Hatchling diet and how often giving food

[Chip0282]

Hi all, I want to ask about proper feeding time for radiated, leopard, and aldabra hatchling or baby.

My radiated size 2 inch and 3 inch
Leopard size 2 inch
Aldabra size 5 inch

I feed them greens and Mazuri twice a week. My question is , do we need to skip 1 day a week from giving food? I read somewhere that reptiles need to clean their digestion system once in a while. Do this only apply for adult tortoise, or it's better to give food not everyday even for hatchling or baby Tortoise?

Thanks

 

[Chip0282]

Sorry I mean now I feed them greens everyday, and Mazuri twice a week. Sorry for the confusion

 

[Tom]

Tortoises are grazers. They should have as much of the right foods as they want every day. No need to skip a day.

The right foods are grasses, weeds, leaves, flowers and succulents of the right types.

All of these should be housed separately. Species should never be mixed.

Additionally, I would not give Mazuri to the Aldabra. Instead, give him lots and lots of grass. Let him graze and eat as much grass as he wants every day. And be sure to use a calcium supplement with him too.

 

[Chip0282]

Thanks Tom, yes they housed separately.

Leaves, flowers, and succulents like opuntia, they like it very much. But problem with grasses, some time i let them out for 1 hour at grassfield, they only bite little only like 3-5 bite then just roaming, feels like they like flower and leaves better. do you have any advice to make them want to eat grass ?

For aldabra, my reason giving mazuri is because im afraid they dont have enough vitamins, and i read Mazuri LS Diet is good for them. Do they need vitamin from another source like mazuri, or vitamin products that we can spingkle at food or how ?

 

[Lyn W]

You could chop up grass and sprinkle it on wet leaves.

If you find the thread by ALDABRAMAN you'll see lots of pics of his torts eating and maybe get some answers about feeding there.

 

[Chip0282]

Ah nice idea, let me try.

 

[Tom]

Thanks Tom, yes they housed separately.

Leaves, flowers, and succulents like opuntia, they like it very much. But problem with grasses, some time i let them out for 1 hour at grassfield, they only bite little only like 3-5 bite then just roaming, feels like they like flower and leaves better. do you have any advice to make them want to eat grass ?

For aldabra, my reason giving mazuri is because im afraid they dont have enough vitamins, and i read Mazuri LS Diet is good for them. Do they need vitamin from another source like mazuri, or vitamin products that we can spingkle at food or how ?

This is the case with most young tortoises. Lyn's suggestion is what I do. I grab a clump of grass with one hand and cut it off with scissors in the other hand. Then I cut the grass into small pieces on top of the day's other foods and mix it all in. Initially, they will try to eat around the grass, but over time, they will just start to eat it with the rest of the food.

Grass should be a large component of the Aldabras diet, but it only needs to be part of the diet for the other two species.

Mazuri LS is okay if you are using it only twice a week as a supplemental food for the Aldabra.

It would not be a bad idea to supplement all of their diets with a reptile vitamin powder once a week, and calcium twice a week. Maybe a little more often for the Aldabra. Excess calcium with be excreted and not cause any problem.

 

[jsheffield]

I give all of my torts (a mix of grassland and forest species) greens everyday.

I also give them Mazuri (or similar) 1-2 times a week (often made soft with water and like a dressing over the greens)...I think of the Mazuri more as a supplement than a food, which I think/hope helps me avoid giving them too much.

I occasionally miss a day due to travel or meetings or such, and don't worry about it, but don't schedule no-feed days for any of my torts.

Jamie

 

[Chip0282]

For grass , do we need to feed fresh grass ? Or can buy timothy hay for rabbit food, but usually not fresh, we can purchase it from marketplace and come from different brand

 

[Chip0282]

Tried sprinkle Timothy hay at leaves and opuntia, they will eat it , but still don't want to eat only hay, maybe will take long time before they want to eat only hay.

Thanks for the suggestion

 

[Tom]

For grass , do we need to feed fresh grass ? Or can buy timothy hay for rabbit food, but usually not fresh, we can purchase it from marketplace and come from different brand

Fresh grass that you grow yourself is best. Use seeds intended for pastures and grazing animals. I grow it in pots and in planters. Don't use sod or hardware store lawn seed. Both have too many additives.

I would not recommend Timothy hay, especially for younger, smaller tortoises. Its too stemmy. Orchard grass hay is better. Bermuda grass hay is fine too.

It will take weeks or months of sprinkling hay on top of the food to get them eating it well, but a lot of youngsters just aren't that into it. Give them time. It will also help if you soak the chopped up hay for an hour or two before mixing it in with the food. This will rehydrate and soften it for smaller tortoises. Not necessary when they get bigger, but it never hurts.

 

[Chip0282]

Ok tommorow I'll try to soak it, and let me search for orchard or Bermuda.
Thanks