Food and Enclosure

[mosseytortoise]

Hello again. It has been a hot minute since I posted last, and I have some more questions for you guys.

1. My Leo in this past year has been particularly picky when it comes to grasses and hay. I’ve done my best to mix in tortoise diet in to get her to eat it with her other foods, but she will sometime actively use her front legs to scrape it off. What other hays or grasses can I offer and what other methods can I try to make sure she eats that good stuff?

2. I’m going to expand her enclosure outside a bit to give her more room to roam and exercise, plus I may get another Leo in the future, so I want to make sure I have more room for two. What kinds of plants can I put in that would be good sources of good and shade? Also, what can I use as the walls that would be effective in her not being able to escape (stone slabs, wood, concrete bricks)?

Thanks for reading, and I’m grateful for any help you guys have to offer.

 

[Yvonne G]

Most leopards don't eat much grass or hay unless it's broad leaf.

 

[wellington]

Adult leopards will eat grass but babies usually won't hay either.
You can try grass pellets soaked and mixed in but don't be surprised if they won't eat it until adults.
You can also try adding mazuri tortoise pellets soaked and adding grass or grass pellets to that. Doing the grass chop it up very small.

 

[mosseytortoise]

Adult leopards will eat grass but babies usually won't hay either.
You can try grass pellets soaked and mixed in but don't be surprised if they won't eat it until adults.
You can also try adding mazuri tortoise pellets soaked and adding grass or grass pellets to that. Doing the grass chop it up very small.

I keep that in mind thank you so much

 

[Tom]

Hello again. It has been a hot minute since I posted last, and I have some more questions for you guys.

1. My Leo in this past year has been particularly picky when it comes to grasses and hay. I’ve done my best to mix in tortoise diet in to get her to eat it with her other foods, but she will sometime actively use her front legs to scrape it off. What other hays or grasses can I offer and what other methods can I try to make sure she eats that good stuff?

2. I’m going to expand her enclosure outside a bit to give her more room to roam and exercise, plus I may get another Leo in the future, so I want to make sure I have more room for two. What kinds of plants can I put in that would be good sources of good and shade? Also, what can I use as the walls that would be effective in her not being able to escape (stone slabs, wood, concrete bricks)?

Thanks for reading, and I’m grateful for any help you guys have to offer.

1. Regular leopards are not grass eaters. Go with more broadleaf weeds, mulberry leaves, lavatera leaves and flowers, spineless opuntia pads, hibiscus leaves and flowers, gazania leaves and flowers, grape leaves, etc... Adult South African leopards will eat hay, but not regular leopards, unless they have SA genetics mixed in.

You can use soaked horse hay pellets or soaked ZooMed pellets to add fiber and variety to grocery store greens, but stay with hardly any and gradually work up to more and more. It should just be a few flecks speckling the greens at first. If there is so much that it can be pushed away with the front feet, it is too much. Eventually, after several weeks, you might be able to add that much.

Go to kapidolofarms.com and check out all their dried leaf options. Get several. These are easy to sprinkle on the greens and there are many great options. I use these almost daily.

Tortoisesupply.com has a great "herbal hay" which works the same way, and they also sell several great seed mixes that you can grow your self in pots or in plots.

You can put some cucumber, or some other favorite, in a blender and coat new foods with the mush. Sometimes fixes like this will encourage them to eat things that they otherwise wouldn't.

2. Tortoises should never live in pairs. Your tortoise doesn't want or need companionship. If you want to add a tortoise, make a separate pen. Here is a way to have just one night box to heat, but with two separate enclosures: https://tortoiseforum.org/threads/double-door-night-box.129054/

If you want to breed them, you can get a group of two or three females with one male.

In your climate spineless opuntia will thrive with enough water in summer. Mulberry trees and lavatera work great. Grape vines like full hot sun and you can make overhead trellises. There is a type of bush that I keep seeing with either yellow or orange flower called Tecoma stans that seems to fare well in our desert climates. I think Tecoma capensis will do well for you too, but it doesn't like freezing.

Enclosures can be made from stacked cinder or slumpstone blocks, wooden planks attached to posts set in the ground, or vertical corrugated roofing sunk into a trench in the ground and capped with 2x4s. Just be sure to use something opaque. You can even use hog wire or chain link to make something taller to keep dogs out, but do use a visual barrier along the entire bottom.

