Thought I'd take a few pictures and document how I prepare food for the various tortoise I feed daily. Since I am currently feeding over 50 tortoises, I thought it might be of interest how I choose to do it by providing a detail of a day's food...
This is one of the day's I mix everything together to be sure everyone gets plenty of good calcium, vitamins, minerals and fiber. By mixing everything togther, there is no way they can pick out their favorite as everything is sticking together and eaten equally. I do this 1-2 times a week when I add vitamins.
Here's the ingredients for today. Far left is 2 heads of Green Leaf Lettuce. Top Center is about a pound of grape leaves. Next is 5 types of flowers I pick every day. About 140 -150 flowers - Purple Rose of Sharon, pink of another type of Rose of Sharon, Red Hibiscus, Orange Hibiscu, and white Lavatera. Middle is about 1-1/2 cups of Kapidolo Dried Mulberry leaves. Lower left is grass clipping from my tortoise yard I mow with an electric mower once a week. I save about 3 containers of grass clippings each week in the 1 lb tub spring mix comes in. It easily stays good for the week in the tortoise refridgerator. Lower right is 1/2 lb arugula.
This day is also the day I add some extra vitamins and mineral. I use the commercial salt/pepper shaker shown below. I fill with cactus flour and add 1 tablespoon of calcium carbonate, and 1 teaspoon of Rep Cal Herptivite powder. I mix that all up and fill the shaker. I chop the grape leaves, Green leaf, and Flowers into about 1" - 2" pieces.
For baby tortoises I use the chef's scissors for making garnish to cut into smaller pieces. These scissors easily cut through the leaves, flowers, plantain, and even cactus pads and make nice bite-sized pieces for the baby tortoises.
I then have everything in a tub mixed together. Then I sprinkle the cactus flour/vitamins mix over the entire tub of food. This shaker of powder lasts for about 8 times fixing a meal like today:
I then spray it down with water and then mix thoroughly.
Here's the mixed ingredients with the baby food on top and regular food on bottom. The powder dissapears with water and mixing and the mulberry leaves and grass clippings are stuck to everything and equally distributed.
I currently am feeding Burmese Stars, Galapagos, Pancake, Egyptian, and Spider tortoises this same mix. All my tortoises eat this eagerly and I know are getting a great balance of the nutrients, vitamins and minerals they need.
This is one of the day's I mix everything together to be sure everyone gets plenty of good calcium, vitamins, minerals and fiber. By mixing everything togther, there is no way they can pick out their favorite as everything is sticking together and eaten equally. I do this 1-2 times a week when I add vitamins.
Here's the ingredients for today. Far left is 2 heads of Green Leaf Lettuce. Top Center is about a pound of grape leaves. Next is 5 types of flowers I pick every day. About 140 -150 flowers - Purple Rose of Sharon, pink of another type of Rose of Sharon, Red Hibiscus, Orange Hibiscu, and white Lavatera. Middle is about 1-1/2 cups of Kapidolo Dried Mulberry leaves. Lower left is grass clipping from my tortoise yard I mow with an electric mower once a week. I save about 3 containers of grass clippings each week in the 1 lb tub spring mix comes in. It easily stays good for the week in the tortoise refridgerator. Lower right is 1/2 lb arugula.
This day is also the day I add some extra vitamins and mineral. I use the commercial salt/pepper shaker shown below. I fill with cactus flour and add 1 tablespoon of calcium carbonate, and 1 teaspoon of Rep Cal Herptivite powder. I mix that all up and fill the shaker. I chop the grape leaves, Green leaf, and Flowers into about 1" - 2" pieces.
For baby tortoises I use the chef's scissors for making garnish to cut into smaller pieces. These scissors easily cut through the leaves, flowers, plantain, and even cactus pads and make nice bite-sized pieces for the baby tortoises.
I then have everything in a tub mixed together. Then I sprinkle the cactus flour/vitamins mix over the entire tub of food. This shaker of powder lasts for about 8 times fixing a meal like today:
I then spray it down with water and then mix thoroughly.
Here's the mixed ingredients with the baby food on top and regular food on bottom. The powder dissapears with water and mixing and the mulberry leaves and grass clippings are stuck to everything and equally distributed.
I currently am feeding Burmese Stars, Galapagos, Pancake, Egyptian, and Spider tortoises this same mix. All my tortoises eat this eagerly and I know are getting a great balance of the nutrients, vitamins and minerals they need.
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