Silly question about spur thighed tort

[soph.h]

Possibly something I should already know here.. but Colin is a spur thighed tort (Tunisian)- does the come under the Mediterranean tortoise category? Wikipedia says spur thighs do, but last time I checked Tunisia was in Africa

Also how different is an African tortoise diet to a European/Mediterranean diet? I was looking at the Komodo holistic diet pellets as I'm thinking of using them this winter and it says they're designed for European

Thanks,
Sophie

 

[Maro2Bear]

I would say - Stay with info, diet & everything else regarding Mediterranean Tortoise care.

Mr Wiki says this -

The Greek tortoise (Testudo graeca), also known commonly as the spur-thighed tortoise, is a species of tortoise in the family Testudinidae. Testudo graeca is one of five species of Mediterranean tortoises (genera Testudo and Agrionemys). The other four species are Hermann's tortoise (T. hermanni), the Egyptian tortoise (T. kleinmanni), the marginated tortoise (T. marginata), and the Russian tortoise (A. horsfieldii). The Greek tortoise is a very long-lived animal, achieving a lifespan upwards of 125 years, with some unverified reports up to 200 years.

 

[soph.h]

I would say - Stay with info, diet & everything else regarding Mediterranean Tortoise care.

Mr Wiki says this -

The Greek tortoise (Testudo graeca), also known commonly as the spur-thighed tortoise, is a species of tortoise in the family Testudinidae. Testudo graeca is one of five species of Mediterranean tortoises (genera Testudo and Agrionemys). The other four species are Hermann's tortoise (T. hermanni), the Egyptian tortoise (T. kleinmanni), the marginated tortoise (T. marginata), and the Russian tortoise (A. horsfieldii). The Greek tortoise is a very long-lived animal, achieving a lifespan upwards of 125 years, with some unverified reports up to 200 years.

Thank you!

 

[Tom]

Possibly something I should already know here.. but Colin is a spur thighed tort (Tunisian)- does the come under the Mediterranean tortoise category? Wikipedia says spur thighs do, but last time I checked Tunisia was in Africa

Also how different is an African tortoise diet to a European/Mediterranean diet? I was looking at the Komodo holistic diet pellets as I'm thinking of using them this winter and it says they're designed for European

Thanks,
Sophie

That is not silly at all. We just had a big discussion on this very subspecies in another thread. Care and feeding for them is very similar to other greek subspecies, and upon closer examination, the climates they inhabit in their native range are similar to their Mediterranean cousins.

The Best Way To Raise Any Temperate Species Of Tortoise

I chose the title of this care sheet very carefully. Are there other ways to raise babies and care for adults? Yes. Yes there are, but those ways are not as good. What follows is the BEST way, according to 30 years of research and experimentation with hundreds of babies of many species. What is...

tortoiseforum.org

 

[Shelled]

Possibly something I should already know here.. but Colin is a spur thighed tort (Tunisian)- does the come under the Mediterranean tortoise category? Wikipedia says spur thighs do, but last time I checked Tunisia was in Africa

Also how different is an African tortoise diet to a European/Mediterranean diet? I was looking at the Komodo holistic diet pellets as I'm thinking of using them this winter and it says they're designed for European

Thanks,
Sophie

Tunisia might be in Africa, but it borders on the Mediterranean sea...

 

[Lyn W]

The dried pellets are OK are as a supplement but shouldn't be the main diet.
My tort won't touch the Komodo pellets even if I soften them.
The Nutrazu pellets may be better and are the UK version of Mazuri which is a widely used in the US, and popular with torts. I bought some online to try to supplement my torts winter diet but he won't touch those either!
It's difficult here in the UK when the weeds disappear - you could try growing some of the foods recommended in the caresheet from seeds and there are packs of seeds for tort food available.
There are also ways of making a shop bought diet work by finding the better salad leaves like radicchio, lambs lettuce, frisee, batavia etc. The Florette classic crispy salad bags are a good mix , but expensive, I use a lot of the Aldi Crispy Salad bags which have a mix of 4 leaves and add in things like pak choi, lambs lettuce, kale, spring greens for variety. I don't know if your species is a grass eater but I use Readigrass to add fibre to my torts diet.
My tort also loves slices of opuntia pads which again you have to order online and they are very nutritious.
If you haven't already found it www.thetortoisetable.org.uk is a good guide to diet.

 

[soph.h]

That is not silly at all. We just had a big discussion on this very subspecies in another thread. Care and feeding for them is very similar to other greek subspecies, and upon closer examination, the climates they inhabit in their native range are similar to their Mediterranean cousins.

The Best Way To Raise Any Temperate Species Of Tortoise

I chose the title of this care sheet very carefully. Are there other ways to raise babies and care for adults? Yes. Yes there are, but those ways are not as good. What follows is the BEST way, according to 30 years of research and experimentation with hundreds of babies of many species. What is...

tortoiseforum.org

This is brilliant - thanks Tom. It's good to know exactly which caresheet to look at.. even better to see I've got quite a lot of it right.. definitely see some changes that need making though. Will get on that ASAP.
Thank you for helping me see where I'm going wrong. There's lots of different information out there so nice to have someone clear it up.
Thanks,
Sophie