Over-wintering

[johnhutch2000]

Hi Guys,

I have a baby 1year old Hermans tortoise and thanks to everyone heres help is now happy in his basking lamp lit tortoise table. I noticed just one or two bubbles coming from his nose which i've read is not a great sign. I have booked him in to the vet next saturday (earliest available unfortunately). Because of this I'm not going to hibernate him this year so I will keep him inside on his tortoise table for the next few months unless we have a mad summer day in the middle of winter.

My question is this; what can you feed your tortoise over winter when your garden is dying. The broadleaf weeds will shortly start to die back I would imagine then what is good to feed him?
In his table he has a patch of grass and dandelions a big chunk of clover/plantain turf and some inert plants that are for decor not to eat, but wont hurt him if he does.
He chews/mawls his way through the dandelions in about 2 weeks even though I pick fresh leaves from the garden daily. So 2 weeks in to winter and its going to get barron fast.

Any ideas / experience with over wintering?

 

[Isa]

During the winter, I buy my Hermann's food at the store. I buy radichio, escarole, chicory, watercress, dandelions, kale, collard greens, spring mix, mache and curly lettuce. This year, I will try to make some seeds grow in the house, I hope it will work .

 

[Ozric]

Hi John, I agree that natrual growing food is harder to find in the winter. Some plants will grow a bit, slowly, when its warm enough and this does include the dandellions. But you are going to need more foods like those Isa listed to get you through.

Personally I do not feed kale because of the oxalates. Its not poisonous but kale along with all members of the brassica family are not ideal in my own view. Plantains will grow for quite some time yet as will sow thistles (depending where in the wrold you are of course).

 

[Maggie Cummings]

I continue to walk around and collect weeds as long as they last. I have several grazing tortoises (11) so I buy a big container of spring mix and I add more of the good produce there is to offer like what Isa named and I add the weeds and grasses to that. And that's what I feed throughout the winter. I will continue to collect grape and mulberry leafs as long as they last also, but they are looking pretty shabby right now. I also have a big pile of locally grown grass hay for Bob but my smaller tortoises don't like hay. I can't get either Queenie or Fat Nat to eat hay.

 

[johnhutch2000]

Oh right, that sounds like spme to be going on with then
For the minute, like you say Ozric, for a while yet the weeds will grow better than the other plants but it was just a thought I had while picking Dandelions the other morning when it was cold out.

Maggie you said you buy big container of spring mix, whats in this? and where do you get it from. Sounds like the bulk buy food stuff I had in mind as a fall back!

I only feed Kale about once every few weeks due to the oxalate levels, but my hermanns does seem to love it as a treat.

 

[alfiethetortoise]

John, are you in the UK? Spring mix is basically a bag of spring leaves from your local supermarket. Watch out on the back of the package for no iceburg lettuce. It's about a pound a large bag in Asda. Have you offered hay? Alfie will eat a little bit of timothy hay (better for torts than other kinds).

I am not sure if you can dry out dandilions etc and feed them to torts over the winter. Does anyone else know? I don't see why not, but i cannot be sure...

I will be over wintering Alfie because he is still young, but also he is a little underweight. It's best not to hibernate torts which have weight/ilness troubles anyway.

 

[johnhutch2000]

Hi Alfie, I'm thinking the same thing about little turbo, he's young and light to the touch, I have yet to weigh him on decent set of scales as I don't have any suitable.

I'll go to a supermarket this weekend and get some spring mix there's all sorts of stores round me so not a problem. Btw I am in the UK too and it's starting to get cold hence my thoughts on over wintering. My room though is still lovely and warm cus of my tortoises heat lamp keeping up the ambient temperature. That and a hot 120L fish tank keep my room temps pretty stable hehe

I'm just glad I can get stuff for him from reliable outlets (like Asda, co-op etc.) as over winter its going to be thin on the ground literally!

 

[alfiethetortoise]

You should still be able to find dandilions, they survive most frosts here and i am in Cumbria so the winters are long, cold and harsh. Good old Asda to the rescue! I may post on the pant forum to see if you can feed dandilions dry....

I just have a normal set of digital scales, and i put a plastic tub on the scales before i put Alfie in and weigh him. This morning he was 81mm and 84g in weight.

I will try hibernating Alfie next winter. Otherwise he is in good health. Apparently overwintering is only really important if your going to breed from your tortoise, and even then people reccomend not hibernating tortoises under 4 until plastrol length exceeds 100mm (or at least that is my undestanding!)

 

[Ozric]

In the UK lots of hermann keepers will feed Florette Crispy salad which contains raddicio, lambs lettuce and frisee. Watercress is also alright (not too often). Its best to avoid the mixes that contain cabbage.

Drying leaves does change the chemical composition and I've not done it for that reason. I think some torts would eat dry material. I think if we do that we should be aware that the tortoise would not be getting water into their system like they do when they eat fresh stuff so the tortoise will need to drink more water if eating dried foods.

This is a good time of year to find plants like ribwort and broad leaved plantains and dig them up and transplant them to our own gardens. Most people regard these plants as horrible weeds but they are excellent tortoise fodder. Recently I pulled up a whole bunch of bread leaved plantains that I found and I planted them in my garden. By next April I know these weeds will be safe to feed.

 

[johnhutch2000]

I hadn't really thought of drying the food out, simply because its a lot of hasstle to get it right, ie. not a withered mess! hehe

I am actually finding it quite dificult to find decent sized leaves on the weeds we have and so I'll be going walking to get some more when I get a chance. I think I'll get some funny looks weeding the countryside buy hey.