Protein in Red Foot's diets

[FLINTUS]

I know this is a debatable subject. There are many who have raised smooth redfoots without protein but I thought I'd open this up to the forum so we can all say what works for us so we can learn from eachother and new owners can get ideas.
I give my Red Foots cooked chicken or dried premium dog food after being soaked once a fortnight and there are many bugs and earthworms in their enclosures. However, I find the best source of protein is mushrooms, which they almost die for.
So, I'm going to ask the question to the Red Foot keepers out there, what do you use for protein? Or do you even give any protein at all?

 

[Yvonne G]

If you scroll down towards the bottom of this page, there are several threads where we've all talked about this very same subject.

 

[FLINTUS]

Ha ha! Didn't notice that, LOL!

 

[diaboliqueturtle]

As a hatchling, I gave Princesse canned cat food, a spoonful the size of her head, twice a week. Now that she's 3 1/2 I give her cooked chicken or her favorite, pinky mice, once a week.

 

[Alan RF]

I'm the same with the chicken- that's all Alan's had and I read on the zoomed forest food contains a little protein? However I'm yet to see him eat it! He tends to flatten it lol! He adores mushrooms

 

[mainey34]

I have started chicken, how often do they need protien in their diet?

 

[Alan RF]

I have started chicken, how often do they need protien in their diet?

I don't think it's a high percentage so I give him it every couple of months? He loves it !

 

[mainey34]

So they need protien every couple of months? Or should i try to give some other type of protien? What about fruits? How often? I want to be doing the right thing...

 

[FLINTUS]

I give animal protein every fortnight and mushrooms once a week. Fruit consits of 40% of their diet(in the wild it would be 40% during dry season, 70% wet), 60% is weeds and veg-I feed no pellets. Humidity should be 70%+. Substrate should be soil, then leaflitter then moss(this is my preference) and make sure there's plenty of shade.

 

[Madkins007]

Check out these pages on nutrition- https://sites.google.com/site/tortoiselibrary/nutrition. The target amount of protein for a red-foot would be about 8 grams a day for a 1lb tortoise (https://sites.google.com/site/tortoiselibrary/nutrition/guidelines-and-dosages), and can be from meats or plants.

Typical grocery store mushrooms are a poor source of protein- about a gram in 100 grams of food, or about 1/4th that of the amount in collard greens. Mushrooms add a meaty taste, but not much real substance other than some fiber.

The thing is- forest tortoises eat meat in the wild because forests are notoriously short on nutrients and they need all the nutrients they can get (grassland tortoises get a lot of protein from the grasses and hays they eat). Captive diets, on the other hand, are a lot richer and more balanced. They probably don't really need any meat with the stuff we usually offer.

There is no absolute rule for how often to feed meats. I would suggest that the live bugs can be offered pretty often since they offer benefits over the proteins, and that the fattier or oilier the meat, the less often it should be fed.

 

[TORTOISELOVER11]

i feed mine shrimp and chicken and yes they must have protein at least once a week or else their back legs get paralyzed

 

[FLINTUS]

i feed mine shrimp and chicken and yes they must have protein at least once a week or else their back legs get paralyzed

Not completely true. Many people have raised red foots without protein at all. A lot only feed protein every fortnight or a month[/align]. Yes, protein defficiency has been noted, but it is not necessary every week.