can this hurt him?

[sarbeth77]

My one year old sulcata all of the sudden today is I'm not sure attacking/biting his water bowl. I've tried to distract him by putting the calcium thjing in front of him to bite. Why is he doing that and can it hurt him. Or if it does hurt will he stop?

 

[maplewood]

How long have you had him? What and how often do you feed him?

 

[Tom]

What do you normally feed him? He could be trying to right a mineral imbalance. This is typically seen when people feed a lot of lettuce and grocery store greens instead of the higher fiber weeds and grasses.

 

[eric joranson]

what color is your watering dish....if I have anything red or green; it signals food.

 

[sarbeth77]

The water bowl is a yellowish ceramic, and he get kale, cilatro, dandelion greens and endive all mixed in with the mazuri pellets, which he has been eating all year and the bowl has also been in there the whole time and calcium powder on it once a week. He get s abowl of all that twice a day. I did just take him to a tort person she said he's a little under weight, he didn't tell me how much he weighed she just held him. How do u get them to put on weight faster and safely?

 

[sarbeth77]

The water bowl has been in there with him a little over a year, and that's the bowl that like yellowish with brown on it. And its the bowl of food he gets twice a day, just to be clear.

 

[sarbeth77]

Oh I did get some grass from out back and cut it up andnput it on the food dish, the one I make it all in for he week

 

[GingerLove]

Is something on his face? Sometimes Ginger bites the air when she sees a bit of food in the corner of her eye, but it's smeared on her face. She's not the brightest bulb.

 

[sarbeth77]

Oh I've had him since he was a tiny hatchling, not this past Xmas eve but the one b4 so I think he should be almost a year and a half old

 

[sarbeth77]

There wasn't n e tjng non his face until after he was done attacking the bowl now he does have coconut substrate on his face, it looks like a little coconut burglur mask lol

 

[eric joranson]

The water bowl has been in there with him a little over a year, and that's the bowl that like yellowish with brown on it. And its the bowl of food he gets twice a day, just to be clear.

so you use the same bowl for feeding? If that is the case I am sure hes just looking for more to eat. I too feed twice a day; but always add a little more after feed; so if he wants he can have a snack at his leisure. Some days he eats all of it; other days he totally ignores it. I also make it a practice to move the feeding bowl to a different spot in the enclosure; to full fill their nature to forage This might be what your is doing; foraging. I also have cactus growing in enclosure; which can go totally untouched for months; then some trigger sets him off and they get decimated. I also have spider plant cuttings growing in there; which have gone untouched so far; but won't be surprised the day they are gone. One last question; is there any way he can see his reflection in this bowl....he might be attacking his own reflection.

 

[sarbeth77]

He is attacking the water bowl not the food bowl, and I've been giving him a few like no more than ten rose petals or pansy petals if h eats all the food within ten mins. He cannot see his reflection in the water bowl, he grabs the side of it with his beak and pulls it put can't keep his grip and he does is over and over and over, ansnits ceramic, I've checked the bowl closely and there are no pieces missing. I just wanna make sure he can't hurt himself, u would not believe how loud it is. Not to mention it floods part of the tank, makes coconut mud basically and it is all over his little face. Oh and if I don't give him flowers afrtwr a feeding I have been addind a pinch or two more to it since I heard he needs to gains little wait. But we are trying to get a tort table built b4 may 4th and also a tort run of sorts for outside.

 

[sarbeth77]

He never ignores his food. The food bowl is empty usually b4 I walk back into the room after putting what I keep the food in back into the fridge. I am afraid to feed him more I don't want him pyramidding , he is already slightly bumpy, but I knw he needs more space, hence building the table. I was told to always leave food in there at all times so he doesn't or won't over eat but at same time like I said he need to put on some weight

 

[Tom]

Pyramiding is caused by growth in conditions that are too dry. Not by food. What is his length and how much does he weigh? How often do you soak? Sometimes they feel a little light when they are dehydrated.

Tables are no good for sulcatas unless the entire room is kept in monsoon like conditions 24/7. They need it warm and humid. You won't be able to do that in an open table.

The diet you are feeding is pretty good, but it lacks the best stuff. What percentage of his food intake is the grass that you mentioned cutting from the back? It sounds like he needs more food, and more grass, weeds and leaves. Less grocery store stuff. Read this one:
http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/for-those-who-have-a-young-sulcata.76744/

Have you also seen these:
http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/beginner-mistakes.45180/
http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/how-to-raise-a-healthy-sulcata-or-leopard-version-2-0.79895/

 

[cmacusa3]

He never ignores his food. The food bowl is empty usually b4 I walk back into the room after putting what I keep the food in back into the fridge. I am afraid to feed him more I don't want him pyramidding , he is already slightly bumpy, but I knw he needs more space, hence building the table. I was told to always leave food in there at all times so he doesn't or won't over eat but at same time like I said he need to put on some weight

Let him eat all he wants, they are grazers and eat anytime they can find food in the wild. Mine always have food available and as Tom said pyramiding isn't caused by over eating.

 

[sarbeth77]

I cut back the kale, cause it was literally half kale half cilantro, then added half grass and dandelion greens and endive plus the mazuri pellets of course. Someone had said its humidity and protein intake that cause pyramiding. And I live in az and shockingly it hasn't been as hard as I thought to keep his humidity up in here. The pic right there was taken a week ago, I put the ChapStick next to him to better gage size.

 

[sarbeth77]

But I did notice that 6 months ago when I added the cilantro he is sooooo much more active, and he loves it

 

[sarbeth77]

He doesn't lik hibiscus but it was pink, but i have a lot of the flower vinka or vinca, they look like white pansies but have seen nothing on anywhere about that flower to see if its safe or not for him to eat. I gave him rose petals last night as a small treat them mixed the rest of the petals with his food and he ate some but for the first time in over 6 months he actually had food left

 

[sarbeth77]

Tom I cut back on soaking him cause he hangs out in his water dish 3 to 5 times a day but if u think its a good idea I start soaking him again, once a week good?

 

[Bee62]

Hi,

you should soak a growing tort every day, even when he has already a pyramided shell.
Soaking is necessary to keep the tort well hydratet. That prevents that the urates turn into stones that may cause problems. To be well hydratet is also good for the kidneys of a tort.
You see that soaking is very important even if your tort has a water bowl.

You can`t overfeed a tortoise. They know what they need and they don`t eat more as they need. So you don`t have to worry that you could do him harm with enough food.

Does your tortoise have a whole cuttlefish bone in his enclosure ? The beak of a tort is always growing. They need something hard to bite on to cut their beak. Sometimes they bite in hard things ( as a bowl ) to cut their beak.
Offering a tort cuttlefish bones is much better than putting calcium powder over the food.
It is like the food: They know what they need ( calcium ) and eat as much as they need. But they eat not too much.
I offer my little growing sulcatas cuttlefish bone pieces and they eat what they need for their growth.