Concern about greens from store

Joseph Flores

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Okay so for the past few months I’ve been feeding my baby leopard tortoise weeds and some grasses outside. Now it’s winter and there’s hardly any grass and really no weeds at all so I switch backed to store bought green. I noticed how every time I give my tortoise like collard greens for example, his poop is like muddy or it will be runny, not solid at all as it would be with weeds. Does anyone else’s tortoise poop change when you give them store bought foods? And yes I do mix it up with grassland tortoise diet and give him cactus or grasses from outside to be varied.
 

SarahJoy

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I have a Sulcata and early on I had same problem. I found that greens from the store and too much cactus ends up making runny poop; too much water content. You may try growing some grass in flats over winter. It grows relatively fast. You will get some good info here from some with more experience than me. My sulcata gets by with hay, which is a life saver in winter.
 

Joseph Flores

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I have a Sulcata and early on I had same problem. I found that greens from the store and too much cactus ends up making runny poop; too much water content. You may try growing some grass in flats over winter. It grows relatively fast. You will get some good info here from some with more experience than me. My sulcata gets by with hay, which is a life saver in winter.
Do you have a specific grass to feed or you feed your sulcata?
 

Mrs.Jennifer

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I live in Connecticut, so there is no garden or outside enclosure food for my Russian tortoise this time of year. I usually slip into the “muddy” problem when I forget to choose high fiber greens and leafy veg. I know he loves the tender lettuces (and who doesn’t love seeing their beloved tortoise happily munching), but the “outcome” is not pretty! At that point I remind myself that high fiber foods are a better choice—especially for me who has to maintain his enclosure! Escarole, mustard greens, radicchio and bok choy are just a few choices you can find at the grocery store. I’m not sure if this is the same case for a leopard tortoise, but more experienced members will correct me if I’m wrong (which I will gladly and humbly accept).
 

Joseph Flores

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I live in Connecticut, so there is no garden or outside enclosure food for my Russian tortoise this time of year. I usually slip into the “muddy” problem when I forget to choose high fiber greens and leafy veg. I know he loves the tender lettuces (and who doesn’t love seeing their beloved tortoise happily munching), but the “outcome” is not pretty! At that point I remind myself that high fiber foods are a better choice—especially for me who has to maintain his enclosure! Escarole, mustard greens, radicchio and bok choy are just a few choices you can find at the grocery store. I’m not sure if this is the same case for a leopard tortoise, but more experienced members will correct me if I’m wrong (which I will gladly and humbly accept).
Thank you for the reply tho, I appreciate it, I just need recommendations or ways I can give him a good diet around this time.
 

SarahJoy

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Do you have a specific grass to feed or you feed your sulcata?
Bermuda grass. He also eats orchard grass hay and timothy hay. I only occasionally feed dandelion and hibiscus leaves, which I grow in a cold frame. I also grow prickly pear cactus, but I usually feed that if I think he is not hydrating enough as too much leads to the watery poop. You need to check a care sheet specific for your leopard. My tort is about 6 years.
 

Joseph Flores

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Bermuda grass. He also eats orchard grass hay and timothy hay. I only occasionally feed dandelion and hibiscus leaves, which I grow in a cold frame. I also grow prickly pear cactus, but I usually feed that if I think he is not hydrating enough as too much leads to the watery poop. You need to check a care sheet specific for your leopard. My tort is about 6 years.
Thank you.
 

Joseph Flores

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dont forget that you can offer dried greens during the winter, hydrate them and mix them up with store bought greens!

What do you mean by dry greens?
 

Tom

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What do you mean by dry greens?
Click the link that crimson_lotus left for you..

In addition to the zoomed stuff, which is good, also mix in hand fulls of the stuff from Kapidolo Farms.

You can also get horse pellets from a local feed store. I use Timothy hay pellets. It takes five minutes to soak them and then I mix it all up with the greens in a bucket. Make sure its plain ground up hay with no additives. You'd only need a few pellets for a small leopard. I use two or three handfuls to make up a five gallon bucket of food for a couple dozen adult tortoises.

For even more variety and fiber, I also love the "herbal hay" from @TylerStewart at https://www.tortoisesupply.com/HerbalHay
That big bag will last a year or more for a single tortoise and there is all kinds of good stuff in that mix. My tortoises love it.

From the store use endive and escarole as your main staples. Mix in arugula, cilantro, collards, kale, mustard and turnip greens and more for variety. These items mixed with any or all of the above stuff will make a fine diet for your tortoise.

Original Mazuri is also a good supplemental food. Feed it by itself, or mix it with greens. https://www.tortoisesupply.com/TortoiseDiet
 

Joseph Flores

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Click the link that crimson_lotus left for you..

In addition to the zoomed stuff, which is good, also mix in hand fulls of the stuff from Kapidolo Farms.

You can also get horse pellets from a local feed store. I use Timothy hay pellets. It takes five minutes to soak them and then I mix it all up with the greens in a bucket. Make sure its plain ground up hay with no additives. You'd only need a few pellets for a small leopard. I use two or three handfuls to make up a five gallon bucket of food for a couple dozen adult tortoises.

For even more variety and fiber, I also love the "herbal hay" from @TylerStewart at https://www.tortoisesupply.com/HerbalHay
That big bag will last a year or more for a single tortoise and there is all kinds of good stuff in that mix. My tortoises love it.

