Feeding Schedule for redfoot

[moongrace]

Does anyone have an actual feeding schedule for a redfoot they can share? Sheldon eats dandelion flowers, cucumber plants (not the fruit so far) yellow squash, strawberries, collard greens and mustard greens. He has the pellet food available and eats some but is not really a fan. We want to make sure his diet is correct. I do have a cuttle bone in there but so far, he just walks over it and keeps on walking. I have the sprinkle calcium with vitamin D and want to make sure he is not getting too much or too little of that. One article said sprinkle all the food and another said sprinkle food every other day..... I am wondering about amounts of mixtures to make for a daily or scheduled diet? He is 7 months old Great eater but I want him to have the right combination. Thanks for any help you can offer!!!!

 

[crimson_lotus]

I feed my adult red foot daily - protein once a month, fruit every 5 days, and the rest are greens/vegetables. Today she had cactus pads that I ground up a bit in a blender, yesterday she had mango, and the day before that I gave her some watercress, lettuces (but not iceberg) sunflower greens, arugula, and clover sprouts.

I sprinkle MinerAll on her food twice a week because she used to eat rocks (I figured she was missing minerals in her diet and compensating with rocks) and she likes cuttlebone when I wet it down. I also bought a dried flower mix that I sprinkle on her greens once a week, and she has Mazuri pellets for dinner once a week as well. I use the Mazuri as treats/bait to lure her out of her hiding places for her soaks as well...works every time

For fruit and protein I feed her a portion the size of her head, and for greens I feed an amount equal to her shell size.

My diet plan is not the only plan that will work, just keep that in mind! I'm sure some other great red foot owners will join in.

 

[moongrace]

I feed my adult red foot daily - protein once a month, fruit every 5 days, and the rest are greens/vegetables. Today she had cactus pads that I ground up a bit in a blender, yesterday she had mango, and the day before that I gave her some watercress, lettuces (but not iceberg) sunflower greens, arugula, and clover sprouts.

I sprinkle MinerAll on her food twice a week because she used to eat rocks (I figured she was missing minerals in her diet and compensating with rocks) and she likes cuttlebone when I wet it down. I also bought a dried flower mix that I sprinkle on her greens once a week, and she has Mazuri pellets for dinner once a week as well. I use the Mazuri as treats/bait to lure her out of her hiding places for her soaks as well...works every time

For fruit and protein I feed her a portion the size of her head, and for greens I feed an amount equal to her shell size.

My diet plan is not the only plan that will work, just keep that in mind! I'm sure some other great red foot owners will join in.

Thank Yo

I feed my adult red foot daily - protein once a month, fruit every 5 days, and the rest are greens/vegetables. Today she had cactus pads that I ground up a bit in a blender, yesterday she had mango, and the day before that I gave her some watercress, lettuces (but not iceberg) sunflower greens, arugula, and clover sprouts.

I sprinkle MinerAll on her food twice a week because she used to eat rocks (I figured she was missing minerals in her diet and compensating with rocks) and she likes cuttlebone when I wet it down. I also bought a dried flower mix that I sprinkle on her greens once a week, and she has Mazuri pellets for dinner once a week as well. I use the Mazuri as treats/bait to lure her out of her hiding places for her soaks as well...works every time

For fruit and protein I feed her a portion the size of her head, and for greens I feed an amount equal to her shell size.

My diet plan is not the only plan that will work, just keep that in mind! I'm sure some other great red foot owners will join in.

 

[moongrace]

Thank Yo

Great information! Thanks so much for adding the size proportions! This has been a difficult thing to figure out. What type protein do you use? I have seen articles/etc that say hard boiled eggs, fetal mice, low fat cat food, shrimp, etc. What have you had good luck with? I NEVER thought about wetting the cuttle bone! Will try that. Two things I was not sure of where to get were the cactus pads and flower mix? Would have to look for those.here. Thanks so much!

 

[crimson_lotus]

Great information! Thanks so much for adding the size proportions! This has been a difficult thing to figure out. What type protein do you use? I have seen articles/etc that say hard boiled eggs, fetal mice, low fat cat food, shrimp, etc. What have you had good luck with? I NEVER thought about wetting the cuttle bone! Will try that. Two things I was not sure of where to get were the cactus pads and flower mix? Would have to look for those.here. Thanks so much!

My tortoise basically eats everything, I'm very lucky in that respect. During the winter months I feed boiled chicken, egg, shrimp, tuna (low in sodium) and in the summer I give her earth worms and snails. Some tortoises have adverse reactions to the boiled egg as it may cause vomiting/diarrhea, while other tortoises seem to take it just fine.

