To clear some things up

[Seiryu]

So I made another food/diet thread and I didn't get all the answers I needed. Hopefully more can chime in this time around.

I know to feed 70% grasses, and 30% weeds, leaves, flowers etc.

However as most people pointed to me "good luck getting your baby to eat grass!". So I am going to get a spring mix and mix in some grass and hope he will go for it.

To my understanding from africantortoise.com, these are the foods I should go for in his "main diet"

Grasses: I am going to get the seed bag from carolinasupply. The only thing I don't like is the "And more!" part. Is Chia grass OK? Never heard of it. I also have Crab and Quack grass in the backyard
http://www.carolinapetsupply.com/ca...id=179&zenid=812c7f112de9af2f2d4ef5e434f9b63f

However, I am having a difficult time finding grass seeds locally that don't have Endophytes (bad to eat if they do and nowadays all stores have it) and a few people here use the carolina mix.

Plants: White clover, Crimson clover, Yellow clover, Dandelions, Plaintain, Collard greens, Turnip greens, Kale, Radicchio, Hibiscus and Chicory.

Plants for the enclosure (ones he can nibble on and are not toxic):
Aloe Vera, Alyssum, Aster, Dahlia, Geranium, Hosta, Marigold, Californian Poppy, Hollyhock and Day Lillies.

Are any of these OK to include in his main diet? If so which? I plan to be as diverse as possible. But some pointed out, some of these are just edible and not necessarily good to have in their main diet.

And then there's Thistles. Africantortoise.com again says thistles can be eaten. Do they eat the thistles, prickly and all or do I need to "cut off" all the prickers. I'll have some pictures soon of the thistles I have. I let a few grow pretty big as I was expecting a tortoise soon.

Thanks. And any other plants you'd recommend to add to the diet part would be appreciated, thanks. Or any you'd recommend taking out as well.

 

[Yvonne G]

To be perfectly honest with you, I don't understand how baby leopard tortoises in the wild manage to live. They don't eat grass for a couple years. They don't seem to be able to eat anything that is growing (stuck in the ground). The only things I've been able to get babies to eat is food from the grocery store.

I wouldn't worry too much about your baby not eating grass or hay. Just feed him the Spring Mix with some weeds from your garden mixed in, and provide the correct supplementation. Your plantings listed above look fine, bu don't be surprised if he doesn't eat them. Of course, if he does, your one step ahead!

Yvonne

 

[Seiryu]

To be perfectly honest with you, I don't understand how baby leopard tortoises in the wild manage to live. They don't eat grass for a couple years. They don't seem to be able to eat anything that is growing (stuck in the ground). The only things I've been able to get babies to eat is food from the grocery store.

I wouldn't worry too much about your baby not eating grass or hay. Just feed him the Spring Mix with some weeds from your garden mixed in, and provide the correct supplementation. Your plantings listed above look fine, bu don't be surprised if he doesn't eat them. Of course, if he does, your one step ahead!

Yvonne

Thanks. Ya. The "Plants for Enclosure" are for his 10x6 outdoor enclosure that he won't go into for a couple of years. Most of them are merely there for shelter and looks and if he wants to nibble, go for it.

So spring mix, clover, dandelion, plantain mainly. And then Collard greens, Turnip greens, Radicchio, Chicory, and Kale I can add in as well?

And any idea on the thistle thing (it's a weed)? I imagine not good for him under a year old because of the prickers but that'd be my guess anyways.

 

[Yvonne G]

I bought some grazing tortoise mix seeds from Turtlestuff.com and one of the things that sprouted was thistle. So it IS edible, however, the tortoises in the pen where my seed sprouted, weren't the least bit interested in eating it. Me, on the other hand, very much enjoyed watching it grow and mature. It was a beautiful plant...and the bloom very pretty.

