Questions about Eric

Mimimo

New Member
Joined
Jan 22, 2021
Messages
5
Location (City and/or State)
london
Good morning everyone. We have a baby leopard tortoise. He is a fussy eater and will only eat fresh salad leaves, none of the pellet foods. Should I be concerned. I use all the supplements recommended.

Also, I bought some timothy hay which he has since started burying himself under and not coming out much. He now seems to have stopped eating so much food. Do they eat the hay, could this be the reason?
 

Tom

The Dog Trainer
10 Year Member!
Platinum Tortoise Club
Joined
Jan 9, 2010
Messages
63,269
Location (City and/or State)
Southern California
Good morning everyone. We have a baby leopard tortoise. He is a fussy eater and will only eat fresh salad leaves, none of the pellet foods. Should I be concerned. I use all the supplements recommended.

Also, I bought some timothy hay which he has since started burying himself under and not coming out much. He now seems to have stopped eating so much food. Do they eat the hay, could this be the reason?
Hello and welcome.

Almost no one starts these babies correctly. Much too dry and not enough soaking. Most breeders fail to introduce the right foods and a wide variety of foods, so you will have to spends weeks and months trying to get the tortoise to eat the right stuff. Its a slow process.

Likewise most of the care info given is all wrong too. Temps are too cool, things are too dry, wrong substrate, wrong bulbs, wrong foods, etc... Here is the current and correct care info. Give this a read and then come back with all your questions: https://tortoiseforum.org/threads/t...leopard-or-star-tortoise.181497/#post-1814413

Babies won't eat hay. Many adult leopards won't eat hay. Timothy hay is the wrong hay to use, as it is too stemmy. Further, the substrate should be damp, and this will make the hay mold. Best to remove the hay and not use it. Give it to someone with a large adult sulcata or a horse.
 

Yvonne G

Old Timer
TFO Admin
10 Year Member!
Platinum Tortoise Club
Joined
Jan 23, 2008
Messages
93,390
Location (City and/or State)
Clovis, CA
Hi, and welcome!!!

This just goes to show that your new baby tortoise knows better than you what to eat! If he'll eat the pellets, that would be an ok supplement to the greens he eats, but his main diet should be fresh food - weeds, plants, etc.

Have you had a chance to read our care sheet?

 

Mimimo

New Member
Joined
Jan 22, 2021
Messages
5
Location (City and/or State)
london
Hello and welcome.

Almost no one starts these babies correctly. Much too dry and not enough soaking. Most breeders fail to introduce the right foods and a wide variety of foods, so you will have to spends weeks and months trying to get the tortoise to eat the right stuff. Its a slow process.

Likewise most of the care info given is all wrong too. Temps are too cool, things are too dry, wrong substrate, wrong bulbs, wrong foods, etc... Here is the current and correct care info. Give this a read and then come back with all your questions: https://tortoiseforum.org/threads/t...leopard-or-star-tortoise.181497/#post-1814413

Babies won't eat hay. Many adult leopards won't eat hay. Timothy hay is the wrong hay to use, as it is too stemmy. Further, the substrate should be damp, and this will make the hay mold. Best to remove the hay and not use it. Give it to someone with a large adult sulcata or a horse.
Thank you for all your advice, I have downloaded the PDF further down the link is that correct?
 

Mimimo

New Member
Joined
Jan 22, 2021
Messages
5
Location (City and/or State)
london
Hi, and welcome!!!

This just goes to show that your new baby tortoise knows better than you what to eat! If he'll eat the pellets, that would be an ok supplement to the greens he eats, but his main diet should be fresh food - weeds, plants, etc.

Have you had a chance to read our care sheet?



Hi Yvonne,

Thank you for your reply. This will sound stupid so bear with me please. I have lots of weeds in my front garden i am ashamed to say however no dandelions because of time of year etc. Can Eric eat any form of weeds, I am stressed I will give him the wrong kind. Also can I cut him some grass from the back garden to eat?

Thanks in advance- Moira

Thank
 

Yossarian

Well-Known Member
5 Year Member
Joined
Nov 21, 2015
Messages
813
Location (City and/or State)
Wales
Thank you for all your advice, I have downloaded the PDF further down the link is that correct?

The PDF is just a reproduction of the first post, but yes it is correct.

Hi Yvonne,

Thank you for your reply. This will sound stupid so bear with me please. I have lots of weeds in my front garden i am ashamed to say however no dandelions because of time of year etc. Can Eric eat any form of weeds, I am stressed I will give him the wrong kind. Also can I cut him some grass from the back garden to eat?