From the store use endive and escarole as your main staples. Mix in arugula, cilantro, collards, kale, mustard and turnip greens and more for variety. These items mixed with any or all of the above stuff will make a fine diet for your tortoise.

Original Mazuri is also a good supplemental food. Feed it by itself, or mix it with greens. https://www.tortoisesupply.com/TortoiseDiet
Thank you Tom.
 

Jon G.

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Joseph,

I am a leopard tortoise breeder and have had great success with my hatchlings alternating between Mazuri LS Tortoise diet and mixed greens. I soak the Mazuri LS diet in warm water for just a few minutes and use organic mixed greens (spring mix) that consist mainly of different baby lettuces. They love it and even though there is a lot of moisture in this diet, the droppings are typically compact and firm. Some spring mixes have a fair amount of spinach in them that can be picked out. My hatchlings don't seem to like the spinach anyway and avoid it on their own. I believe the current consensus is that a little spinach is ok as long as the balance of diet is balanced. I also supplement with a very light dusting of multivitamin plus D3 on the greens about once a week because my hatchings are raised primarily indoors without UV bulbs. I live in Florida so it is warm enough to put them out for a soak and natural sun a couple of times a week. The Grassland tortoise diet is also an excellent food but my hatchlings and adults don't seem to like it as much as the Mazuri. I have attached a picture of one of my yearlings that I held back to show the kind of shell growth I get with this diet.

IMG_20201211_111804999.jpg
 

Joseph Flores

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Joseph,

I am a leopard tortoise breeder and have had great success with my hatchlings alternating between Mazuri LS Tortoise diet and mixed greens. I soak the Mazuri LS diet in warm water for just a few minutes and use organic mixed greens (spring mix) that consist mainly of different baby lettuces. They love it and even though there is a lot of moisture in this diet, the droppings are typically compact and firm. Some spring mixes have a fair amount of spinach in them that can be picked out. My hatchlings don't seem to like the spinach anyway and avoid it on their own. I believe the current consensus is that a little spinach is ok as long as the balance of diet is balanced. I also supplement with a very light dusting of multivitamin plus D3 on the greens about once a week because my hatchings are raised primarily indoors without UV bulbs. I live in Florida so it is warm enough to put them out for a soak and natural sun a couple of times a week. The Grassland tortoise diet is also an excellent food but my hatchlings and adults don't seem to like it as much as the Mazuri. I have attached a picture of one of my yearlings that I held back to show the kind of shell growth I get with this diet.
Thank you for the reply. So you are talking about just regular tortoise Mazuri pellets? You just create a mash with the pellets combined with your spring mix? You are very luckily to live in Florida but also not really cause of the hurricanes but I live in south Texas and trying to slowly do research to further understand my tortoise and what can possible be the best way to raise them. I ordered some of that herbal mix that Tom up above referred to me to even tho it may cost a lot, but I’m willing to try it and it looks very good.
 

Jon G.

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Here is a picture of a package of the Mazuri LS Tortoise Diet that I use for both my hatchlings and adults. I get the small bags at PetCo but it is also available online from many sources. The small bag will last serveral months for a single hatchling. I buy bulk 25lb bags by ordering through Tractor Supply that just recently started carrying it. If your tortoise will eat the ZooMed Grassland diet I would stick with that as I think it is probably the closest thing to a natural diet with some additional good stuff currently available as a commercial tortoise food.
 

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Jon G.

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Regarding combining mashed Mazuri with the greens, I find that it is better to alternate Mazuri for one feeding and greens for the next, etc. The reason is that they will always choose the greens over the other so to keep them eating the Mazuri it works best to feed it by itself. I do mash the soaked pellets for new hatchlings but after a month or two they have no problem biting chunks out of the pellets and it is a little easier to clean up....
 

Joseph Flores

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Regarding combining mashed Mazuri with the greens, I find that it is better to alternate Mazuri for one feeding and greens for the next, etc. The reason is that they will always choose the greens over the other so to keep them eating the Mazuri it works best to feed it by itself. I do mash the soaked pellets for new hatchlings but after a month or two they have no problem biting chunks out of the pellets and it is a little easier to clean up....
That’s very good, today I tried feeding him pellets by themselves form zoomed and he took and nibble and stopped and then like 30 minutes later he started slowly eating them.
 

ritalutzer

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Bermuda grass. He also eats orchard grass hay and timothy hay. I only occasionally feed dandelion and hibiscus leaves, which I grow in a cold frame. I also grow prickly pear cactus, but I usually feed that if I think he is not hydrating enough as too much leads to the watery poop. You need to check a care sheet specific for your leopard. My tort is about 6 years.
How do you give your tortoise the prickly pear? do you remove the quills?????
 

Tom

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How do you give your tortoise the prickly pear? do you remove the quills?????
I used to take the time to get rid of all the little micro-spines and glochids. Then I saw video of wild tortoises in the old world eating the fully spined versions of our new world cactus with no problem. Same ways new world tortoises just walk up and eat it, spines and all.

For the last few years I have not bothered to remove spines at all. I just cut off pads and feed them whole to all ages and sizes of all my species. Zero problems to report. Everything from babies to adults just eat them with no problems.
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