Bob's Stone

[bouaboua]

Bob's stone (or hard urates)

Holly Torts! ! ! !Oh Bob.....

 

[ascott]

Thanks Yvonne...you're great to do that for me.

Angela,
Never thought of the food side of things. Every morning Bob gets produce collected for him weekly by the local Market of Choice. It's mostly red leaf and some green leaf lettuce. So I supplement with grass I cut from the empty lot next door, I collect dandelions daily.
I buy mustard greens, turnip greens, or collards or something else. Never Romaine, just never thought about that stuff. Then I give him all the blossoms or weeds or leaves I collect for him. In the late afternoon, he gets Mazuri, now I'm making it really soggy for the hydration but he still eats all of it. And some watermelon or strawberries as a treat.
He mostly eats stuff I collect for him. I get huge bags of dandelions here (dandelions should be the state flower). At this time of year, I just walk the neighborhood a couple blocks is all and I have several bags of dandelions.
I work hard to give him as natural a diet as I can. His grass is coming up now, so he grazes too. Why the Romaine? I do give him iceburg every so often for the moisture. He free feeds hay also.
So what do you think? Am I doing ok? What should I do to make it better? I spend a good part of the day collecting stuff for him to eat, if I need to do something else, I want to know, because with my knee and walking with a cane, it's not exactly easy, walking around collecting all that stuff.
My neighbors tell me there won't be any dandelions in our area soon, the way I collect them.

And if you'll remember, Queenie passed a big stone like that a couple of months ago. But they both have big water dishes, clean water daily, and Bob drinks daily, Queenie would rather get under her dish and tip it over. She does it every time, so every once in a while I soak her in the house. I started doing that more often after her stone....and I stopped feeding her collards and kale.
Guess that's it, what do you think? @ascott

Okay, so lets break this down;

dandelion--fabulous nutritional value, so would not change that food item....however, I would offer more flowers than the leaves....less oxalates in the flowers than the greens....plus, Bob will catch a bit of a drunken buzz from the flowers...nothing wrong with that to relax the dude.

mustard greens....I would back off of these perhaps to half of what you would normally offer him...

turnip greens....I would back off of these perhaps to half of what you would normally offer him...

collard greens... I would back off of these perhaps to half of what you would normally offer him...

Just for reference sake Maggie;

One cup of raw spinach in leaf form (not chopped) weighs about one ounce, and contains about 200 milligrams of oxalate, so 50 milligrams for the day would permit consumption of only 1/4 cup of raw spinach (and no other oxalate sources could be eaten during the day).

The reason I reference this is for the point of measurement only....so, if a tortoise is eating large amounts (which is the case for a big man like Bob) of foods each high in oxalates---then there may be an undesirable build up due to the mix of all....you see what I mean?..

Just remember moderation with these greens...and that with each one added onto another your totals of oxalates will increase....so even if hydration is good....the oxalate load may still be higher than desired...I mean, we humans pass stones as well and those are generated by food consumption as well....if you have the luxury of turf--I personally would promote that more than anything else, you see--in winter months that option goes away and that may be a choice time then for the dependence to go up on the grocery store greens and then the nice times of year to back off of them as much....also, there is nothing wrong with some yummy watermelon during the hot months....

Maggie, you are not doing something "wrong", you are offering him the fruits of your hard work....perhaps just water the turf and let ole Bob do the work more and save the treats for special times....or more truly as a supplement????

Romaine, I offer romaine for a variety of reasons...some are here;

http://www.incrediblesmoothies.com/nutrition/10-surprising-nutrition-facts-about-romaine-lettuce/

 

[Maggie Cummings]

Bob's shed's ambient temp at night in the winter is 95 degrees. Daytime in the winter it's 90 with 60% humidity. I run a humidifier 24/7 in the winter. Spring and summer I turn the heater completely off and it stays about 75 until it's the rarely 90 or so that comes sometimes. Spring and summer Bob spends all day outside. Yesterday he basked thru a short hail storm. I'm trying hard to do everything right or at least close. I just didn't expect this from him I guess.

Angela, ok you got it. Thanks for your help. I appreciate it. His grass is coming up now, and I cut grass from the empty lot next door. So Spring and Summer his diet will be a lot better....

 

[Moozillion]

Okay, so lets break this down;

dandelion--fabulous nutritional value, so would not change that food item....however, I would offer more flowers than the leaves....less oxalates in the flowers than the greens....plus, Bob will catch a bit of a drunken buzz from the flowers...nothing wrong with that to relax the dude.

mustard greens....I would back off of these perhaps to half of what you would normally offer him...

turnip greens....I would back off of these perhaps to half of what you would normally offer him...

collard greens... I would back off of these perhaps to half of what you would normally offer him...

Just for reference sake Maggie;

One cup of raw spinach in leaf form (not chopped) weighs about one ounce, and contains about 200 milligrams of oxalate, so 50 milligrams for the day would permit consumption of only 1/4 cup of raw spinach (and no other oxalate sources could be eaten during the day).

The reason I reference this is for the point of measurement only....so, if a tortoise is eating large amounts (which is the case for a big man like Bob) of foods each high in oxalates---then there may be an undesirable build up due to the mix of all....you see what I mean?..

Just remember moderation with these greens...and that with each one added onto another your totals of oxalates will increase....so even if hydration is good....the oxalate load may still be higher than desired...I mean, we humans pass stones as well and those are generated by food consumption as well....if you have the luxury of turf--I personally would promote that more than anything else, you see--in winter months that option goes away and that may be a choice time then for the dependence to go up on the grocery store greens and then the nice times of year to back off of them as much....also, there is nothing wrong with some yummy watermelon during the hot months....

Maggie, you are not doing something "wrong", you are offering him the fruits of your hard work....perhaps just water the turf and let ole Bob do the work more and save the treats for special times....or more truly as a supplement????

Romaine, I offer romaine for a variety of reasons...some are here;

http://www.incrediblesmoothies.com/nutrition/10-surprising-nutrition-facts-about-romaine-lettuce/

Thanks for that explanation ascot!