Thanks in advance- Moira

Thank

They cannot eat just any weeds and they cannot always be relied upon to know what is safe and what is not. That said, there are many common weeds that they can eat, so if you want help you can post some pictures of the plants and members can help you identify or you can ask what plants might be common in your area and other people near you might be able to show you what they look like. TortoiseTable.org is a good way to identify if something can be eaten if you know what it is called.

For example a common weed called Plantain grows most of the year although I havent seen much around right now.

I am going to make a post soon, outlining suitable grocery products in the UK for feeding in winter months. I just dont have all the images yet. A few things you can easly find though: Lambs Lettuce (Tesco and Sainsbury do this, Tesco is bigger bags, it is not real lettuce, and other than high water content it is a suitable daily food and your tort can eat as much of it as it wants), to that I add watercress in limited amounts, Kale, pak choy, rocket occasionaly (the tort doesnt really like it) I also occasionally give little gem lettuce, the odd carrot, and there are some salad mixes that arent too bad, things with arugula, endive, and radichio are decent. Stay away from pea shoots or any parts of peas, stay away from most types of cabbage (Kale, collard greens, mustard greens etc... are ok too) Ultimately it comes down to how well stocked your shops are, and be aware that if you are using grocery store foods, you need to feed a wide variety. My tort gets some lambs lettuce nearly every day, it makes up probably half of his total diet for 6 months a year and he is health, active and strong, and he likes it.
 
Last edited:

Lyn W

Well-Known Member
5 Year Member
Joined
Jul 22, 2014
Messages
23,497
Location (City and/or State)
UK
Hi,
I have a leopard too but he's about 10 - 12 years old. he has never liked pellets and won't touch dried grass or hay but he will graze on short fresh in the summer, although that may be incidental to the clover amongst it which he loves.
I buy 'Readigrass' and grind it quite finely in a bender to sprinkle onto his wet leaves to add some bulk to the salad leaves.

Florette crispy salad bags have a good mix of leaves as do Sainsbury mixed leaf bags , but at £1 -£1. 50 a bag quite pricey. I use Aldi mixed leaf salad as a base (pale green bag approx 57p) and then add things like lambs lettuce, romaine, pak choy leaves, some kale or spring greens (but my tort isn't too othered about them), to add variety. Anything with escarole and frisee are good too - better than iceberg at least.

www.thetortoisetable.org.uk is a good guide for getting to know what is safe for your tort to eat and will also help you to ID your garden weeds. My tort loves clover dandelions and ribwort and broafleaf plantain
 

Tom

The Dog Trainer
10 Year Member!
Platinum Tortoise Club
Joined
Jan 9, 2010
Messages
63,269
Location (City and/or State)
Southern California
Hi Yvonne,

Thank you for your reply. This will sound stupid so bear with me please. I have lots of weeds in my front garden i am ashamed to say however no dandelions because of time of year etc. Can Eric eat any form of weeds, I am stressed I will give him the wrong kind. Also can I cut him some grass from the back garden to eat?

Thanks in advance- Moira

Thank
Another good way to learn what your local weeds are is to take samples to a local plant nursery. There is almost always a local plant nerd that can tell you what all of it is.
 

Lyn W

Well-Known Member
5 Year Member
Joined
Jul 22, 2014
Messages
23,497
Location (City and/or State)
UK
PS.
I believe green carrot leaves and beetroot leaves are also OK but my leopards not fussed. He will eat carrot occasionally if it's in his food so I grate some in occasionally. (Don't give chunks as they can be a choking hazard)

I always wash and soak salad bags leaves to rinse off any chlorine they've been washed in before bagging, and to rehydrate them.

Just make sure any weeds are picked from areas where pesticides or weed killers haven't been used and away from car fumes.
 

Mimimo

New Member
Joined
Jan 22, 2021
Messages
5
Location (City and/or State)
london
Hi,
I have a leopard too but he's about 10 - 12 years old. he has never liked pellets and won't touch dried grass or hay but he will graze on short fresh in the summer, although that may be incidental to the clover amongst it which he loves.
I buy 'Readigrass' and grind it quite finely in a bender to sprinkle onto his wet leaves to add some bulk to the salad leaves.

Florette crispy salad bags have a good mix of leaves as do Sainsbury mixed leaf bags , but at £1 -£1. 50 a bag quite pricey. I use Aldi mixed leaf salad as a base (pale green bag approx 57p) and then add things like lambs lettuce, romaine, pak choy leaves, some kale or spring greens (but my tort isn't too othered about them), to add variety. Anything with escarole and frisee are good too - better than iceberg at least.

www.thetortoisetable.org.uk is a good guide for getting to know what is safe for your tort to eat and will also help you to ID your garden weeds. My tort loves clover dandelions and ribwort and broafleaf plantain
Thank you
 

New Posts

Top