Lilly_Two

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I dont want my baby leopard getting bored and she is quiet picky only liking zucchini and romaine lettuce I was thinking of making some sort of treat toy that has vitamin pellets and another tortoise safe vitamin full vegetable in it but im not sure how to do so since she is in a 10 gal tank til Christmas when I'll be asking everyone for gift cards to petsmart/Co and for a reptile tank thats much larger. Any idea? And better places I could be shopping for tortoise supplies?
 

Maggie3fan

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I dont want my baby leopard getting bored and she is quiet picky only liking zucchini and romaine lettuce I was thinking of making some sort of treat toy that has vitamin pellets and another tortoise safe vitamin full vegetable in it but im not sure how to do so since she is in a 10 gal tank til Christmas when I'll be asking everyone for gift cards to petsmart/Co and for a reptile tank thats much larger. Any idea? And better places I could be shopping for tortoise supplies?
tortoises do not get 'bored'. They do not have that capacity. She is NOT allowed to be 'picky'. You offer her a wide variety of greens and veggies every day and if she doesn't eat them...you remove them after about an hour. Offer the same food daily...if she doesn't eat...try again tomorrow...but she can only eat what you offer...stop giving her romaine and zucchini. For a baby like her offer Spring Mix daily...add other good stuff...make it a good varied diet every day. Wake her up at the same time every day...give her a warm soak then the food...every day at about the same time...then after a bit the tort knowns it's time to eat. I don't offer pellets or supplements...they get what they need from their food...make it a good diet now without extra supplements...
100_0684.JPG
The Best Way To Raise A Sulcata, Leopard, Or Star Tortoise
there's some reading material for you...
 

Lilly_Two

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tortoises do not get 'bored'. They do not have that capacity. She is NOT allowed to be 'picky'. You offer her a wide variety of greens and veggies every day and if she doesn't eat them...you remove them after about an hour. Offer the same food daily...if she doesn't eat...try again tomorrow...but she can only eat what you offer...stop giving her romaine and zucchini. For a baby like her offer Spring Mix daily...add other good stuff...make it a good varied diet every day. Wake her up at the same time every day...give her a warm soak then the food...every day at about the same time...then after a bit the tort knowns it's time to eat. I don't offer pellets or supplements...they get what they need from their food...make it a good diet now without extra supplements...
View attachment 334854
The Best Way To Raise A Sulcata, Leopard, Or Star Tortoise
there's some reading material for you...
Its my own opinion and I believe any animal including tortoises have the ability to get bored, greive, and other fealing you don't have to agree with me because it's my own opinion. For an example I added a few stones and things in her enclosure for enrichment and she became more active when I added them in.
 

zolasmum

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Its my own opinion and I believe any animal including tortoises have the ability to get bored, greive, and other fealing you don't have to agree with me because it's my own opinion. For an example I added a few stones and things in her enclosure for enrichment and she became more active when I added them in.
Hello and welcome -I do understand your feelings, and one easy thing you might like to try is to vary her environment a bit in the tank.I don't mean moving her hide and things, but tortoises have very good colour vision, and you could try draping a bit of colourful fabric over the back of the tank - it might make it look more interesting. If she seems to look at it and like it,you could try a different one after a while, and so on. If she is a baby, she may be getting tired easily, of course, rather than being bored. I don't think there are any toys that are much use for most tortoises - nothing to stop you experimenting, though. Red things are most likely to interest them !
I would be interested to hear how you get on.
Angie
 

Lyn W

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Hi and welcome,
This is the caresheet you need to help your tort thrive. It will tell you the sort of diet your tort needs in order to stay healthy and grow. I don't know about zucchini as I haven't tried to feed it to my leopard because they need dark leafy greens, but there is little nutritional value in Romaine.
To introduce new 'good' foods cut it up into very small pieces and add them to the food they like then increase it as you reduce the less nutritious food. If you wet the leaves first they will stick together so your tort can't avoid them. A small pinch of calcium a couple of times a week is all that should be given.

If you post some pics of your enclosure and the lamps you are using we can see if there's anything you could do to make it a happy and safe home for your tort.
 

Maggie3fan

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Its my own opinion and I believe any animal including tortoises have the ability to get bored, greive, and other fealing you don't have to agree with me because it's my own opinion. For an example I added a few stones and things in her enclosure for enrichment and she became more active when I added them in.
Try adding some small potted plants too...
 

Tom

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I dont want my baby leopard getting bored and she is quiet picky only liking zucchini and romaine lettuce I was thinking of making some sort of treat toy that has vitamin pellets and another tortoise safe vitamin full vegetable in it but im not sure how to do so since she is in a 10 gal tank til Christmas when I'll be asking everyone for gift cards to petsmart/Co and for a reptile tank thats much larger. Any idea? And better places I could be shopping for tortoise supplies?
Your tortoise needs a larger enclosure now. Not 2 and a half months form now. They shouldn't be started in anything smaller than a 40 gallon tank and bigger than that would be better. You cannot create or maintain the correct conditions in something so small. Go get a large tub from Home Depot or Walmart ASAP.

Also, stay out of the pet store. You will get nothing but bad advice and the wrong products there.

You need to be mixing in small quantities of the right foods to introduce the baby to better options. one of them will just walk up and eat new foods. It takes time.

If you want your baby to survive, read the care sheet that Lyn linked for you and make changes immediately. Arguing with people who have been raising tortoises for decades is not going to help your tortoise.
 

