Baby Redfoot interested in small stones

[daduc]

Hello all,
I've had Dozer for a little over a week now and today I let him walk around the outdoor patio supervised for some sun light (nice humid day today in florida) I gave him some Hibiscus leaves to chomp on and after he finished it, I saw him go after some small stones in between my pavers. I was able to pick him up before he was able to eat it but it freaked me out. Is this normal?
I have searched the forums and read that it could be from a mineral deficiency from grocery store greens, or give him more fruits with seeds and possibly add the miner all supplement?
Since he's been with me, his main leafy green staple are collard greens and dandelion greens from the store as well as escarole. He also gets veggies and fruits twice a week. He also has a cuttle bone in his enclosure. I have the broadleaf testudo seeds currently growing for him as well when ready. Not sure if I should add the miner all supplement to his diet as well. Is there anything you guys think I should change?

 

[Littleredfootbigredheart]

Funnily enough it can potentially be down to either too much supplementation or not enoughit could also just be genuine curiosity, either way try and make sure he doesn’t have access to small stones/gravel.
Are you giving any supplements currently? If not then yes I’d go ahead and start adding a pinch on 2-3 feeds a week are you also feeding some protein?

I think you’ll hopefully find this thread helpful to look at, you can read through to make sure all your levels and equipment are correct(it’s so easy to be sold the wrong stuff) then there’s a diet list at the bottom with lots of great suggestions to try them with! The more variety you can offer, the better

Young red foot/ cherryhead set up

Hello there! In this thread I’m going to include some information on an effective example of a starter enclosure for a red foot/cherry head😊 Care advice for these guys is painfully behind, fb pages, YouTube, pet stores, they’re all repeating the same outdated advice, this forum is made of...

tortoiseforum.org

This one can be useful to go over too

Common keeping errors

Hello everyone! I’d been a long time lurker on this site long before joining just under a year ago now, over that time I’ve seen these husbandry issues come up time and time again, sometimes with dire consequences☹️ I thought this thread might serve as a good visual guide for these common...

tortoiseforum.org

Hope this helps!

 

[daduc]

Funnily enough it can potentially be down to either too much supplementation or not enoughit could also just be genuine curiosity, either way try and make sure he doesn’t have access to small stones/gravel.
Are you giving any supplements currently? If not then yes I’d go ahead and start adding a pinch on 2-3 feeds a week are you also feeding some protein?

I think you’ll hopefully find this thread helpful to look at, you can read through to make sure all your levels and equipment are correct(it’s so easy to be sold the wrong stuff) then there’s a diet list at the bottom with lots of great suggestions to try them with! The more variety you can offer, the better

Young red foot/ cherryhead set up

Hello there! In this thread I’m going to include some information on an effective example of a starter enclosure for a red foot/cherry head😊 Care advice for these guys is painfully behind, fb pages, YouTube, pet stores, they’re all repeating the same outdated advice, this forum is made of...

tortoiseforum.org

This one can be useful to go over too

Common keeping errors

Hello everyone! I’d been a long time lurker on this site long before joining just under a year ago now, over that time I’ve seen these husbandry issues come up time and time again, sometimes with dire consequences☹️ I thought this thread might serve as a good visual guide for these common...

tortoiseforum.org

Hope this helps!

Thanks for the help! I have given him some dust of calcium twice so far and I have not given him protein yet but I'll give him some boiled eggs with some shells tomorrow.

 

[ZEROPILOT]

My outside Redfoot will eat stones if I fail to leave out cuttlebone in the enclosures.
Usually they pass without issues. But it's best to discourage them from doing so.

 

[Yvonne G]

Redfoot and Yellowfoot tortoises eat a lot of plants including seeds in the wild. It helps with their digestion. If they don't get seeds they eat stones. You can offer fruits with small seeds like papaya, dragon fruit, kiwi, tomatoes, etc.

 

[daduc]

Redfoot and Yellowfoot tortoises eat a lot of plants including seeds in the wild. It helps with their digestion. If they don't get seeds they eat stones. You can offer fruits with small seeds like papaya, dragon fruit, kiwi, tomatoes, etc.

Awesome thank you. I happened to get some dragon fruit this weekend to feed Dozer. On days where I give fruit, do I only give fruit or give him fruit and his dandelion greens with it?

 

[Alex and the Redfoot]

Awesome thank you. I happened to get some dragon fruit this weekend to feed Dozer. On days where I give fruit, do I only give fruit or give him fruit and his dandelion greens with it?

Try offering both. If he leaves an empty plate - perfect, if he's picking out fruit and leaves the greens - offer dandelions first and then add fruit or just make "fruit days" and "green days". Dozer would deny it but he needs to eat his greens They are like kids and candies sometimes.