Organic Kale

[LittleLove]

Hello everyone, you are probably going to get tired of me asking so many questions. Anyways I was just wondering if I should be feeding my baby Fred Organic Kale. And if so should I have o
It available all day for him??

 

[wellington]

I don't feed organic. But kale should be sparingly. I would not feed daily and not a lot on those days, but mixed in with other foods.

 

[LittleLove]

I don't feed organic. But kale should be sparingly. I would not feed daily and not a lot on those days, but mixed in with other foods.

What do you recommend

 

[LittleLove]

What do you recommend

Also I ordered these 2 things are they okay for now.

 

[Littleredfootbigredheart]

What do you recommend

You might find this website handy, granted it is a uk website so some of the plant suggestions reflect that, but you should still find plenty on there you have access to

The Tortoise Table - Home

The Tortoise Table plant database and resource site for Tortoise owners

www.thetortoisetable.org.uk

Also I ordered these 2 things are they okay for now.

Yeah monitors look fine and that’s the correct kind of basking bulb

 

[LittleLove]

You might find this website handy, granted it is a uk website so some of the plant suggestions reflect that, but you should still find plenty on there you have access to

The Tortoise Table - Home

The Tortoise Table plant database and resource site for Tortoise owners

www.thetortoisetable.org.uk

Yeah monitors look fine and that’s the correct kind of basking bulb

Thank you, Littleredfootbigredheart

 

[wellington]

What do you recommend

If you can feed weeds, flowers, leaves, etc, and have to do more grocery greens, do riddichio, escarole, arugula, endive, cactus pads, dandelion can be found in stores, small quantities of mustard greens and collard greens.

 

[LittleLove]

If you can feed weeds, flowers, leaves, etc, and have to do more grocery greens, do riddichio, escarole, arugula, endive, cactus pads, dandelion can be found in stores, small quantities of mustard greens and collard greens.

What is something I should keep out for him at all times

 

[wellington]

I pile of mixed foods. Feed him a big pile in the morning. If he eats it all, give him more. The next day either give him a bigger pile or a smaller one, depending on if he ate all of yesterday's food or if he left some
Once he gets big enough to live outside 24/7, around 10 inches, you can give him orchard grass hay that stays out all day and use greens, mazuri, cactus, etc for feeding like every other day or so. Mazuri 2-3 times a week.

 

[LittleLove]

I pile of mixed foods. Feed him a big pile in the morning. If he eats it all, give him more. The next day either give him a bigger pile or a smaller one, depending on if he ate all of yesterday's food or if he left some
Once he gets big enough to live outside 24/7, around 10 inches, you can give him orchard grass hay that stays out all day and use greens, mazuri, cactus, etc for feeding like every other day or so. Mazuri 2-3 times a week.

Thank you!!

 

[Tom]

Also I ordered these 2 things are they okay for now.

That type of bulb is good, but 150 watts might be too much.

Those thermometers might be okay, but I haven't used that type. Usually reptile branded stuff is not too great. I normally buy that sort of thing from a hardware store or online.

About the food:

For Those Who Have a Young Sulcata...

Over and over I type up and answer diet questions and try to get people feeding the right stuff, but I find that the "norm" is grocery store food. Grocery store food is expensive, a hassle to obtain, and very low on the list of what is best for sulcatas. These tortoises are GRASS eaters. From...

tortoiseforum.org

More:

• If you are going the the grocery store to buy tortoise food, you are feeding the wrong stuff. If you have no other choice but to use grocery store food due to your climate and weather for part of the year, it will need to be amended to make it more suitable as tortoise food. More on this later.

