Feeding my tortoise

[Ricardoleopard]

Hello everyone!
I’m looking for some advice on feeding my tortoise. I’ve been giving her a mix of arugula (rocket), watercress, and lamb’s lettuce along with some Mazuri every day. I’ve tried offering Optimised52 from Arcadia, but she won’t touch it. My question is: is it okay to feed arugula, watercress, and lamb’s lettuce with Mazuri daily, or could that be a problem over time?

 

[RandyTortoise]

Hello everyone!
I’m looking for some advice on feeding my tortoise. I’ve been giving her a mix of arugula (rocket), watercress, and lamb’s lettuce along with some Mazuri every day. I’ve tried offering Optimised52 from Arcadia, but she won’t touch it. My question is: is it okay to feed arugula, watercress, and lamb’s lettuce with Mazuri daily, or could that be a problem over time?

What kind of tortoise is the key question

 

[Ricardoleopard]

What kind of tortoise is the key question

Leopard tortoise

 

[Ricardoleopard]

What kind of tortoise is the key question

 

[The_Four_Toed_Edward]

Leopard tortoise

Which leopard? There are two kinds. @Tom or @wellington might be able to help out here

 

[Tom]

Hello everyone!
I’m looking for some advice on feeding my tortoise. I’ve been giving her a mix of arugula (rocket), watercress, and lamb’s lettuce along with some Mazuri every day. I’ve tried offering Optimised52 from Arcadia, but she won’t touch it. My question is: is it okay to feed arugula, watercress, and lamb’s lettuce with Mazuri daily, or could that be a problem over time?

Best to avoid the grocery store and use weeds and leaves. If that is not an option, then use a wide variety of grocery store greens and add amendments. All of this is explained in the care sheets. I'll link them for you at the end of this post.

I would only feed Mazuri one or twice a week.

The Optimized 52 is a fantastic way to amend the greens, but like any new food, it will take weeks or months to introduce it. Start slow with hardly any. Gradually add more and more mixed in with the greens over a period of weeks. Often the best foods for them take the longest to introduce. Most people start with WAAAAYYYY too much, and they give up way too soon, proclaiming "My tortoise won't eat that." Yes it will. Give me the tortoise for a few months and it will eat every thing I offer it every day. Also, a hungry tortoise is not a picky tortoise.

There is a company in the UK that ships weeds to tortoise owners. I can't remember the name, but it sounds like a great service.

Also see if you can find opuntia pads. Leopards eat a lot of succulent in the wild.

Feeding is explained several times in these threads:

Info For New People. Please Read This First.

Hello and welcome to tortoiseforum.org! We are all glad you are here! There is no other forum like this anywhere. We have tens of thousands of members from all over the world ranging from kids with their first tortoise to people who have been breeding and keeping high end tortoises since the...

tortoiseforum.org

The Best Way To Raise A Sulcata, Leopard, Or Star Tortoise

I chose the title of this care sheet very carefully. Are there other ways to raise babies? Yes. Yes there are, but those ways are not as good. What follows is the BEST way, according to 30 years of research and experimentation with hundreds of babies of many species. Babies hatch during the...

tortoiseforum.org

 

[Littleredfootbigredheart]

You can certainly stick to the foods she’s likes daily for now, but I’d keep sneaking in new things just little by little, and up the quantities over time

 

[Ricardoleopard]

Best to avoid the grocery store and use weeds and leaves. If that is not an option, then use a wide variety of grocery store greens and add amendments. All of this is explained in the care sheets. I'll link them for you at the end of this post.

I would only feed Mazuri one or twice a week.

The Optimized 52 is a fantastic way to amend the greens, but like any new food, it will take weeks or months to introduce it. Start slow with hardly any. Gradually add more and more mixed in with the greens over a period of weeks. Often the best foods for them take the longest to introduce. Most people start with WAAAAYYYY too much, and they give up way too soon, proclaiming "My tortoise won't eat that." Yes it will. Give me the tortoise for a few months and it will eat every thing I offer it every day. Also, a hungry tortoise is not a picky tortoise.

There is a company in the UK that ships weeds to tortoise owners. I can't remember the name, but it sounds like a great service.

Also see if you can find opuntia pads. Leopards eat a lot of succulent in the wild.

Feeding is explained several times in these threads:

Info For New People. Please Read This First.

Hello and welcome to tortoiseforum.org! We are all glad you are here! There is no other forum like this anywhere. We have tens of thousands of members from all over the world ranging from kids with their first tortoise to people who have been breeding and keeping high end tortoises since the...

tortoiseforum.org

The Best Way To Raise A Sulcata, Leopard, Or Star Tortoise

I chose the title of this care sheet very carefully. Are there other ways to raise babies? Yes. Yes there are, but those ways are not as good. What follows is the BEST way, according to 30 years of research and experimentation with hundreds of babies of many species. Babies hatch during the...

tortoiseforum.org

I only feed Mazuri every day because my tortoise won’t eat anything with calcium powder on it, and I know that grocery store greens alone don’t provide everything she needs. That’s why I include Mazuri in her meals daily—to help make sure she’s getting more balanced nutrition

 

[Ricardoleopard]

Best to avoid the grocery store and use weeds and leaves. If that is not an option, then use a wide variety of grocery store greens and add amendments. All of this is explained in the care sheets. I'll link them for you at the end of this post.

