Is my tortoise a healthy size?

Georgiamai

New Member
Joined
Sep 9, 2020
Messages
19
Location (City and/or State)
England
Best to grow your own from seed, or from cuttings of long established plants.

Look for weeds growing nearby, and use a local nursery for ID help. Also look for mulberry trees and grapevine leaves.

You can use grocery store greens if you must, but favor curly endive, escarole, arugula (aka: rocket in the UK), and a wide variety of others. The grocery store foods must be amended to add fiber and variety. ZooMed makes a "flower topper" product that you can sprinkle on and mix in, and they also make a Grassland and forest tortoise pellet that you can soak and mix in. All are good and available in the UK. You also have Komodo pellets over there. From What I've read, those are another way to improve the quality of grocery store greens.

All fo these new things will be met with some resistance by your tortoise at first. Start any new food with tiny amounts mixed in with old favorites. The introduction process of new foods can take weeks or months in some cases. Be persistent. It is worth the effort.
Okay thank you so much! I have a grape vine and never knew they could have the leaves, unfortunately we tried rocket but he wasn't having any of it but I'm more than happy to grow some plants now that I know what to look out for! And as you said I'll have to introduce slowly as he can be picky!

As for substrates I have read your information page and wanted to get some bark chips to retain more moisture in the enclosure, I'm guessing as you mentioned to avoid any such as Repti Bark and ProRep?
 

Golden Greek Tortoise 567

Well-Known Member
Joined
Dec 30, 2019
Messages
1,756
Location (City and/or State)
Colorado Springs,CO
Okay thank you so much! I have a grape vine and never knew they could have the leaves, unfortunately we tried rocket but he wasn't having any of it but I'm more than happy to grow some plants now that I know what to look out for! And as you said I'll have to introduce slowly as he can be picky!

As for substrates I have read your information page and wanted to get some bark chips to retain more moisture in the enclosure, I'm guessing as you mentioned to avoid any such as Repti Bark and ProRep?
Repti bark is orchard bark and is in my opinion the best substrate. ProRep you should indeed avoid.
 

Tom

The Dog Trainer
10 Year Member!
Platinum Tortoise Club
Joined
Jan 9, 2010
Messages
63,264
Location (City and/or State)
Southern California
Okay thank you so much! I have a grape vine and never knew they could have the leaves, unfortunately we tried rocket but he wasn't having any of it but I'm more than happy to grow some plants now that I know what to look out for! And as you said I'll have to introduce slowly as he can be picky!

As for substrates I have read your information page and wanted to get some bark chips to retain more moisture in the enclosure, I'm guessing as you mentioned to avoid any such as Repti Bark and ProRep?
Most tortoises will be reluctant to try any new food. When the new stuff has a strong smell, like rocket, it can take even longer to get them eating it well. Most people try a few times and then give up. That is what I used to do. Through keeping tortoise in breeding groups, I would feed these new foods, and one or more tortoise would eat it, so I'de keep putting it in for that tortoise, even though the others ignored it at first. In time, they would all eat it. This led to my trying different ways, over many years with many species, of introducing new foods, and I learned some things along the way.

The ZooMed pellets I mentioned are an excellent source of a bunch of different "natural" high fiber tortoise foods. This is a great supplelmtnal food to use with grocery store greens, but most tortoises want nothing to do with it... at first. I've had some tortoises take three months to begin nibbling on that stuff, but once they do, once they realize it is "food", they come to really like it. Most people, myself included in year's past, would not keep trying for three months. I learned this persistence because I'd seen it work in the past, and because I am determined to be more stubborn and hard headed than my picky tortoises.

I don't know the ProRep products because we don't have those over here, but the repti-bark is excellent. Just make sure whatever you use is pure fir bark with no additives. Avoid anything with any sand or soil in it. DEFINITELY do NOT buy the Pets at Home substrate with the white limestone bits in it that the pet shop will try to sell you. That stuff should be taken off the market. Encouraging a tortoise to eat sandy substrate to satisfy calcium cravings??? That is pure lunacy! Who thought of that? And why didn't somebody smack them upside the head and tell them to knock it off???
 
