Calcium in the wild

[Lil' Tortie]

Looks like you're given them more protein than calcium; potential for heavy pyramiding???

Hi you guys,
I'm brand new member from Vietnam.
In our country, we often supply cancium for our tortoise by green salad, small fish, tiny shrimps, boiled egg of Quail birds and cuttle bone.
Esp. for the cuttle bone, it does not taste good but I just leave it in the enclosure and my tortoise will eat when it needs cancium.

Quail eggs.

Cuttlebone

 

[Lil' Tortie]

For the last 2 days I've tried feeding them prickley pear fruits before lettuce, and yes they ate it, not too much but they did. Yes!!!

 

[Madkins007]

Calcium levels in milligrams per 100 grams of food (see note below!!!!)
FRUITS:
Cactus fruit- 426
Navel orange- 43
All other fruits run at 35 or lower

GREENS:
200mg+= lambsquarters
150-200mg.= dandelions, kelp, turnip greens
125-150mg.= collards, kale, parsley, Timothy grass
100-120mg.= alfalfa, beet greens, chicory greens, mustard greens, watercress
50-100mg.= endive, escarole, grape leaves, spinach, Swiss chard
Under 50mg.= greenleaf lettuce, Hibiscus leaves, iceberg lettuce, redleaf lettuce, romaine lettuce, yard grass on average

VEGGIES:
200mg.+= Hibiscus fruit (1300mg!)
150-200mg.= snap peas, cactus pads
125-150mg.= nothing commonly available
100-125mg.= Chrysanthemum flowers
50-100mg.= okra, soybean sprouts
Under 50mg.= Lima beans, carrot, cauliflower, celery, corn (2mg.), cucumber, Hibiscus flower (4mg.), mushrooms (3mg.), peas, peppers, radishes, sprouts, squash, tomato

PROTEINS:
300+= sardines, tofu
200-300mg.= salmon,
100-200mg.= canned cat food (average), dry dog food (average), primate chow
50-100mg.= boiled egg- no shell, dry cat food (average), canned feline diet, 'fuzzy' rats,
Under 50mg.= chicken (canned), beef heart, ground beef, tuna in water, canned dog food (average), day old chick, mice, pinkies rats, and all invertebrates as far as I can find.


Note!!! This list DOES NOT mean these are good food items. The Calcium/phosphorous ratio, oxalytic acids, and general appropriatness of the foods is not factored in!

Most of the info comes from www.elook.org- a great nutritional database of human foods. Other parts come from laces like articles on-line from the AZA.

If someone has a place they can post it for everyone's benefit, I have some tables of nutritional values of common Red-foot food items I would be happy to share.

 

[Crazy1]

Please take note : there are two types of Protein Animal and Plant. The above list could be somewhat misleading to newbies.

 

[Madkins007]

Please take note : there are two types of Protein Animal and Plant. The above list could be somewhat misleading to newbies.

The list is about calcium levels in common foods... I seem to be missing where the protein levels come in? The 'proteins' heading is just a list of calcium levels in common meats. I apologize if it is not labeled adequately.

In editing it, I lost the original first paragraph- the list was just designed to show the original poster where animals can get calcium in the wild if they don't eat bones. It also was supposed to help show the calcium levels of some of the foods that have been mentioned so far.

 

[Crazy1]

Madkins007, thank you for the clarification. Just didn't want to confuse anyone.

 

[Redfoot NERD]

Looks like you're given them more protein than calcium; potential for heavy pyramiding???

There are a number of noted nutritionist's [ Jon Coote - Chairman and past president, International Herpetological Society, etc., etc. - pg. 28 Sept. '06 Reptiles magazine ], zoo's and private keeper's [ self included ] that have found the vital importance of a "MICRO-CLIMATE" in the form of a humid hide.. to prevent pyramiding in virtually every tortoise known to man.. on the planet.

Coote's research has led him to address the issue of "low protein" advocated for feeding captive tortoises. He also mentions in the article how difficult it has been to get tortoisekeepers to put this into practice.

NERD