I would only feed Mazuri one or twice a week.

The Optimized 52 is a fantastic way to amend the greens, but like any new food, it will take weeks or months to introduce it. Start slow with hardly any. Gradually add more and more mixed in with the greens over a period of weeks. Often the best foods for them take the longest to introduce. Most people start with WAAAAYYYY too much, and they give up way too soon, proclaiming "My tortoise won't eat that." Yes it will. Give me the tortoise for a few months and it will eat every thing I offer it every day. Also, a hungry tortoise is not a picky tortoise.

There is a company in the UK that ships weeds to tortoise owners. I can't remember the name, but it sounds like a great service.

Also see if you can find opuntia pads. Leopards eat a lot of succulent in the wild.

Feeding is explained several times in these threads:

Info For New People. Please Read This First.

Hello and welcome to tortoiseforum.org! We are all glad you are here! There is no other forum like this anywhere. We have tens of thousands of members from all over the world ranging from kids with their first tortoise to people who have been breeding and keeping high end tortoises since the...

tortoiseforum.org

The Best Way To Raise A Sulcata, Leopard, Or Star Tortoise

I chose the title of this care sheet very carefully. Are there other ways to raise babies? Yes. Yes there are, but those ways are not as good. What follows is the BEST way, according to 30 years of research and experimentation with hundreds of babies of many species. Babies hatch during the...

tortoiseforum.org

I’ve ordered some ribwort plantain leaves and a mix of other weeds already. I’m just wondering—since I’ve been feeding her grocery store greens and Mazuri every day, could that have a negative impact on her health?

 

[RandyTortoise]

Hello everyone!
I’m looking for some advice on feeding my tortoise. I’ve been giving her a mix of arugula (rocket), watercress, and lamb’s lettuce along with some Mazuri every day. I’ve tried offering Optimised52 from Arcadia, but she won’t touch it. My question is: is it okay to feed arugula, watercress, and lamb’s lettuce with Mazuri daily, or could that be a problem over time?

I have leopard tortoises and they now love the optimized 52. I soak the cubes and then chop up their favorite greens and just mix it so the grasses and flowers from the optimized is coating about everything. Eventually they associate their favorite greens with the smell and look of the optimized and it takes a few weeks and then you are good to go.

 

[RandyTortoise]

I have leopard tortoises and they now love the optimized 52. I soak the cubes and then chop up their favorite greens and just mix it so the grasses and flowers from the optimized is coating about everything. Eventually they associate their favorite greens with the smell and look of the optimized and it takes a few weeks and then you are good to go.

I eventually got to the point my female leopard will eat the soaked optimized 52 in big mouthfuls from my hand. Their favorite food is cactus pads and those are wet and sticky so the optimized sticks to it very well. You can feed by hand and it is covered w the stuff if you have cut cactus.

 

[Tom]

I only feed Mazuri every day because my tortoise won’t eat anything with calcium powder on it, and I know that grocery store greens alone don’t provide everything she needs. That’s why I include Mazuri in her meals daily—to help make sure she’s getting more balanced nutrition

You should only be doing a calcium supplement about twice a week, and you should not do calcium on Mazuri days. Mazuri is balanced nutrition and adding calcium upsets that balance.

If your tortoise won't anything with calcium on it, that means two things: 1. You are using way too much calcium, and 2. Your tortoise isn't hungry. Solution: Feed half diet for a few days, then offer the favorite food with a tiny amount of calcium thoroughly mixed in. You should not be able to see or detect the calcium by looking at it.

None of this is the end of the world and your tortoise will be fine with a wide variety of feeding routines. I'm just offering tips for improvement and sharing what I've learned over the years.

 

[Ricardoleopard]

You should only be doing a calcium supplement about twice a week, and you should not do calcium on Mazuri days. Mazuri is balanced nutrition and adding calcium upsets that balance.

If your tortoise won't anything with calcium on it, that means two things: 1. You are using way too much calcium, and 2. Your tortoise isn't hungry. Solution: Feed half diet for a few days, then offer the favorite food with a tiny amount of calcium thoroughly mixed in. You should not be able to see or detect the calcium by looking at it.

None of this is the end of the world and your tortoise will be fine with a wide variety of feeding routines. I'm just offering tips for improvement and sharing what I've learned over the years.

Sorry, this may be a stupid question, but if I feed my tortoise with Mazuri twice a week, do I still need to provide the calcium powder?

 

[Tom]

Sorry, this may be a stupid question, but if I feed my tortoise with Mazuri twice a week, do I still need to provide the calcium powder?

Calcium needs vary a lot. With a varied weedy diet, some people skip it entirely. I feed a lot of weeds, mulberry leaves, and cactus pads. The diet of my tortoises is already very high in calcium, as it should be, so I don't need a lot of added calcium powder. With a diet of mostly grocery store greens, a couple of times per week should do it. A fully grown adult male shouldn't need much at all. A growing baby of a giant species, or an egg laying female of any species, should probably get more.

Not a stupid question at all. I would do Mazuri once or twice a week, and calcium a couple of times per week on non-Mazuri days.