Kit Kat Food

[PJRO]

I have now had Kit and Kat (2 red foot tortoises that are about 4 inches long) for about 2 weeks. They are doing terrific! I have bought a second heat lamp and the temp is now a solid 80 in the middle of the enclosure and warmer at the ends under the lights. I have ordered a Monsoon mister/humidifier since I can't seem to keep the humidity up. I am still struggling with the whole diet thing. I have read that fruits and veggies should only be given once or twice a week and make up 10 to 15% of diet. So far they love all fruit I have given (banana, strawberry, and cantaloup) and love mushrooms and cherry tomato. They kind of eat grated sweet potato and carrot. They love kale and hate beet greens. They don't seem to care for mustard greens or the artisan lettuce mix I bought. I am very confused about what 10 to 15% of diet means. If I give 1 cherry tomato or 1 mushroom with a plate full of greens on a daily basis is that too much (there are 2 of them)? Or 1 small strawberry or 1 inch of banana with their greens?

 

[Michael Twohy]

Congrats with your tortoises! With most tortoises, it's best to VERY sparingly give sugary foods like fruit. They need a low protein, high fiber diet. But You are supposed to give Redfoots chicken once a month. I don't own a redfoot though, so you'll have to look that up to be sure. Hopefully someone smarter than me can give some info on that.... How often should you give fruit? I'd say about once-twice a month as a treat.

 

[PJRO]

I thought they were supposed to have protein once a week. Last week I gave them about 1/2 or maybe just 1/4 of a chicken liver. They loved it!!!

 

[Michael Twohy]

I thought they were supposed to have protein once a week. Last week I gave them about 1/2 or maybe just 1/4 of a chicken liver. They loved it!!!

oh, sorry for giving you wrong info! Like I stated earlier, I don't own a red foot, so i dont know much about them. Just trying to answer your question about fruit, and i didnt want to discourage you against giving them chicken. How come red foots eat chicken?

 

[PJRO]

You didn't mislead me at all!! I'm still trying to figure this out. My understanding is they can eat a variety of protein including boiled eggs, chicken, worms, baby mice, and even cat food. Not sure why red foots need protein. I think I read they can have metabolic disorder s without it

 

[tortdad]

You didn't mislead me at all!! I'm still trying to figure this out. My understanding is they can eat a variety of protein including boiled eggs, chicken, worms, baby mice, and even cat food. Not sure why red foots need protein. I think I read they can have metabolic disorder s without it

You'll get different answers from different people. For the most part people will tell you protein once a month or once every two weeks. I give mine chicken or weigh management dog food every two weeks. As far as the greens to veggie ratio I never mix my greens and fruit. If I do they eat the fruit first and don't get enough greens. I give greens in the morning and use the fruit as a snack twice a week in the afternoons.

 

[crimson_lotus]

Yup, I give my red protein once a month, but like tortdad said, some give protein every 2 weeks or every week, and none of these frequencies are wrong. I've tried snails, egg, chicken, shrimp, tuna, and worms. Mushrooms are a good plant protein, but like everything else you want a varied diet, so mushroom every day is a no.

For fruit what I do is feed a piece the size of their head every 5 days. This can also differ from person to person. For the other days I feed her a pile of greens/veggies the size of her shell and sprinkle on top some dried flowers every few days. She usually never eats ALL of it, and I take it away when she walks away.

 

[crimson_lotus]

Do you feed mazuri at all? My tortoise LOVES it. She licks the plate, literally. And she will keep searching for any extra pieces she may or may not have dropped or walked over.

Her other favorites are butternut squash, brusselsprouts (I steam them first, then let them cool), mango, endive, escarole, arugula, collard, and chicory. They also love flowers like hibiscus, but I'm in MA right now and there's still snow on the ground so it's hard to come by.

It's good to feed them a variety because some greens are high in oxalates (like spinach), which can bind with calcium and create stones. Tomatoes aren't great all the time, either, so just be careful with that.

 

[Michael Twohy]

So, looks like I was kinda wrong is it only red foots that can eat that much fruit? I've just heard that tortoises shouldn't eat fruit more than once a month to twice a month

 

[Michael Twohy]

You didn't mislead me at all!! I'm still trying to figure this out. My understanding is they can eat a variety of protein including boiled eggs, chicken, worms, baby mice, and even cat food. Not sure why red foots need protein. I think I read they can have metabolic disorder s without it

Ok I've always wanted a red foot, but they get too big for me I would love to be able have lots of plants in my enclosure.... I can't have the humidity too high

 

[PJRO]

I have not tried Mazuri yet. I want to buy some and not sure where the best place to get it is. So I think I am more clear on fruit. As far as veggies, can they have them everyday with the greens or should they be limited too? Last night I tried green beans and they seemed to enjoy them. The other thing I had read is that hay should be offered because of the fiber. I bought some timothy hay cubes, shredded it, and added a little water and they don't touch it.

 

[Chenderson]

Theres a lot of conflicting diets for redfoots. I'm also quite new to tortoises, and spent a long time reading up on what others feed their tortoise, it can be quite confusing, the diet I use is easy for me to maintain, and my tortoise is happy and healthy so far.

Currently I will go to my local fruit and veg shop, purchase a Lettuce, another veg(butternut squash, radicchio etc), and two different types of fruit, my rule of thumb is variety, for my fruits I normally purchase a berry/grape high in antioxidants and all good stuff, and something tasty, this week was melon. I then dice it up into bite size cubes at the start of the week, separate into 7 mixed equal portions comprised of 40%fruit 40% veg 20% mushroom or other treat, bag them up, chuck them in the fridge one for each day. Redfoots enjoy ripe fruit, so normally by day 7 the fruit is starting to degrade slightly, and they love it.

Excess fruit that has been cubed, is bagged up and frozen for future use, every week I will dash a bit of random fruit from my freezer into the bags before they hit the fridge, feel it ads a bit of variety.

It is advised to stay away from overly citrus fruits/sugary fruits.

On top of that once or twice a week I will add dried tortoise herbs crumbled onto the food mix, also once or twice a week with Nutrabol, constant access to chalk block and water.

Once a week I feed one to two pinkie mice, it is advised to stay away from cat food, and personally I don't understand how a tortoise would ever eat a chicken or fish in nature. I do occasionally provide a cool, hard boiled egg as weekly protein source if I have no pinkies.

 

[crimson_lotus]

Red's don't eat hay so that's why they wouldn't touch it. Here's a good site to let you know what foods are safe for tortoises, and how often. They also explain WHY, which I particularly find important:

http://www.thetortoisetable.org.uk/site/plants_19.asp

You can be fairly flexible, for example they say not to feed corn, tomatoes, spinach and sweet potatoes but I still feed them that every month or so. It's all about moderation.

 

[crimson_lotus]

So, looks like I was kinda wrong is it only red foots that can eat that much fruit? I've just heard that tortoises shouldn't eat fruit more than once a month to twice a month

It's crazy how different the care is for every tortoise species. Some shouldn't eat fruit at all and some can.