Feeding:
So much contradictory info on this subject. Its simple. What do they eat in the wild. Grass, weeds, leaves, flowers, and succulents. Feed them a huge variety of these things, and you'll have a healthy tortoise. All of these species are very adaptable when it comes to diet and there is a very large margin of error, and many ways to do it right. What if you don't have this sort of "natural" tortoise food available for part of each year because you are in the snow? You will have no choice but to buy grocery store food. What's wrong with grocery store food? It tends to lack fiber, some items are low in calcium or have a poor calcium to phosphorous ratio, and some items have deleterious compounds in them. All of these short comings can be improved with some simple supplementation and amendments. A pinch of calcium two times per week will help fix that problem. You can also leave cuttle bone in the enclosure, so your tortoise can self-regulate its own calcium intake. What about fiber? Soaked horse hay pellets, soaked ZooMed Grassland pellets, Mazuri tortoise chow, "Salad style", "Herbal Hay" both from @TylerStewartand his lovely wife Sarah at Tortoisesupply.com, or many of the dried plants and leaves available from Will @Kapidolo Farms. If you must use grocery store foods, favor endive and escarole as your main staples. Add in arugula, cilantro, kale, collard, mustard and turnip greens, squash leaves, spring mix, romaine, green or red leaf lettuce, butter lettuce, water cress, carrot tops, celery tops, bok choy, and whatever other greens you can find. If you mix in some of the aforementioned amendments, these grocery store foods will offer plenty of variety and fiber and be able to meet your tortoises nutritional needs just fine. I find it preferable to grab a few grapevine or mulberry leaves, or a handful of mallow and clover, or some broadleaf plantain leaves and some grass, but with the right additions, grocery store stuff is fine too. Grow your own stuff, or find it around you when possible. Tyler and Sarah also sell a fantastic Testudo seed mix that is great for ALL tortoise species and also super easy to grow in pots, trays, raised garden beds, or in outdoor tortoise enclosures. When that isn't possible, add a wide variety of good stuff to your grocery store greens to make them better.

Supplements:
I recommend you keep cuttle bone available all the time. Some never use it and some munch on it regularly. Some of mine will go months without touching it, and then suddenly eat the whole thing in a day or two. Sulcatas and leopards grow a lot. This requires a tremendous amount of calcium assimilation over time. A great diet is paramount, but it is still a good idea to give them some extra calcium regularly. I use a tiny pinch of RepCal or ZooMed plain old calcium carbonate twice a week. Much discussion has been given to whether or not they need D3 in their calcium supplement. Personally, I don't think it matters. Every tortoise should be getting adequate UV exposure one way or another, so they should be able to make their own D3. I also like to use a mineral supplement. "MinerAll" is my current brand of choice. It seems to help those tortoises that like to swallow pebbles and rocks. It is speculated that some tortoise eat rocks or substrate due to a mineral deficiency or imbalance. Whatever the reason, "MinerAll" seems to stop it or prevent it. Finally, I like to use a reptile vitamin supplement once a week, to round out any hidden deficiencies that may be in my diet over the course of a year.

And if all that wasn't enough, this is from the other care sheet:
10. Grocery store produce: In short, avoid grocery store produce when possible. Grocery store greens are not the best tortoise foods. They tend to lack fiber, calcium, and some of them have deleterious compounds in them. If you must use foods from the grocery store, favor endive and escarole as the main staples. Add in cilantro, arugula, collards, turnip and mustard greens, lettuces and many others for variety. You will also need to add some sort of amendment to improve the quality as tortoise food. Calcium is good to add a couple of times per week and soaked horse hay pellets are a good way to add fiber for any species. Soaked ZooMed tortoise pellets of any type are good to add, as is Purina Organic Lay Crumbles for chickens, oddly enough. When possible skip the expensive grocery store greens and use a wide variety of weeds, leaves, flowers, and succulents, that are all free.
11. Hay: If you have an adult of a grass eating species, then grass hay is an indispensable tool for keeping your tortoise fed well. If you have a species that is not a grass eater, or a baby of a grass eating species, hay is not an appropriate food item. It is too dry and coarse for babies and they can choke on it. Hay is also not suitable as a substrate for small indoor tortoises, as it is much too dry and will mold when it gets wet or soiled.

All of this and more is here:

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