I also throw in some mushrooms on her greens every 2 weeks or so for plant protein. I haven't tried the low fat cat food yet or the mice, but a lot of members feed them. If you like to cook fish like salmon or mackerel those are also good protein choices.

I use this for the flower mix: http://www.tortoisesupply.com/HerbalHay

I bought a bag a year and a half ago and it's still over halfway full. This stuff lasts a LONG time and it's well worth the money. I buy the cactus pads on that site as well as some seed mixes that I grow and cut for her to eat.

 

[redfootdaddy]

We actually have a pretty set feeding schedule, we developed it with advice from this forum, and it seems to be working pretty well. We still monitor her closely to see what she likes and doesn't like, but we've finally sort of settled into a groove. Of course, in the next month we're planning on moving her into a new enclosure with actual grass and plants, so we'll have to adjust. But this is what we do:

Monday - greens and a ZooMed pellet
Tuesday - nothing
Wednesday - greens
Thursday - greens and fruit
Friday - greens
Saturday - greens and fruit
Sunday - greens and vegetables

For greens, it's usually mostly lettuce (not iceberg - I'll go redleaf, boston, or romaine), and then whatever else we happen to have that week - kale, celery leaves (she LOVES these, will mow through them in a minute), dandelion greens, fresh tort-safe herbs, and flowers. If we can get our hands on Christmas cactus we'll do that too. Like crimson-lotus, we feed about her own size in greens.

For fruit, our tortie will kill you for a strawberry. We mix it up with various berries, banana, grapes, apples, pears, plums - all peeled and seeded. Veggies we do sweet potato and squash (cooked and cooled), cucumber, tomato, or mushroom. Our local grocery store sells chunks of Jamaican pumpkin year-round that will be good for her too. We spoil, so usually she has about half her size in fruit or veg.

I'll actually prepare her whole week of meals ahead of time. We do that thing where you do all your meal prep on the weekend, so while I'm chopping things up for cooking, I'll put together the little tupperware tubs labelled with the day of the week, so I don't even have to think about it.

Oh, and the reason we're heavier on fruit and veg on the weekends is that we do our grocery shopping on Fridays, so that's when everything is freshest. But honestly, if the produce is looking a little sad, I'll pull frozen berries out and feed those (once defrosted, of course).

 

[ZEROPILOT]

That's a solid tip about the rock eating. Make sure that there are none around small enough to eat.
Here the land is mostly reclaimed swamp and the ground us full of bits of Coral. My tortoises will seek out and eat the coral if there is no Cuddle bone around.

 

[moongrace]

That's a solid tip about the rock eating. Make sure that there are none around small enough to eat.
Here the land is mostly reclaimed swamp and the ground us full of bits of Coral. My tortoises will seek out and eat the coral if there is no Cuddle bone around.

So far, the only rocks (other than outside) are pieces of shale I stole from the goldfish pond He lays on them and eats from one but I haven't seen him take a bite yet I never would have thought to look to see if he was eating rocks!

 

[moongrace]

We actually have a pretty set feeding schedule, we developed it with advice from this forum, and it seems to be working pretty well. We still monitor her closely to see what she likes and doesn't like, but we've finally sort of settled into a groove. Of course, in the next month we're planning on moving her into a new enclosure with actual grass and plants, so we'll have to adjust. But this is what we do:

Monday - greens and a ZooMed pellet
Tuesday - nothing
Wednesday - greens
Thursday - greens and fruit
Friday - greens
Saturday - greens and fruit
Sunday - greens and vegetables

For greens, it's usually mostly lettuce (not iceberg - I'll go redleaf, boston, or romaine), and then whatever else we happen to have that week - kale, celery leaves (she LOVES these, will mow through them in a minute), dandelion greens, fresh tort-safe herbs, and flowers. If we can get our hands on Christmas cactus we'll do that too. Like crimson-lotus, we feed about her own size in greens.

For fruit, our tortie will kill you for a strawberry. We mix it up with various berries, banana, grapes, apples, pears, plums - all peeled and seeded. Veggies we do sweet potato and squash (cooked and cooled), cucumber, tomato, or mushroom. Our local grocery store sells chunks of Jamaican pumpkin year-round that will be good for her too. We spoil, so usually she has about half her size in fruit or veg.

I'll actually prepare her whole week of meals ahead of time. We do that thing where you do all your meal prep on the weekend, so while I'm chopping things up for cooking, I'll put together the little tupperware tubs labelled with the day of the week, so I don't even have to think about it.

