Omg

[Pearly]

I would try the mushrooms to start with, and chopped night crawlers. Avoid high fat protein like chicken and beef. Stick with the night crawlers, crushed snails and stuff like that.
Not an expert here, but I would treat them essentially like neonate box turtles.
So strawberries might be good too.
Avoid Mazuri too except as an occasional variation. And I do mean occasional.

I was asking if there was a commercial food formulated for this species. I simply don't know. My area of comfort is feeding RFs and mechanical alterations of food to get picky baby or sick tort to eat. Was thinking that wherever there's market for certain animal there's money to be made on food, enclosures and all kinds of merchandise so there should be some ready made diet available for supplementing... But maybe not... I simply don't know

 

[Anyfoot]

I was asking if there was a commercial food formulated for this species. I simply don't know. My area of comfort is feeding RFs and mechanical alterations of food to get picky baby or sick tort to eat. Was thinking that wherever there's market for certain animal there's money to be made on food, enclosures and all kinds of merchandise so there should be some ready made diet available for supplementing... But maybe not... I simply don't know

I think what cdmay was saying is, that with a species that requires such a high level of protein,mazuri is off the menu. It's not high enough in protein, also I'm thinking if a species is so reliant on high levels of protein, then the protein type/selection is more critical. For example your redfoot will eat chicken then wonder off and fill up with weeds and flowers for other nutrients. This species doesn't have that option(so it appears). Creepy crawlers carry other vitamins and nutrients.

 

[Pearly]

How about that Mazuri for crocodilians that Ed (Zeropilot) is using? Isn't that one high in protein?

 

[Pearly]

But perhaps that's not this same protein as the one that comes from wiggly critters??? Well, then... perhaps there exists a formula specifically made for torts that need "snails/bugs/worms formula"? I don't know, just tossing ideas

 

[Anyfoot]

How about that Mazuri for crocodilians that Ed (Zeropilot) is using? Isn't that one high in protein?

Omg
I didn't know crocs ate slugs and worms.

Yeah it probably would, but doubt you can get croc mazuri over here. I don't know anything about mazuri other than it cost a fortune in the UK.

 

[Anyfoot]

But perhaps that's not this same protein as the one that comes from wiggly critters??? Well, then... perhaps there exists a formula specifically made for torts that need "snails/bugs/worms formula"? I don't know, just tossing ideas

Have you got shares in mazuri pearly? You must be on commission

 

[Pearly]

Omg
I didn't know crocs ate slugs and worms.

Yeah it probably would, but doubt you can get croc mazuri over here. I don't know anything about mazuri other than it cost a fortune in the UK.

Ahhh! Forgetting your location! I think crocs eat anything that's meat/fat/and moves

 

[Pearly]

Have you got shares in mazuri pearly? You must be on commission

Nah! Using Mazuri as an example as most people here seem to be familiar with it. I had no idea there was dry tortoise food in existence until I got our babies and breeder send little sample of Mazuri. I then discovered few other brands of forest tortoise foods which I'm using all of them in rotation. There's only one brand they seem not to care for too much, all the others 4-5 of them they seem to love

 

[conservation]

That is so awesome!!!

 

[Pearly]

So what do the "hingies" eat? If they like slugs/snails/mushrooms, you could make a wonderful nutricious shake out of all those in the power blender like the one for smoothies and serve as a nice puree to your babies. Or "mollusky" type of protein... Oysters maybe? Clams? Or mushroom puree and pour clam juice over it? I keep bottle of clam juice (get it at my supermarket) in the fridge for my older cats to pour over their food at times when they turn their noses up on what I put in front of them

 

[Linhdan Nguyen]

This is interesting! I hope we can come up with a caresheet for these in the future!
Sorry all i can do is lurk

 

[Anyfoot]

So what do the "hingies" eat? If they like slugs/snails/mushrooms, you could make a wonderful nutricious shake out of all those in the power blender like the one for smoothies and serve as a nice puree to your babies. Or "mollusky" type of protein... Oysters maybe? Clams? Or mushroom puree and pour clam juice over it? I keep bottle of clam juice (get it at my supermarket) in the fridge for my older cats to pour over their food at times when they turn their noses up on what I put in front of them