Last edited:

Georgiamai

New Member
Joined
Sep 9, 2020
Messages
19
Location (City and/or State)
England
Most tortoises will be reluctant to try any new food. When the new stuff has a strong smell, like rocket, it can take even longer to get them eating it well. Most people try a few times and then give up. That is what I used to do. Through keeping tortoise in breeding groups, I would feed these new foods, and one or more tortoise would eat it, so I'de keep putting it in for that tortoise, even though the others ignored it at first. In time, they would all eat it. This led to my trying different ways, over many years with many species, of introducing new foods, and I learned some things along the way.

The ZooMed pellets I mentioned are an excellent source of a bunch of different "natural" high fiber tortoise foods. This is a great supplelmtnal food to use with grocery store greens, but most tortoises want nothing to do with it... at first. I've had some tortoises take three months to begin nibbling on that stuff, but once they do, once they realize it is "food", they come to really like it. Most people, myself included in year's past, would not keep trying for three months. I learned this persistence because I'd seen it work in the past, and because I am determined to be more stubborn and hard headed than my picky tortoises.

I don't know the ProRep products because we don't have those over here, but the repti-bark is excellent. Just make sure whatever you use is pure fir bark with no additives. Avoid anything with any sand or soil in it. DEFINITELY do NOT buy the Pets at Home substrate with the white limestone bits in it that the pet shop will try to sell you. That stuff should be taken off the market. Encouraging a tortoise to eat sandy substrate to satisfy calcium cravings??? That is pure lunacy! Who thought of that? And why didn't somebody smack them upside the head and tell them to knock it off???
Thank you for the info! I definitely know what to get now and will start introducing his new bits slowly.
 

1wildtiger

Member
Joined
Apr 27, 2020
Messages
71
Location (City and/or State)
Alexandria VA
He is on the small side, and in your pics I can see several possible reasons why. Wrong diet, wrong water bowl, and wrong substrate. Any or all of these could be contributing to slow growth and other problems too. Forgive my bluntness, but the point is for you to know what needs improvement and how to make things better. I say these things to be helpful, not to hurt feelings. Pet stores, "experts" breeders and vets all give out the wrong info, so this is very common.

Here is the current and correct care info with sections on diet, substrate, water bowls and more. Give this a read and then come back with all your questions.

I have two eastern Hermann's that are 1 1/2 yo. One weighs 149g and the other weighs 160g. It varies a little day by day. Either mine are way too big or I'd say that one is a wee too small. ?
 

Georgiamai

New Member
Joined
Sep 9, 2020
Messages
19
Location (City and/or State)
England
This is norms set up after your advice we’re introducing new foods alongside his old food he also has 20-30 minute soaks each day. I am hoping he continues to stay healthy and that him bring small isn’t a major health concern :( any other suggestions are always welcome and i did try the ceramic water dish but he wasn’t having any of it ?
 

Attachments

  • FAD14FCE-3857-47B9-97A8-0DF61FF5ABB5.jpeg
    FAD14FCE-3857-47B9-97A8-0DF61FF5ABB5.jpeg
    2.6 MB · Views: 14
  • 463B342D-7D16-429C-81F7-FF14CD8FA0CC.jpeg
    463B342D-7D16-429C-81F7-FF14CD8FA0CC.jpeg
    1.9 MB · Views: 14
  • 14859FBD-462E-4655-8D21-AC664EF9626F.jpeg
    14859FBD-462E-4655-8D21-AC664EF9626F.jpeg
    1.8 MB · Views: 12

Georgiamai

New Member
Joined
Sep 9, 2020
Messages
19
Location (City and/or State)
England
Here are some more photos of his set up!
 

Attachments

  • 3A7C7B5E-F24F-4445-9BDD-65FBBAA343D7.jpeg
    3A7C7B5E-F24F-4445-9BDD-65FBBAA343D7.jpeg
    1.9 MB · Views: 10
  • C358B972-067B-406A-A122-40F43D27FDD5.jpeg
    C358B972-067B-406A-A122-40F43D27FDD5.jpeg
    2.9 MB · Views: 10

New Posts

Top