New Hingeback owner - Need advise .Please help!
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I have read few of the post from Jacqui and looks like this sound is normal. good thing after the recommended soak is he is very active today. Roaming in the closure and climbing. he hasn't eaten anything yet 
They can take a while to get used to the new environment, mine was going on 2wks before feeding.I have read few of the post from Jacqui and looks like this sound is normal. good thing after the recommended soak is he is very active today. Roaming in the closure and climbing. he hasn't eaten anything yet
Have you tried earth worms,slugs or snails yet?
Also is he definitely a male?
Hi Anyfoot, we have tried mealworms, but he did not show interest,haven't tried any other live food yet.
Offered him banana,mango and strawberry and found out this morning that he has eaten all the strawberries .
The plastron is concave so we presumed that its a male tortoise. i will try to post some pic for identification.trying not to hold him until he gets comfortable with the new setup.
Offered him banana,mango and strawberry and found out this morning that he has eaten all the strawberries .
The plastron is concave so we presumed that its a male tortoise. i will try to post some pic for identification.trying not to hold him until he gets comfortable with the new setup.
Cool, sounds like he's settling in. I've never fed meal worms, just earth worms, that's not to say they won't eat them.
If you can set up a homemade wormery in your yard it will provide free food.
We also raid the compost bins for worms and slugs too.
Hi All,Cool, sounds like he's settling in. I've never fed meal worms, just earth worms, that's not to say they won't eat them.
If you can set up a homemade wormery in your yard it will provide free food.
We also raid the compost bins for worms and slugs too.
Zura is not eating properly. i have tried live worms,earthworms,spring mix,weeds,shrimps,squash,sweet potato,types of mushrooms .almost everything on the list of food that hingeback eats but he only eats fruits (strawberry/few bites of mango/papaya/watermelon).
I have seen nibbling spider plant in the enclosure..but he dont eats spring mix/collard/plantain/hibiscus i have offered.
He has not eaten any protein in last 1 month,worried its going to impact his helath
.please advise how can i make him eat other food .Thank you!
What are your temperatures?Hi All,
Zura is not eating properly. i have tried live worms,earthworms,spring mix,weeds,shrimps,squash,sweet potato,types of mushrooms .almost everything on the list of food that hingeback eats but he only eats fruits (strawberry/few bites of mango/papaya/watermelon).
I have seen nibbling spider plant in the enclosure..but he dont eats spring mix/collard/plantain/hibiscus i have offered.
He has not eaten any protein in last 1 month,worried its going to impact his helath
Thank you!
Have you tried slugs yet?
Hi All,
Zura is not eating properly. i have tried live worms,earthworms,spring mix,weeds,shrimps,squash,sweet potato,types of mushrooms .almost everything on the list of food that hingeback eats but he only eats fruits (strawberry/few bites of mango/papaya/watermelon).
I have seen nibbling spider plant in the enclosure..but he dont eats spring mix/collard/plantain/hibiscus i have offered.
He has not eaten any protein in last 1 month,worried its going to impact his helath
Thank you!
I'll reel off what we feed, its not a huge variety, and believe me we have tried feeding everything, lettuce,weeds,spinach,Boston fern, the list is endless. They wont even eat tomatoes or cucumber.
We feed
Earthworms, slugs, snails, button mushrooms(they wont eat the brown ones), papaya, mango, plum, kiwi, pear, strawberries,figs,apple, banana,passion fruit, red grapes, melon and once a month I give them 1 tangerine(between 6 of them).
I can count on one hand how many times they have eaten kale, I've caught them eating dried leaves once or twice too.
Occasionally when I have been caught out with no worms etc I've fed dry cat biscuits, they wont eat them when soaked.
You could say they have an acquired taste. lol Plenty above that are on the don't feed or feed in moderation.
I've tried starving these into eating greens to point I just thought ' I'm wasting my time ', because soon as they get a slug again they would hold out for weeks again.I even forced a dry period to see if there diet needs changed, but no. I've tried mixing everything up, they either eat around the greens or just don't eat. I don't think its the same as trying to get another species to eat the correct diet, Well not from what I've experienced anyway.
Put some slugs and worms in a terracotta dish, put your tort so the front is on the dish, spray the tort and the slug/worms then walk away. For months mine wouldn't eat when we were watching, they just froze, as though they thought I couldn't see them as long as they didn't move.
We offer fruit and mushrooms everyday and worms/slugs or snails every other day. They seem very healthy now,(some had toenails missing when I got them, they've grown back, and beaks are finally coming right), and I'm getting fertile eggs now. Weather that proves the diet is right or not, I don't know.
Persimmon fruit too.
Temperature just under the CHE is 84F.coolest end is 77F. Have 1 150 WATTS CHE and 1 100Watts night bulb for 6X4ft Enclosure. attaching the pic . CHE is just above the water dish(tray).Night bulb is above the corner hide(right hand side). Humidity if always more than 80%.fogger runs constantly and we spray whole enclosure with water 2 times.