So what do the "hingies" eat? If they like slugs/snails/mushrooms, you could make a wonderful nutricious shake out of all those in the power blender like the one for smoothies and serve as a nice puree to your babies. Or "mollusky" type of protein... Oysters maybe? Clams? Or mushroom puree and pour clam juice over it? I keep bottle of clam juice (get it at my supermarket) in the fridge for my older cats to pour over their food at times when they turn their noses up on what I put in front of them

Pearly, there are many hingeback species, I think 7 different species. The homeana(that I have) and the erosa are said to be cared for the same. Dont assume the other 5 species of hinges have the same diet. These and erosa are true forest dwelling torts.
I feed mine, worms,slugs,snails, mushrooms and fruit. Fruit is papaya,mango,strawberry,banana,plum, melon, and once a month give them kiwi and tangerine. I give them some greens every day but they always leave it. I caught them on a couple of occasions eating dried leaves.
Because I was getting paranoid about the high protein and fruit intake i forced a dry period and fed just greens for a long period. Like a month. They did not eat. In fact thats when I saw them eating dried leaves.
I've come to the conclusion they don't eat greens, or its a very rare occasions. Be interested to know if the erosa eat greens.
Yes I could mix greens in with banana for example, but is that natural to hide foods within foods.
Brings back child hood memories when my mum used to hide turnip in my mashed potatoes.

 

[kathyth]

How exciting! Congratulations! They're beautiful

 

[RedFire]

O...M...G...

 

[Anyfoot]

I've now got all 4 into the enclosure, took this opportunity to take some shots of number 4.
Also this morning I fed papaya,mango,mushrooms and chopped worms, well the worms got attacked instantly. Just like the adults, they turn into snipers, slow slow slow head movement, moving closer to the target then, WAM , blink and you miss it. Really cool to watch.
I weighed them all before they ate anything, 18, 18, 18 and 19g.

 

[Pearly]

I've now got all 4 into the enclosure, took this opportunity to take some shots of number 4.
Also this morning I fed papaya,mango,mushrooms and chopped worms, well the worms got attacked instantly. Just like the adults, they turn into snipers, slow slow slow head movement, moving closer to the target then, WAM , blink and you miss it. Really cool to watch.
I weighed them all before they ate anything, 18, 18, 18 and 19g.

View attachment 175465 View attachment 175459 View attachment 175460 View attachment 175461 View attachment 175462 View attachment 175463 View attachment 175464

Very very cute! Love those little faces! Glad they are good eaters

 

[Anyfoot]

All 4 of these guys are eating now. Fed mushroom,worms,strawberry,papaya and mango up to now. Kale and dandilion have been offered but not taken. I've noticed someone is feeding at night too.
I got 3 from 4, and 1 from a clutch of 3. Don't know if anything will come of the 3 left out of these 2 clutches.
I've also got another 6 clutches in the incubator. Next clutch up comes from a very nicely patterned female, so kind of hoping 1 of those 3 is fertile. Although I can't grumble with what I've already got. Dont want to push my luck.
I've also got 2 gravid females by the looks of things. In fact 1 calmed down yesterday and was eating today, so I have a feeling she has layed. I'll look tomorrow.
Moving forward I think I'm going to get 2 incubators for these hingebacks. 1 set at a low temp for diapause and the 2nd for incubation. I can play with temps and diapause durations that way.

 

[cdmay]

This is a great accomplishment Anyfoot. I think I speak for many of us by saying that I appreciate you keeping us in the loop on the progress of these guys.

 

[Anyfoot]

This is a great accomplishment Anyfoot. I think I speak for many of us by saying that I appreciate you keeping us in the loop on the progress of these guys.

Thank you Carl. These guys are extremely active, always on the move and fascinating to watch. I'm obsessed.

 

[Anyfoot]

After noticing one of the females had calmed down after 2 weeks of restless behavior I felt sure she had laid, sure enough I found a clutch of 3 burried about 5" deep.
I've put these 3 straight into the incubator with no diapause, just to see what happens.

Can someone explain to me what a diapause does please. I understand it's done to mimic the natural process of what happens in the wild, but why? Something must happen within the egg if it requires a diapause. If it remained dormant for the diapause period then all its doing is delaying the incubation process.