. so they're not getting fed at a regular time. is that bad?
-when they breathe, is it normal for their throats to get soooo big?
I don't think I'm giving them enough lettuce and I have yet to buy a calcium supplement. I have been doing pretty much 1-3 days fruits and veggies, then a day of mazuri monkey chow. I'm afraid I'm doing the wrong fruits and veggies (everything I read says different things about different foods!). they get a combination of what I can get for cheap and what I bought cause I wanted to eat it too. does lettuce need to be the primary food?
I know I'm super lucky cause at 15 years old and with nice thick, hard shells, I've got some margin for error. but I want to keep them as healthy as they were the day I got them!
thanks for any and all feedback/advice!
awesome, I did that once! I hardboiled a few and peeled them for a treat for my dog, but I did a horrible job peeling them so the tortoises got the shells with a nice layer of egg white. should that be like a once a week thing?For calcium, you can hard boil whole chicken eggs and then when cool smash them some, they will eat them shell and all. If you have garden snails, well you won't anymore, and they have calcium in their shells too.
Yeah once a week, they are pretty large tortoises. Many people get excited (the bad kind) about egg, but they are egg layers, it was the whole of their nutrition at one point in their lives. A modest amount along the way is a good source of many vitamins and minerals, enough to sustain a neonate. The whole hardboiled egg smashed so they can get into it works well.awesome, I did that once! I hardboiled a few and peeled them for a treat for my dog, but I did a horrible job peeling them so the tortoises got the shells with a nice layer of egg white. should that be like a once a week thing?
Hi Alyssa412.
I'm also from south Florida.
Griffs Western feed store in Davie sells 25 pound bags of Mazuri for $36 bucks and change. It lasts and lasts.
I buy a lot of my produce at the Swap Shop in Fort Lauderdale. The Haitian vendors are just about giving away the stuff and there are also always cactus and cactus pears there.
Western Beef in Hollywood has Dandelion greens on hand.
I also may have some stuff laying around that you can use. Pipes and hides.
Don't hesitate to ask questions.
I also have large, flat aluminum pans that I use as waterers. I have at least two spares...
Yvonne I tried to do my due diligence and look up "broadleaf plants/broadleaf weeds" on old posts here and on google and I'm still slightly confused. are pretty much any weeds in my yard that aren't evergreen or pointy considered broadleaf? and if I offer the torts a weed/plant that they shouldn't eat, will they still try to eat it? I would offer them a lot more if I knew the worst that would happen is they wouldn't eat it!I wouldn't depend upon lettuces as a main stay. There are other much better dark, leafy greens for them to eat - turnip greens, mustard greens, collard greens, broad-leaf weeds from around your property, grape leaves, mulberry leaves.
I have no experience with Browns or blacks. Those sure are beauties though! Also, please don't leave the dog alone with the tortoises. It happens all the time where the dog had never showed any sign of aggression toward any tortoises and one day they just eat them like a bone. Even if your dog is always around them and never touches them, what if it happens? Why risk it? You may have already known this and plan not to leave them alone near each other but I just wanted to tell you. Love your torts and hope they do great for you!
Yvonne I tried to do my due diligence and look up "broadleaf plants/broadleaf weeds" on old posts here and on google and I'm still slightly confused. are pretty much any weeds in my yard that aren't evergreen or pointy considered broadleaf? and if I offer the torts a weed/plant that they shouldn't eat, will they still try to eat it? I would offer them a lot more if I knew the worst that would happen is they wouldn't eat it!
thanks for your concern. I had already heard this and after reading your comment thought about it even more. this is how I've decided to handle the matter, and why:I have no experience with Browns or blacks. Those sure are beauties though! Also, please don't leave the dog alone with the tortoises. It happens all the time where the dog had never showed any sign of aggression toward any tortoises and one day they just eat them like a bone. Even if your dog is always around them and never touches them, what if it happens? Why risk it? You may have already known this and plan not to leave them alone near each other but I just wanted to tell you. Love your torts and hope they do great for you!