I had hard luck finding slugs/snails. Checking if i can order them online but lots of restriction on buying/selling slugs
Attachments
See If you can drop temps so they are 82f and 75f. Mine don't seem to like it too hot, they seem to prefer it at low to mid 70's with the option of upper 70's when they want.Temperature just under the CHE is 84F.coolest temp if 77F,other end of the enclosure. Have 1 150 WATTS CHE and 1 100Watts night bulb for 6X4ft Enclosure. I had hard luck finding slugs/snails. Checking if i can order them online but lots of restriction on buying/selling slugs
Do you have a compost bin for slugs or any stones in the yard to look under for slugs.
They will eat pillbugs too.
Try just throwing some mushrooms in the enclosure (whole) instead of putting them in the food dish(if that's what you are doing).
Tortoises can go a long time without eating, so it's not panic time yet. At least he is eating.
Hi Anyfoot, Thank you so much for the detailed response.appreciate it.
I have been trying brown button /portbella mushroom.will try white buttons one.
i have tried keeping earthworm/mealworms in front of him but he don't look interested in them. i have placed earthworms in soil(inside the enclosure) incase he ever wants to hunt and eat. i really hope i gets some slugs soon.
Put some flat stones in the enclosure, the worms will hide under the stones so you will have a continuous supply once the worms start to breed. Everytime we lift up the food and water dish the torts charge over for the worms that were under the dishes. They ain't daft, they've learnt.
I'd weigh your Tortoise and make a note of it for future reference. Do you know what the last owners were feeding?
I got him from the Rescue center . they had him for a week and then i adopted him.
i reached out to them to know what they were feeding him and list was - Kale, Collards, Romaine, Strawberries, grated sweet potato. NO WORMS or mushrooms at all in his diet which was surprising.I tried sweet potato but he has shown no interest at all.
They also told me to take him out in sun and raise the temperatures of his enclosure to 90F which is not right for Hingeback i believe. so i really dont know if they knew how to take proper care of hingebacks.
Good job they only had him for a week.I got him from the Rescue center . they had him for a week and then i adopted him.
i reached out to them to know what they were feeding him and list was - Kale, Collards, Romaine, Strawberries, grated sweet potato. NO WORMS or mushrooms at all in his diet which was surprising.I tried sweet potato but he has shown no interest at all.
They also told me to take him out in sun and raise the temperatures of his enclosure to 90F which is not right for Hingeback i believe. so i really dont know if they knew how to take proper care of hingebacks.
I got him from the Rescue center . they had him for a week and then i adopted him.
i reached out to them to know what they were feeding him and list was - Kale, Collards, Romaine, Strawberries, grated sweet potato. NO WORMS or mushrooms at all in his diet which was surprising.I tried sweet potato but he has shown no interest at all.
They also told me to take him out in sun and raise the temperatures of his enclosure to 90F which is not right for Hingeback i believe. so i really dont know if they knew how to take proper care of hingebacks.
Just found this for you to read. Looks to be quite accurate information.
http://www.torontozoo.com/ExploretheZoo/AnimalDetails.asp?pg=425
Thanks Anyfoot ! This is very informational.
Although 99% of the time our hinges eat around the greens, virtually ever day we still offer some sort of green(knowing it will be wasted). Like I've said before occasionally we've seen kale eaten. Well yesterday we put 'wild peppery rocket' in with banana and nectarine, they ate everything (I was very shocked). So to test the theory of whether they only ate peppery rocket because of the fruits juices I washed the food dish out and put just peppery rocket in. Sure enough within they had eaten all the peppery rocket
( flabbergasted ). So stage 3, I put some peppery rocket and kale in, all mixed up. It's all still there this morning, the hinges are out waiting to be fed, but won't touch the kale and rocket.
Not very often I wanted salad foods and when I do it's usually a side of a burger and chips/fries.
. I tasted this peppery rocket and just like it says, it was very very peppery. I don't know if all rocket is peppery or not and that name is a selling gimic.(wild peppery rocket) Just thought I'd let you know, it shocked me. I need to look into stronger tasting greenery.
I've never tried mustard greens, maybe that one would be a winner too.
My guys won't even eat lettuce(romaine or iceberg)
That was good to know i have tried mustard but my wont even smell it.
i am kind of having very hard time making him eat. I have tried almost everything (but snails/slugs as i dont find it ) but he is not eating at all.
Its been more than a month and he is only on strawberries.tried crickets/earthworms/mealworms. Ordered snails online that they sell in Amazon.have requested few of my colleagues to look for slugs in their garden .so i am kind of desperate
if he is not gonna eat for another week or so i think i should give it to someone who can take care of him.
i have tried mustard but my wont even smell it. i am kind of having very hard time making him eat. I have tried almost everything (but snails/slugs as i dont find it ) but he is not eating at all.
Its been more than a month and he is only on strawberries.tried crickets/earthworms/mealworms. Ordered snails online that they sell in Amazon.have requested few of my colleagues to look for slugs in their garden .so i am kind of desperate
if he is not gonna eat for another week or so i think i should give it to someone who can take care of him.
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