Diet plan

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antoniocormier

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Can someone please list a diet plan i could use for a baby Red foot?
list it like Day 1: he eats Day 2: ect. This is the one im using now but im not sure if its the best.

DAY # 1
Base-diet of leafy greens
DAY #2
Base-diet with fruit
Day #3
Base-diet of leafy greens
DAY #4
Base-diet with vegetable
DAY #5
Base-diet with fruit
Day #6
Base-diet mixture of fruits, vegetables, and leafy greens
Day #7
No food day leafy greens


antonio_cormier said:
Can someone please list a diet plan i could use for a baby Red foot?
list it like Day 1: he eats Day 2: ect. This is the one im using now but im not sure if its the best.

DAY # 1
Base-diet of leafy greens
DAY #2
Base-diet with fruit
Day #3
Base-diet of leafy greens
DAY #4
Base-diet with vegetable
DAY #5
Base-diet with fruit
Day #6
Base-diet mixture of fruits, vegetables, and leafy greens
Day #7
Base- diet with leafy greens
Also every 1st of the month i am going to feed him a boiled egg for protein.
 

theelectraco

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There are plenty of references on here about what is safe for Redfoots to eat. Take that information and creat your own diet plan using your availability to certain fruits/veggies/weeds/etc.


You have private messaging disabled so I cannot reply to your PM btw.
 

antoniocormier

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theelectraco said:
There are plenty of references on here about what is safe for Redfoots to eat. Take that information and creat your own diet plan using your availability to certain fruits/veggies/weeds/etc.


You have private messaging disabled so I cannot reply to your PM btw.



how do I turn PM on?
 

jaizei

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This page, make sure there is a check next to "Receive private messages from other users."
 

antoniocormier

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jaizei said:
This page, make sure there is a check next to "Receive private messages from other users."

thanks, got it:tort:


FLINTUS said:
you need to get rid of some of that veg and get some weeds and flowers in there

DAY # 1
Leafy greens
DAY #2
Fruit/Greens
Day #3
Leafy greens
DAY #4
Vegetable/Mazuri
DAY #5
Flowers/Weeds
Day #6
Fruit
Day #7
Leafy greens/Mazuri Diet

is this plan better?
 

Yvonne G

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There's really no need for you to re-invent the red footed tortoise diet plan. What you find in the Tortoise Library is perfectly fine and has worked for many members for many years of raising healthy, happy redfooted tortoises.
 

Michael in MO

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DAY # 1
Base-diet of leafy greens
DAY #2
Base-diet with fruit
Day #3
Base-diet of leafy greens
DAY #4
Base-diet with vegetable
DAY #5
Base-diet with fruit
Day #6
Base-diet mixture of fruits, vegetables, and leafy greens
Day #7
Base- diet with leafy greens
Also every 1st of the month i am going to feed him a boiled egg for protein.
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[/quote]

I don't know about the boiled egg, I prefer to use some boiled, peeled and deveined shrimp (I buy raw and cook them myself).. the best thing to do is to track what you feed him VS. what he eats.. then you'll know.."I tried collards last month/week and he didn't eat them, lets stick with mustard greens for another month" or you can mix a fav fruit (pineapple) with greens that he doesn't like.. saves on waste and you can avoid getting your tort stuck on one or two favorites and keep his diet varied..
 

FLINTUS

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I still maintain you need more natural plants like clover, plantain, mallow, dandelion, rose, e.t.c the tortoise table site is excellent for finding edible plants.
 

Madkins007

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Flintus- while natural plants are a great addition to a tortoises diet, a.) they are hard to come by in places like the US midwest- much of which is currently under several inches of snow (although they should be easier in the OPs Louisiana!), and b.) my red-footeds did not graze on that sort of thing much even when offered. Many red-footed (and other omnivorous tortoises) keepers have reported that their guys are not much on eating herbs, weeds, and grasses and such, but often seem to enjoy things like tree leaves (mulberry, fruit tree) and flowers.

