conflicting stuff

[rayneygirl]

ive gotten deep into the sulcata threads and some people say, give calcium everyday, some say give calcium 3x a week, some say once a week. i have a baby and the plastron in a tad soft. id just like to know what i should be doing calcium-wise. can anyone tell me? thankyouuuuuuuuu.

 

[BeeBee*BeeLeaves]

Sunshine. Without sunshine, the calcium does not get assimilated, I think is how it has been put. Just remember in this heat, surpervise the baby as they can overheat, and horrors, fry with the heat we are getting lately. The rays can bounce and be used by baby even in shady areas. A lot of leafy green vegetables have calcium in them also. These guys have calcium: spinach, collards, kale, Swiss chard, lettuces, rhubarb, mustard and turnip greens, and even broccoli. Always remember variety is the key for tortoises as far as diet. The nothing but lettuce is so last century. And sullies love that grass, in the sunshine, with some shade. Hope this helps. There is lots more to read about these things on TFO. Search away. Good luck with the baby and remember ... hot and humid = healthy and happy. Be sure to read Tom's threads. Excellent stuff. : )

 

[rayneygirl]

she gets an hr and a half to two hours sunshine everyday. i am always outside when she is there. she loves grass, when there's grass around she tromps all over the squash leaves, rose leaves, dandelions, anything else i give her, spring mix etc. i guess ill give her calcium twice a week but ill really need to research more before anything is concrete, my other sulcata who is outside full time gets calcium 3x a week, varied diet regular soaks humid hide large enclosures. for the hatchling though i just wasnt sure.

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[nate.mann]

BeeBee said it perfectly.


0.1.0 Russian Tortoise
0.0.1 Leopard Tortoise
Chive On!

 

[Jacqui]

... rhubarb,

Curious, are you feeding rhubarb to your tortoises?

 

[wellington]

If feeding rhubarb, stop, it is bad for them. As for calcium, too much can be bad too. With a good diet and good amount of sunshine, calcium is not needed or very little is needed. Put a cuttlebone in with him. Then stick to a little calcium once or twice a week. If he feels he needs more, he can chew on the cuttle bone. Some do not give calcium at all with a good varied diet.

 

[ascott]

too much can be bad too. With a good diet and good amount of sunshine, calcium is not needed or very little is needed. Put a cuttlebone in with him. Then stick to a little calcium once or twice a week. If he feels he needs more, he can chew on the cuttle bone. Some do not give calcium at all with a good varied diet.

Yup...totally agree

 

[rayneygirl]

If feeding rhubarb, stop, it is bad for them. As for calcium, too much can be bad too. With a good diet and good amount of sunshine, calcium is not needed or very little is needed. Put a cuttlebone in with him. Then stick to a little calcium once or twice a week. If he feels he needs more, he can chew on the cuttle bone. Some do not give calcium at all with a good varied diet.

thank you. will go with this.

 

[BeeBee*BeeLeaves]

... rhubarb,

Curious, are you feeding rhubarb to your tortoises?

Oops rayneygirl, sorry. Here you say "conflicting" and I added to that. My bad. Jacqui I meant rhubarb stalks because I do grate a little when it's in season to their 5-10 items a day mix. Never the leaves, ever. But I am aware that some believe the whole plant is a no no. rayneygirl, I am hung up on that whole lotsa stuff/variety thing so I do feed little bitty bits of different things. Key words: little bitty bits as part of big lotta variety. I have a farm/garden so I grow lots and it makes it a little easier to slap chop a lot of variety. Did not mean to confuse further.Oy!: 0

 

[rayneygirl]

... rhubarb,

Curious, are you feeding rhubarb to your tortoises?

Oops rayneygirl, sorry. Here you say "conflicting" and I added to that. My bad. Jacqui I meant rhubarb stalks because I do grate a little when it's in season to their 5-10 items a day mix. Never the leaves, ever. But I am aware that some believe the whole plant is a no no. rayneygirl, I am hung up on that whole lotsa stuff/variety thing so I do feed little bitty bits of different things. Key words: little bitty bits as part of big lotta variety. I have a farm/garden so I grow lots and it makes it a little easier to slap chop a lot of variety. Did not mean to confuse further. Oy. : 0

its all good, what you wrote helped me too, ill take any and all advice/tips!

 

[BeeBee*BeeLeaves]

Phew! Thanks. Also, thetortoisetable.org.uk is a good place to check if certain foods are acceptable. You will notice that they are very cautious. Like a big fat red X for rhubarb. But there are a lot of great micronutrients in many red X ones, as long as it is not every day for years and years like they did back in the day with the just lettuce and only lettuce. My grandpa would say to us when we were kids, "How would you like to eat corn flakes and only corn flakes for the next month? Without milk?" when we did not give our pets a variety of foods. He was hard core when it came to the animals. You do (it right), or you "die", LOL.

 

[Tom]

Several factors can influence how much calcium is needed or is given. For growing babies with a good diet and regular sunshine, like yours, I prefer a little pinch of calcium on the food twice a week AND a cuttle bone all the time.