Yvonne

 

[Seiryu]

I bought some grazing tortoise mix seeds from Turtlestuff.com and one of the things that sprouted was thistle. So it IS edible, however, the tortoises in the pen where my seed sprouted, weren't the least bit interested in eating it. Me, on the other hand, very much enjoyed watching it grow and mature. It was a beautiful plant...and the bloom very pretty.

Yvonne

Hmm, havn't heard of turtlestuff. Just checked it out. Which seed type did you use for your Leopards? The Meadow Mix or Forage Mix?

If forage mix, did it have grasses in it too? It says to go to the ingrediants page, but I can't find it for the life of me, and searching it didn't work either.

That meadow mix looks pretty good in terms of grasses. But if the Forage has grasses (and it's OK for leopards) I might get that.

 

[katebirdrex]

Seiryu, for what it's worth--I've been growing forage material from one of Carolina Supply's seed mixes, and my hatchling is eating it well. I also give him mulberry and hibiscus leaves, Carolina's hay salad (nice because it's chopped into tiny pieces), dandelion greens, and supplement with spring mix and a rotating variety of other stuff. I'm also supplementing with calcium daily and reptivite, TNT, or Mazuri every couple of days.

I'm a new leo keeper, but my experience with other reptiles (and my dogs, for that matter) has been that if you continue to offer a wide variety of foods from early on, most will accept them. If your hatchling does eat spring mix or something else easily, maybe you could try chopping up the more 'desirable' material very finely and sprinkling it on top so that it gets some when it eats the lettuce?

 

[Yvonne G]

I bought the forage mixture. It contains many different kinds of grasses, including elephant grass, rye, etc. I have it in my leopard pen and in my Aldabran pen.

Yvonne

 

[Seiryu]

Yvonne - Thanks. The forage mixture didn't say if it had grasses or not and wanted to be sure. I'll likely go with that then.

Kate - Thanks! How old is your tort? And is this the stuff you got?
http://www.carolinapetsupply.com/catalog/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=41&products_id=179

And if your tort is under a year old, did he happen to eat any of the grasses in the mix?

What is TNT by the way lol? I've heard it a couple times but I can't recall seeing what it meant.

 

[tortoisenerd]

TNT is Total Nutrition for Tortoises, also from Carolina Pet Supply. It's just ground weeds and natural stuff so you can't overdo it like some supplements. I think it's a great product.

 

[katebirdrex]

Oh, boo... I responded to this earlier, but it doesn't seem to be showing up here. That's so weird. Kate, thanks for posting the info re TNT since mine disappeared! I've been giving it to the hatchling as well as our adult Russians and pancakes 2-3x/week.

Seiryu--re your questions above, my hatchling is ~5 months and has eaten grasses since I got him; he seems pretty willing to chomp just about any vegetation I put in front of him. That is indeed the seed mix I use. We also grow their Russian tortoise mix, which disappears too quickly because our 3 Russians are such gluttons.

 

[treshell]

Nasturtiums are edible and seem to be eaten well by the different tortoise that my family own. I have read in different sources that you need to stay away from plants that have oscillate acids as it binds calcium. That would be the cabbage family and some of the greens. There are a number of plants that are in the wild that are in the family of the better know plants in our gardens. Here where I live we have the prolific Mallow plant in the hibiscus family most of our summer and two that are in the primrose family. So get a local plant book and go for walks and see what you can in corporate. Then keep us up to speed. My house is just getting started on our two projects so are really into what everyone is doing.
treshell

 

[Millerlite]

My leopards were only 5-6 month old and grazed.. Lol. Just though i would say it some dont graze till they are older but some will graze when given the chance. Mine started grazing after they were outside for a few days. They finally tasted the grass and never stopped since.

 

[terrypin]

hi most leopards will eat short cut lawn grass if offered the oppurtunity to graze .i offer mine a small meal of finely chopped grasses in the morning so they can forage on their table during the day while i am working. then they have a meal at night of mixed coarse weeds and grasses and the remains are removed after a couple of hours.during the summer month's they spend most afternoons outdoors when i am home. this is from hatching.
terry