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- Thread starter Milo
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Your Mediterranean tortoise should have a diet mostly of leafy greens. You can use various greens from the supermarket, but best of all are weeds... especially things like dandelions. Make sure weeds and anything picked from the garden are well washed and have not been treated with fertilisers or weedkiller.
Occasionally, he can eat fruit, but your type of tort struggles to digest the sugars so to feeding it on a regular basis can cause digestive problems.
This website is really good for looking up plants that you can buy or pick outside to find out whether or not they are suitable to feed: The Tortoise Table Plant Database
And this leaflet is great to download to a smart phone, or to print off, to have to hand when you are out and spot something that might be suitable: Plant Booklet
What enclosure are you using at the moment, pictures are great for showing us!
Your tort needs access to a basking spot under a lamp where it is 100-105 degrees directly underneath. Basking helps to get him active and helps him to digest his food.
Your tort also needs UVB light. If he is kept outside, he'll get this naturally from the sun. Indoors you must have a UVB strip light or MVB lamp to provide it.
You are trying to mimic a warm sunny day in Southern Europe in an indoor enclosure, so the lighting and heat needs to be on for 10-12 hours and then the lights need to go off at night completely. If temperatures drop very low in your house at night you will need supplementary heating using a Ceramic Heat Emitter.
Your tort also needs access to water.
In my signature below, you will see links to Tom's Beginer's thread and to a thread with my soaking tips in it. You need to read both.
Red poop is not normal, but it may be caused by diet. What is your tort eating at the moment? Normal poop is brown and smells a lot like horse manure. Urine should be clear, but your tort will pass urates (white jelly like stuff) as well. Urates are nothing to worry about unless there is a huge amount passed or the urate is grainy... both of which indicate that your tort is dehydrated and needs more soaking.
Occasionally, he can eat fruit, but your type of tort struggles to digest the sugars so to feeding it on a regular basis can cause digestive problems.
This website is really good for looking up plants that you can buy or pick outside to find out whether or not they are suitable to feed: The Tortoise Table Plant Database
And this leaflet is great to download to a smart phone, or to print off, to have to hand when you are out and spot something that might be suitable: Plant Booklet
What enclosure are you using at the moment, pictures are great for showing us!
Your tort needs access to a basking spot under a lamp where it is 100-105 degrees directly underneath. Basking helps to get him active and helps him to digest his food.
Your tort also needs UVB light. If he is kept outside, he'll get this naturally from the sun. Indoors you must have a UVB strip light or MVB lamp to provide it.
You are trying to mimic a warm sunny day in Southern Europe in an indoor enclosure, so the lighting and heat needs to be on for 10-12 hours and then the lights need to go off at night completely. If temperatures drop very low in your house at night you will need supplementary heating using a Ceramic Heat Emitter.
Your tort also needs access to water.
In my signature below, you will see links to Tom's Beginer's thread and to a thread with my soaking tips in it. You need to read both.
Red poop is not normal, but it may be caused by diet. What is your tort eating at the moment? Normal poop is brown and smells a lot like horse manure. Urine should be clear, but your tort will pass urates (white jelly like stuff) as well. Urates are nothing to worry about unless there is a huge amount passed or the urate is grainy... both of which indicate that your tort is dehydrated and needs more soaking.
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