 

[rayneygirl]

I have been on tortoisetable for plant identification and I'm also looking forward to going to the local nursery and picking up some good plants to get started and also seed. getting large flats this weekend and going to seed them, i have lots of rose bushes in the back and front yard the torts like the leaves better than the flower, and rose of sharon, a white hibiscus (again, they like the leaves better than the flower), different succulents, a prickly pear cactus i need to get into the ground, a squash garden (ive only given them the leaves), and then random little weeds like dandelion and mallow but also other little weird ones i look up tortoisetable. that with the spring mix still though doesn't seem varied enough, thats why i'm going to check out the nursery. my babies havent taken a real liking to mazuri or the grass one :/ kinda bummed about that. my older sulcata, Maui doesn't notice her cuttlebone at all, she usually just walks all over it. but she has bad back legs and a compressed carapace so i do give her calcium sprinkled on her food. when she came to me the bottom part of maui's shell was really soft and she seemed to be light as a feather. its hard now, and she has gained weight, so im hoping im doing something right. its been a long hot summer so she's been outside 24/7. im pretty strict with maui, diet-wise she doesn't get treats like fruit or tomatoes or anything because her previous owners gave her that all the time. ill try a cuttlebone with the baby. she does have a little egg tooth that is adorable but i don't know when that little thing is supposed to fall off or what? i've only had the baby for a week ad 2 days, and ive been on this forum like crazy reading thread after thread, looking at what lighting to do, how much outside time, how much they sleep! cus she sleeps A TON. not like maui, maui is up at 8am and in bed at sunset everyday. sorry this last post kind of went all over the place

 

[GBtortoises]

Rhubarb (stalks) are absolutely not harmful and in fact is an excellent source of several vitamins and minerals.

Even the leaves, which are known to be toxic would have to be consumed in large amounts for the toxin to be effective. The main "toxin" in Rhubarb leaves is actually oxalic acid which in concentrated levels can be toxic. But it is a very common compound that is present in nearly all leafy greens at different levels that humans consume and feed our tortoises. I am not advocating feeding your tortoise rhubarb leaves, but don't be scared off by mis-information on the stalks. Even an occasional bite of the leaves is not going to do any harm.

 

[Yvonne G]

I'm just curious...

If you've read through past threads and come up with conflicting info, what made you think that asking a question would give you other than conflicting info. All the past conflicting threads were, after all, written by the same people that will respond to your current thread.

Everyone has his or her own way to take care of their animals. Whatever provides the tortoises with what they need, is the correct way for you.

 

[Jacqui]

Jacqui I meant rhubarb stalks because I do grate a little when it's in season to their 5-10 items a day mix. Never the leaves, ever.

See this is why I asked. I like finding folks who feed things considered a "No no" and finding out how much they feed, how often, and to what.

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Rhubarb (stalks) are absolutely not harmful and in fact is an excellent source of several vitamins and minerals.

Even the leaves, which are known to be toxic would have to be consumed in large amounts for the toxin to be effective. The main "toxin" in Rhubarb leaves is actually oxalic acid which in concentrated levels can be toxic. But it is a very common compound that is present in nearly all leafy greens at different levels that humans consume and feed our tortoises. I am not advocating feeding your tortoise rhubarb leaves, but don't be scared off by mis-information on the stalks. Even an occasional bite of the leaves is not going to do any harm.

This is why I have wondered about the labeling of this plant. I just had not run across anybody who said they did actually feed this plant before and had wanted verification.

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[GBtortoises]

Jacqui I meant rhubarb stalks because I do grate a little when it's in season to their 5-10 items a day mix. Never the leaves, ever.

See this is why I asked. I like finding folks who feed things considered a "No no" and finding out how much they feed, how often, and to what.

---

Rhubarb (stalks) are absolutely not harmful and in fact is an excellent source of several vitamins and minerals.

Even the leaves, which are known to be toxic would have to be consumed in large amounts for the toxin to be effective. The main "toxin" in Rhubarb leaves is actually oxalic acid which in concentrated levels can be toxic. But it is a very common compound that is present in nearly all leafy greens at different levels that humans consume and feed our tortoises. I am not advocating feeding your tortoise rhubarb leaves, but don't be scared off by mis-information on the stalks. Even an occasional bite of the leaves is not going to do any harm.

This is why I have wondered about the labeling of this plant. I just had not run across anybody who said they did actually feed this plant before and had wanted verification.

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I'd feed my tortoises some if we had enough. But all of ours goes into pies! It's not easy to grow around here and if my wife caught me feeding her rhubarb to my tortoise! I shutter to think of the consequences! LOL

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[Jacqui]

I'd feed my tortoises some if we had enough. But all of ours goes into pies! It's not easy to grow around here and if my wife caught me feeding her rhubarb to my tortoise! I shutter to think of the consequences! LOL

! I have lots of it and all the older ladies who use to take it off my hands have died off, so mine just sits there unused. I love strawberry rhubard pies, but am too lazy to make it for just me.

 

[Sulcata_Sandy]

Calcium requires D3 for bioavailability. That's why you see alot of human calcium products with vitamin D added. Otherwise it's useless.
Humans and animals require UV light to produce our own vitamin D. This is why our tortoises require so much UV light...so they can metabolize the calcium in their veggie diet. D3 ONLY comes from UV light.

I live in Oregon, I work more than full time in a hospital with no windows...so I don't get much natural sun. So I take D3 year around and calcium supplements. I made sure the calcium supplement I'm giving to Larry and Mo have D3. Thankfully Mo lives outside all day, Larry gets outside time on weekends.

So, to answer your question, we obviously have no answer! [GRINNING FACE WITH SMILING EYES] Hahaha.
No right answer other than evaluate your tortoises diet, and supplement accordingly.
I'm definitely no tortoise expert, but I have a lifetime of animal nursing under my belt, and alot of nerdy university knowledge of nutrition, pharmacology, physiology, etc etc. reptiles are actually pretty simple creatures. I'm so enamored by these tortoises!

 

[rayneygirl]

sorry yvonne i was just looking for help/advice

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guess ill figure out my own way, thanks for everyones time

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