- Joined
- Mar 15, 2010
- Messages
- 903
hey everyone! i'm new! so, let me tell you my story:
last summer i decided i wanted a sulcata. in november i worked out a payment plan with a guy who was selling an ivory sulcata and two female hets, and i got them about 3 weeks ago! during the summer, right after i decided i wanted a sulcata, i was at the pet store and they were clearancing out a "tortoise kit" and it had cage cleaner, 75w heat bulb, calcium powder, mazuri tortoise diet, and a booklet on keeping tortoises all for cheaper than they were selling 75w basking lamps by themselves! ever the one looking out for a bargain, i bought the last two.
i researced a lot about sulcatas and their requirements and got all their stuff ready for them to be here, i bought some sulcata seed and began growing that under a uv bulb in january, i ordered some opuntia cacti from a guy in california, and now my babies are here!
i've been soaking about 1/4 cup of orchard grass and timothy hay (blended together like a salad mix) and a few pellets of mazuri in hot water for 15 minutes, and then cutting about 1/8 cup of grass clippings from the sulcata seed mix, and cutting up one slice of opuntia cactus and shaking that up in a bag with calcium powder (so that there's not calcium powder everywhere- it sticks to the opuntia and that's what the little guys go for first!) and i feed them that every day.
the problem:
i've recently become concerned with mazuri tortoise diet. i've read a couple of places that say pelleted or manufactured food like that is very bad to feed your tortoise, but i've been taking that as a "main staple" or the only thing to feed them is bad. they usually leave that stuff alone anyways and they probably only eat it when it's in too close proximity to the food they're trying to get at. so, what do you guys think? i don't like wasting so i don't want to just throw the food away, but if it's bad for my babies i will NOT sacrifice their health for my reservations about wasting food. that would be like saying i'm going to feed my child stale chips instead of a carrot because i won't throw the chips away! i just want to know what you guys think about giving three hatchlings probably less than 2 tablespoons of soaked mazuri tortoise diet every day? thanks for taking the time to reply!
last summer i decided i wanted a sulcata. in november i worked out a payment plan with a guy who was selling an ivory sulcata and two female hets, and i got them about 3 weeks ago! during the summer, right after i decided i wanted a sulcata, i was at the pet store and they were clearancing out a "tortoise kit" and it had cage cleaner, 75w heat bulb, calcium powder, mazuri tortoise diet, and a booklet on keeping tortoises all for cheaper than they were selling 75w basking lamps by themselves! ever the one looking out for a bargain, i bought the last two.
i researced a lot about sulcatas and their requirements and got all their stuff ready for them to be here, i bought some sulcata seed and began growing that under a uv bulb in january, i ordered some opuntia cacti from a guy in california, and now my babies are here!
i've been soaking about 1/4 cup of orchard grass and timothy hay (blended together like a salad mix) and a few pellets of mazuri in hot water for 15 minutes, and then cutting about 1/8 cup of grass clippings from the sulcata seed mix, and cutting up one slice of opuntia cactus and shaking that up in a bag with calcium powder (so that there's not calcium powder everywhere- it sticks to the opuntia and that's what the little guys go for first!) and i feed them that every day.
the problem:
i've recently become concerned with mazuri tortoise diet. i've read a couple of places that say pelleted or manufactured food like that is very bad to feed your tortoise, but i've been taking that as a "main staple" or the only thing to feed them is bad. they usually leave that stuff alone anyways and they probably only eat it when it's in too close proximity to the food they're trying to get at. so, what do you guys think? i don't like wasting so i don't want to just throw the food away, but if it's bad for my babies i will NOT sacrifice their health for my reservations about wasting food. that would be like saying i'm going to feed my child stale chips instead of a carrot because i won't throw the chips away! i just want to know what you guys think about giving three hatchlings probably less than 2 tablespoons of soaked mazuri tortoise diet every day? thanks for taking the time to reply!