Michael in MO- just out of curiosity, why would shrimp, which a wild red-footed would almost never come by naturally, be better than eggs, which they would?
 

Michael in MO

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Michael in MO- just out of curiosity, why would shrimp, which a wild red-footed would almost never come by naturally, be better than eggs, which they would?
[/quote]

b/c I've always heard that if you boil an egg too long you render the protein more or less useless, if I was going to go au-natural then I'd have to just toss a raw egg shell and all in the pen which may be full of salmonella. Also the smell of shrimp seems to be MUCH more enticing than egg, which if rejected is a no starter anyway. Lastly I've never seen egg listed in commercial turtle food, whereas freeze dried shrimp is commonly used. Lastly part of the fun of feeding a redfoot (for me at least) is sharing all of the exotic greens, fruits, veggies and shrimp...
 

FLINTUS

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Are you sure there are no species of shrimps round the Amazon? We see reds fish in the wild, so could they fish shrimps as well? Admitedly reds don't eat that much weeds compared to other species, they prefer flowers but as soon as I put mine on a patch of clover they'll graze for hours
 

Madkins007

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Michael- Interesting. I looked at the nutritional data for raw vs. cooked eggs, and there is some loss in proteins- but it sort of depends on how you measure the amounts since a cup of chopped egg is a difference density than a cup of liquid egg. If you go by just plain weight the results are a little different- from 10.9 grams in raw to 12.6 grams in boiled per 100 grams of egg- which is not really an 'apples to apples' comparison either. I could not find the results 'per egg'.

By comparison, raw shrimp is 20.3 gr per 100 gr (17.8gr if boiled), so a much better source of protein if protein is the key goal.

Believe me, I am NOT knocking shrimp as a food- I've used it and other fish and shellfish often. My opinion about protein sources is the same as it is for other nutrients- variety and balance. The most common proteins I used were cooked bits of chicken and pinkies, but pretty much every protein source has pros and cons, just like any other single food.

Flintus- I have no doubt there are shrimp in South America, just not sure it forms a significant source of food for the wild ones. On the other hand, they are documented eating eggs, along with carrion, fox feces, butterflies and termites- in fact, the last two are the most common non-plant food in most fecal pellets of wild red-footeds (Moscovitz's studies).
 

Michael in MO

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Flintus- I have no doubt there are shrimp in South America, just not sure it forms a significant source of food for the wild ones. On the other hand, they are documented eating eggs, along with carrion, fox feces, butterflies and termites- in fact, the last two are the most common non-plant food in most fecal pellets of wild red-footeds (Moscovitz's studies).
[/quote]

they are certainly oppotunistic eaters, I have a 1/2 acre back yard and when I let them roam it's always interesting to see what they find to graze on..wonder how they catch a butterfly
 

Madkins007

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I wondered that as well when I read it, then saw some photos of butterflies in their range- they are often in thick swarms, and often settle all over mud and water to get water and nutrients.
 

FLINTUS

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I think reds are better hunters than we think though. Many have seen them chasing and digging for worms and I've seen pics and videos of them actively fishing in the wild-they lie in the shallow water waiting for them.
 

RedFootMomma

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Thanks for the shrimp idea! I have some freeze dried for our fish, so rehydrated & Carlos gobbled them up : ) How often do you include in your torts diet?
 

Michael in MO

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RedFootMomma said:
Thanks for the shrimp idea! I have some freeze dried for our fish, so rehydrated & Carlos gobbled them up : ) How often do you include in your torts diet?

I usually try to time the shrimp/chicken/or a low fat dry dog food soaked in cod liver oil around a thursday monthly or E/O month after I peel the backing off of a complete cuttle bone and a high calcium greens feeding. I say on a thursday b/c then I can spend the entire weekend closely monitoring and adjusting their humidity... there is a HUGE (in my experience) bump in growth in any high protein feeding and I try to provide the best possible environment for smooth even growth.
 
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