 

[mosseytortoise]

I keep that in mind thank you so much

1. Regular leopards are not grass eaters. Go with more broadleaf weeds, mulberry leaves, lavatera leaves and flowers, spineless opuntia pads, hibiscus leaves and flowers, gazania leaves and flowers, grape leaves, etc... Adult South African leopards will eat hay, but not regular leopards, unless they have SA genetics mixed in.

You can use soaked horse hay pellets or soaked ZooMed pellets to add fiber and variety to grocery store greens, but stay with hardly any and gradually work up to more and more. It should just be a few flecks speckling the greens at first. If there is so much that it can be pushed away with the front feet, it is too much. Eventually, after several weeks, you might be able to add that much.

Go to kapidolofarms.com and check out all their dried leaf options. Get several. These are easy to sprinkle on the greens and there are many great options. I use these almost daily.

Tortoisesupply.com has a great "herbal hay" which works the same way, and they also sell several great seed mixes that you can grow your self in pots or in plots.

You can put some cucumber, or some other favorite, in a blender and coat new foods with the mush. Sometimes fixes like this will encourage them to eat things that they otherwise wouldn't.

2. Tortoises should never live in pairs. Your tortoise doesn't want or need companionship. If you want to add a tortoise, make a separate pen. Here is a way to have just one night box to heat, but with two separate enclosures: https://tortoiseforum.org/threads/double-door-night-box.129054/

If you want to breed them, you can get a group of two or three females with one male.

In your climate spineless opuntia will thrive with enough water in summer. Mulberry trees and lavatera work great. Grape vines like full hot sun and you can make overhead trellises. There is a type of bush that I keep seeing with either yellow or orange flower called Tecoma stans that seems to fare well in our desert climates. I think Tecoma capensis will do well for you too, but it doesn't like freezing.

Enclosures can be made from stacked cinder or slumpstone blocks, wooden planks attached to posts set in the ground, or vertical corrugated roofing sunk into a trench in the ground and capped with 2x4s. Just be sure to use something opaque. You can even use hog wire or chain link to make something taller to keep dogs out, but do use a visual barrier along the entire bottom.

Thanks so much Tom

1. Regular leopards are not grass eaters. Go with more broadleaf weeds, mulberry leaves, lavatera leaves and flowers, spineless opuntia pads, hibiscus leaves and flowers, gazania leaves and flowers, grape leaves, etc... Adult South African leopards will eat hay, but not regular leopards, unless they have SA genetics mixed in.

You can use soaked horse hay pellets or soaked ZooMed pellets to add fiber and variety to grocery store greens, but stay with hardly any and gradually work up to more and more. It should just be a few flecks speckling the greens at first. If there is so much that it can be pushed away with the front feet, it is too much. Eventually, after several weeks, you might be able to add that much.

Go to kapidolofarms.com and check out all their dried leaf options. Get several. These are easy to sprinkle on the greens and there are many great options. I use these almost daily.

Tortoisesupply.com has a great "herbal hay" which works the same way, and they also sell several great seed mixes that you can grow your self in pots or in plots.

You can put some cucumber, or some other favorite, in a blender and coat new foods with the mush. Sometimes fixes like this will encourage them to eat things that they otherwise wouldn't.

2. Tortoises should never live in pairs. Your tortoise doesn't want or need companionship. If you want to add a tortoise, make a separate pen. Here is a way to have just one night box to heat, but with two separate enclosures: https://tortoiseforum.org/threads/double-door-night-box.129054/

If you want to breed them, you can get a group of two or three females with one male.

In your climate spineless opuntia will thrive with enough water in summer. Mulberry trees and lavatera work great. Grape vines like full hot sun and you can make overhead trellises. There is a type of bush that I keep seeing with either yellow or orange flower called Tecoma stans that seems to fare well in our desert climates. I think Tecoma capensis will do well for you too, but it doesn't like freezing.

Enclosures can be made from stacked cinder or slumpstone blocks, wooden planks attached to posts set in the ground, or vertical corrugated roofing sunk into a trench in the ground and capped with 2x4s. Just be sure to use something opaque. You can even use hog wire or chain link to make something taller to keep dogs out, but do use a visual barrier along the entire bottom.

Thank you so much Tom. I always saw leopards together, but the breeding group fact explains a lot to me. As long as she won’t be lonely and thrive on her own that’s all I care about.

 

[Tom]

Thanks so much Tom

Thank you so much Tom. I always saw leopards together, but the breeding group fact explains a lot to me. As long as she won’t be lonely and thrive on her own that’s all I care about.

Groups of leopards are generally fine. Its pairs that are problematic.