Eating ....

[Lincoln's Mom]

My African Leopard tort will not eat kale, collards, cabbage and so on with the leafy greens.....He really likes zucchini but I am afraid he is not eating enough. He's young (however i have no idea of his age) . All i have seen him eat is clovers and such in the yard and a couple of slices of zucchini (i've been putting calcium on the zucchini once a day) He is about 3 inches long... How much should he be eating a day???

 

[Yvonne G]

I hatch leopards to sell. Right now I have 8 of them. Every morning I go outside with a bucket and the scissors and cut weeds, including prickly lettuce, sow thistle, grass, hollyhock leaves, filaree, mallow and anything else I can find. The mulberry is starting to leaf out, along with the grapevine, so soon I will be adding those leaves to the mix. I bring it inside and wash it all real good. Then I chop it up into tiny pieces for those little baby sized mouths. To the weeds I add some endive, escarole, radicchio, red leaf lettuce, and whatever other greens I have in the fridge. Then I grate a zucchini and a cucumber into the bowl. I sprinkle a very tiny bit of calcium over it and mix it up well. The babies eat this mixture right out of the egg. I've never had a picky eater.

You are offering your tortoise foods that are high in oxalates and are all goitrogens. Stop offering him the collards, kale and cabbage and cut up some weeds for him. Those foods aren't harmful as part of a varied diet, but to feed them exclusively will eventually cause a health issue.

For my 8 little babies I put a great big heaping on a feeding tile. If they eat it all before the end of the day, I give them some more. You want your little guy to have food there any time he wants to come out and eat, all day long.

 

[dmmj]

I could not agree with the above more.

 

[Lincoln's Mom]

He's a fan of the weeds but i have not been cutting them up. i will do that as soon as i get home. I really thought they were supposed to have a high diet content of the kale and darker greens based off several feeding lists, so that is good to know and reassuring since he did not seem to like them!

 

[Yvonne G]

If he eats them without cutting them up, that's all good. Biting off food from the original plant is what helps keep the beak trimmed.

 

[Alexio]

I grow my own grass in little flower pots in my apartment . my leopard absolutely loves fresh grass. Just make sure to get untreated seeds and soil with no fetrerlizer or chemicals

 

[Lincoln's Mom]

If he eats them without cutting them up, that's all good. Biting off food from the original plant is what helps keep the beak trimmed.

yes he eats weeds while in the back yard he's usually out there about 2-3 hours a day right now.

 

[Lincoln's Mom]

I grow my own grass in little flower pots in my apartment . my leopard absolutely loves fresh grass. Just make sure to get untreated seeds and soil with no fetrerlizer or chemicals

i am terrible with any plants....but i am learning all i can now!!!

 

[Tom]

i am terrible with any plants....but i am learning all i can now!!!

Skip all the text on this thread and just scroll down to the list of good stuff. This was typed up for sulcatas and regular leopards don't need so much grass.
http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/for-those-who-have-a-young-sulcata.76744/