Food ideas??

[TammyJ]

The enclosure looks very nice indeed. One thing I thought - if I was that little guy in this big, spacey place, I would want my food to be closer to where I come out of my hide. I would feel a bit scared and exposed, maybe one or two more hides would be good? Or a few more bunches of different kinds of food here and there. Just a thought.

 

[Gillian M]

Hi @Crowley1103 and a very warm welcome to the forum.

Torts are in need of WARMTH to be able to eat, as @JoesMum mentioned.

A gorgeous tort .

Where do you live and what's the weather like back there now?

 

[Crowley1103]

Hi @Crowley1103 and a very warm welcome to the forum.

Torts are in need of WARMTH to be able to eat, as @JoesMum mentioned.

A gorgeous tort .

Where do you live and what's the weather like back there now?

I live in Evansville, IN. I'm on the southern tip of the state. It's still in the mid 80's for now. Colder weather is coming in the next week or two tho. Winter is terrible here! Bitter cold.

 

[Gillian M]

I live in Evansville, IN. I'm on the southern tip of the state. It's still in the mid 80's for now. Colder weather is coming in the next week or two tho. Winter is terrible here! Bitter cold.

Same here: I live in Jordan(the Middle East), where Winter is FREEZING COLD, giving both Oli and myself a terrible time.

 

[Crowley1103]

Same here: I live in Jordan(the Middle East), where Winter is FREEZING COLD, giving both Oli and myself a terrible time.

 

[Maro2Bear]

Nice enclosure, all looks pretty good to me. Heat, humidity, lighting...and soaking. Just remember...that cute little tort will soon be 30 lbs or more, SO don't overdo what you have. Your sully will soon require a lot more space and a ton of food. Cute seeing the few clover leafs......now ours eats pounds of dandelion, hay, entire banana leaves, tons of mazuri pellets...etc. Our sully is just 2.5 years.... Good luck, enjoy......have fun. Looks good.

 

[Crowley1103]

Nice enclosure, all looks pretty good to me. Heat, humidity, lighting...and soaking. Just remember...that cute little tort will soon be 30 lbs or more, SO don't overdo what you have. Your sully will soon require a lot more space and a ton of food. Cute seeing the few clover leafs......now ours eats pounds of dandelion, hay, entire banana leaves, tons of mazuri pellets...etc. Our sully is just 2.5 years.... Good luck, enjoy......have fun. Looks good.

I can't wait till mine is eating good! I hope in 2.5 years I'm on here giving advice to new nervous owners like myself!

 

[AudgePaudge]

What I would do is mix strawberries in with the food every time and each time add less. Then, your tort will eat the food without realizing there's no strawberries.

 

[AudgePaudge]

Chop the strawberries up really small and mix them with tortoise food so he can't spit the food back out.

 

[JoesMum]

Strawberries and other fruit, tomatoes, bell pepper, carrot and anything else sweet should only be fed very sparingly and very occasionally.

They're high in sugars and, much as they love them, they're not good for Sulcatas - they cause digestive and kidney problems.

To introduce any new foods:
1. Chop up foods your tort will eat really small and wet them
2. Chop up a tiny amount of what you want them to eat really small and mix it with the other food. The water will make it stick.
3. If your tort eats the mixture, at the next feed increase the amount of good food slightly and decrease the food you don't want them to have.
4. If your tort refuses then leave the food there for 24 hours - it doesn't matter if it goes limp - then clear it away and replace with a mix in exactly the same proportion as the day before. Soak your tort for 30 minutes on days when it refuses food.

Always place foods in the morning as this is when your tort is most likely to eat.

Feeding straight after a soak frequently is successful as the inevitable poop seems to generate hunger.

A hungry tort will eat as long as temperatures are correct.

They can go days without eating and come to no harm as long as hydration is maintained with soaks.

 

[AudgePaudge]

That's what I was saying.

 

[AudgePaudge]

Except that it had a lot more useful information than mine.