Oh, and the reason we're heavier on fruit and veg on the weekends is that we do our grocery shopping on Fridays, so that's when everything is freshest. But honestly, if the produce is looking a little sad, I'll pull frozen berries out and feed those (once defrosted, of course).

I love this! We have been feeding daily because he is so small This affirms sort of what we have been doing He had red pepper slices today for the first time and LOVED them He also likes dandelion flowers from the yard I tried mushrooms but he didn't even take a bite We have been feeding mostly greens and vegies but I haven't cooked any of them so far He does love strawberries!! Thanks so much for telling me how you feed yours to help me figure this out!

 

[moongrace]

That's a solid tip about the rock eating. Make sure that there are none around small enough to eat.
Here the land is mostly reclaimed swamp and the ground us full of bits of Coral. My tortoises will seek out and eat the coral if there is no Cuddle bone around.

I will keep him away from the driveway! So far, when he goes outside, we take him out to the pasture and he pays more attention to plants and walking around then eating much but he is still small.

 

[moongrace]

My tortoise basically eats everything, I'm very lucky in that respect. During the winter months I feed boiled chicken, egg, shrimp, tuna (low in sodium) and in the summer I give her earth worms and snails. Some tortoises have adverse reactions to the boiled egg as it may cause vomiting/diarrhea, while other tortoises seem to take it just fine.

I also throw in some mushrooms on her greens every 2 weeks or so for plant protein. I haven't tried the low fat cat food yet or the mice, but a lot of members feed them. If you like to cook fish like salmon or mackerel those are also good protein choices.

I use this for the flower mix: http://www.tortoisesupply.com/HerbalHay

I bought a bag a year and a half ago and it's still over halfway full. This stuff lasts a LONG time and it's well worth the money. I buy the cactus pads on that site as well as some seed mixes that I grow and cut for her to eat.

I am checking into the flower mix! Thanks! Hmmm....we Do have salmon in the freezer. Do you cook it or leave it raw? I will try the earthworms the next time my son goes fishing and has some left!

 

[crimson_lotus]

I am checking into the flower mix! Thanks! Hmmm....we Do have salmon in the freezer. Do you cook it or leave it raw? I will try the earthworms the next time my son goes fishing and has some left!

I would cook the fish plain, it's a lot safer

 

[redfootdaddy]

I love this! We have been feeding daily because he is so small This affirms sort of what we have been doing He had red pepper slices today for the first time and LOVED them He also likes dandelion flowers from the yard I tried mushrooms but he didn't even take a bite We have been feeding mostly greens and vegies but I haven't cooked any of them so far He does love strawberries!! Thanks so much for telling me how you feed yours to help me figure this out!

Yeah, we've found that sometimes she'll eat the mushroom and sometimes she won't. I offer it every now and then, with lots of other options. Usually I only cook the stuff that might be too hard for her to eat on her own - like the squash and pumpkin, they're pretty tough. But whenever we make those dishes for ourselves, I just reserve a little bit for the baby. She's so tiny that even a big meal for her is a tiny amount of food.

We don't have a yard - I keep asking people at work if they use pesticides on their lawn and if not can they bring me some weeds. But our local grocery store always has dandelion greens, so we pick up a bunch every now and then.

 

[redfootdaddy]

Since today is choppin' day, I took a quick picture of the tortie lunches for the week, so you can get an idea of how much we've been feeding:

A week of lunches

• redfootdaddy
• May 3, 2015
• 2

From the thread on feeding schedule, this is what I do for her. I make a week's worth of food...

Down the right is Monday, Wednesday, and Friday - redleaf lettuce and celery greens. Monday she'll also get a pellet.

Top left is Thursday - greens, cucumber, and strawberry.

Bottom left is today - greens, cucumber, and carrot.

 

[teresaf]

Mazuri is popular here on the forum for pretty much all torts. It's filling and has lots of nutrients added. I feed it to my burmese black mountain torts with every meal but not alot. They eat it first they love it so much. But they are voracious eaters so they eat a huge helping of greens and melon chuncks afterwards.

 

[teresaf]

@redfootdaddy LOL looks yummy. My plate of food for my 6 lb Leopard looks like a huge salad they'd sell at a restaurant! He eats better than me!

 

[redfootdaddy]

@redfootdaddy LOL looks yummy. My plate of food for my 6 lb Leopard looks like a huge salad they'd sell at a restaurant! He eats better than me!

At least you don't have to try and buy a single mushroom and a single stal of kale! We always have so much lettuce left over - it's actually helped us get better about eating our greens too. Our little one is a HUUUUGE 192 grams (a bit less than half a pound).