Baby Gopher Diet

[StudentoftheReptile]

Okay...so our local herp society volunteered this past weekend to help fix up some exhibits at a local zoo here in southwest Alabama. I knew they had some baby and adult sulcatas, as well as adult gophers (which I can only assume were there on the property before the zoo was built). Turns out they had some baby gophers as well.

We weren't there to be nosey. The zoo's owner informed me that the adults breed every year, and when they find the babies, they bring them inside to keep zoo visitors from pocketing them, I guess. I assume they have the proper permit to do this; so we didn't ask questions.

Anyway, they had them in a wire cage with a heat lamp on top and a blanket inside. With my basic knowledge of tortoise husbandry, I set them up in a 20-gal (thats all was available) with cypress mulch.

Apparently, there is only one girl there who mainly works with the herps, and she admits that she knows very little about them. I want to help them out, so my main question is: what is the proper diet for a baby gopher tortoise? Obviously, there's not any caresheets or books on captive husbandry for this species (given that its endangered for all its range), but was just curious if anyone knew about what they eat. Are they close to sulcatas? lots of greens and hay? maybe some veggies thrown in?

 

[ascott]

Captive Desert Tortoise Diet
Favored native plants (all of plant consumed unless otherwise noted)
Hoary abutilon (Abutilon spp.) Arizona cottontop grass (Digitaria spp.) Bamboo muhly grass (Muhlenbergia dumosa) Blue grama grass (Bouteloua gracilis) Buckwheats (Eriogonum spp.) Cassia (Senna spp.) Curly mesquite grass (Hilaria belangeri) Deer grass (Muhlenbergia rigens) Desert four-o’clock (Mirabelis spectabalis) Desert honeysuckle (Anisacanthus thurberi) Desert senna (Cassia covesii) Desert willow (flowers) (Chilopsis linearis)
Evening primrose* (Oenothera spp.) Fern acacia (flowers) (Acacia angustissima) Globe mallows* (Sphaeralcea spp.) Morning glory (Convolvulaceae) Plantain* (Plantago spp.) Prickly pear (fruit and new pads) (Opuntia) Hibiscus (flowers and leaves) (Hibiscus
denudatus and H. coulteri) Spurges* (Euphorbia spp.)
Trailing four-o'clock (Allionia incarnata) Vine mesquite grass (Panicum obtusum)
Barley Bean sprouts (mung) Beet greens Bok choy Carrot greens
Alfalfa (fresh or hay) Bermuda grass (fresh or hay) Bluegrass lawn Cantaloupe leaves

Acceptable produce
Cilantro Collard greens Endive Kale Mustard greens
Other healthy foods
Clover* Dandelion greens Grape leaves and shoots Mulberry leaves*
Parsley String beans Snow peas Spinach Turnip greens
Pumpkin leaves* Rose petals* Watercress Zucchini/squash leaves
All types of lettuce Avocado All fruit Cabbage
Celery

* = good for young desert tortoises

Avoid the following
Cucumber Any protein-rich foods Canned vegetables Starchy vegetables
(including corn)
Frozen vegetables Chinaberry berries Plants in the Nicotiana
(tobacco) genus Mushrooms
Important Diet Information Give your tortoise native plants. Commercial produce is, in general, less nutritious than native
plants for tortoises due to higher water and lower fiber content.
Feed your tortoise a variety of fresh food. In the wild, tortoises eat many different plants. Provide a variety of fresh foods to meet your tortoise’s nutritional needs.

No sodium. Do not feed tortoises sodium-rich foods including canned, dairy products, breads, and celery.
No cat or dog food. They may cause digestive problems because the fiber content is too low for tortoises. The excess protein can accelerate growth, causing shell deformities and possible death.
Avoid fruit, starchy vegetables and corn. Desert tortoises have beneficial bacteria in their intestines. Too much sugar and starch disrupts digestion by changing the type of bacteria that live in the tortoises’ hindgut.

---

here is another;

http://www.tortoise.org/general/descare.html[hr]
oh yeah This particular tortoise species has a GAZILLION sites that offer great information .....you can simply google and type in desert tortoise care sheet....you then can have a HUGE HUGE HUGE, did I say HUGE selection of information from the personal keeper at home all the way to scientific reports that offer information to great lengths....have fun

 

[Yvonne G]

If you want to be sure you're looking for the correct tortoise, your gopher tortoise is really called Gopherus polyphemus.

According to the WCT site, "...The gopher tortoise is one of the most widely studied tortoises in the world. As such its dietary preferences are well known. Conat6 reports that gopher tortoises eat a mixed diet of grasses, leaves, and wild fruits. Landers et al.7 conducted a food habit study of gopher tortoises in the longleaf-scrub oak association of South Georgia and concluded that grasses and grass-like plants were the principle foods of adults. Broad-leaved weeds are preferred by juvenile tortoises, with dependence upon them increasing as the growing season progresses and grass becomes dryer and less nutritious. Morning glory and bindweed leaves are also commonly eaten. Seasonally available fruits are also taken by Gopherus polyphemus. "

So, while they ARE similar to our desert tortoises, evidently they can eat more fruit than the desert tortoise does. I would go with the broad leaf plants and maybe spring mix.