Lilly_Two

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Try adding some small potted plants too...
I'll add permanent plants when I get a bigger tank for her have any suggestions on what I should get growing? I'm already looking into timothy grass for her during the day, gonna get two small plant trays for her to swap in so they don't get over grazed.
 
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Lilly_Two

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Your tortoise needs a larger enclosure now. Not 2 and a half months form now. They shouldn't be started in anything smaller than a 40 gallon tank and bigger than that would be better. You cannot create or maintain the correct conditions in something so small. Go get a large tub from Home Depot or Walmart ASAP.

Also, stay out of the pet store. You will get nothing but bad advice and the wrong products there.

You need to be mixing in small quantities of the right foods to introduce the baby to better options. one of them will just walk up and eat new foods. It takes time.

If you want your baby to survive, read the care sheet that Lyn linked for you and make changes immediately. Arguing with people who have been raising tortoises for decades is not going to help your tortoise.
I didn't mean to argue and if it came across that way I apologize I was just stating my opinion if their opinion is one that I don't share I'm not gonna force them to change their ways, I totally agree with everything else they said about her diet and I'm working as best as I can to get it to a healthy diet, I just got her and I believe she wasn't on much of a varied diet where she came from so your right it will take time I added carrots back to her dinner tonight and going to research more for more nutritious foods for her to eat.
 

Lilly_Two

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Hi and welcome,
This is the caresheet you need to help your tort thrive. It will tell you the sort of diet your tort needs in order to stay healthy and grow. I don't know about zucchini as I haven't tried to feed it to my leopard because they need dark leafy greens, but there is little nutritional value in Romaine.
To introduce new 'good' foods cut it up into very small pieces and add them to the food they like then increase it as you reduce the less nutritious food. If you wet the leaves first they will stick together so your tort can't avoid them. A small pinch of calcium a couple of times a week is all that should be given.

If you post some pics of your enclosure and the lamps you are using we can see if there's anything you could do to make it a happy and safe home for your tort.
I have been adding calcium to her meals every now and the any exact amounts I should be giving her right now? She's about 32 grams right now. I'll take a new picture soon to post all the help I can get would be great.
 

Lilly_Two

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Hello and welcome -I do understand your feelings, and one easy thing you might like to try is to vary her environment a bit in the tank.I don't mean moving her hide and things, but tortoises have very good colour vision, and you could try draping a bit of colourful fabric over the back of the tank - it might make it look more interesting. If she seems to look at it and like it,you could try a different one after a while, and so on. If she is a baby, she may be getting tired easily, of course, rather than being bored. I don't think there are any toys that are much use for most tortoises - nothing to stop you experimenting, though. Red things are most likely to interest them !
I would be interested to hear how you get on.
Angie
Thanks for the advice I heard that you can make this treat ball out of lettuce that they could bite and as they ate from it, it would roll just a little enticing them to get a bit of exercise inside would be a nice little surprise of something healthy that they like to eat not quite sure how to put it together though.
 

Lyn W

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I have been adding calcium to her meals every now and the any exact amounts I should be giving her right now? She's about 32 grams right now. I'll take a new picture soon to post all the help I can get would be great.
Just a tiny pinch of calcium a couple of times a week will be enough. All other vitamins, nutrients etc should come from a good diet.
You'll get good feedback to help you get things right with his enclosure. We've all made mistakes and had to make changes so it's good that you welcome advice, but meanwhile try introducing those better foods.
 

Tom

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I'll add permanent plants when I get a bigger tank for her have any suggestions one what I should get growing? I'm already looking into timothy for her during the day gonna get two small plant trays for her to swap in so they don't get over grazed.
For plants try to get cuttings from other people's long established plants. Spider plants and pothos are good choices. Store bought plants have systemic pesticides that can last a year. Grow your cuttings in pots with soil that has no perlite in it.

Regular leopards aren't grass eaters. Timothy hay isn't a great choice for any grazer, and babies don't eat hay. You'd be better off with the Testudo seed mix from torotisesupply.com. Make more than two trays. You'll probably need 7-10 to keep them going as your tortoise grows. You needs broadleaf weeds, leaves, flowers and succulents. Carrots are not. good tortoise food. Read the care sheet for feeding tips.

A tiny pinch of calcium once or twice a week should be plenty.
 

Lyn W

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Thanks for the advice I heard that you can make this treat ball out of lettuce that they could bite and as they ate from it, it would roll just a little enticing them to get a bit of exercise inside would be a nice little surprise of something healthy that they like to eat not quite sure how to put it together though.
It would be better if you served it on a slate or in a terracotta plant saucer so that it's not rolling around in the substrate and any poop or pee they may leave around the place.
What substrate are you using now?
 

Lilly_Two

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For plants try to get cuttings from other people's long established plants. Spider plants and pothos are good choices. Store bought plants have systemic pesticides that can last a year. Grow your cuttings in pots with soil that has no perlite in it.

Regular leopards aren't grass eaters. Timothy hay isn't a great choice for any grazer, and babies don't eat hay. You'd be better off with the Testudo seed mix from torotisesupply.com. Make more than two trays. You'll probably need 7-10 to keep them going as your tortoise grows. You needs broadleaf weeds, leaves, flowers and succulents. Carrots are not. good tortoise food. Read the care sheet for feeding tips.

A tiny pinch of calcium once or twice a week should be plenty.
Thanks for all the help I read the whole care sheet in a surprisingly fast amount if time and sent it to someone else who is also carrying for the tortoise with me to read just in case I missed something tomorrow I'll be going to get a much large bin to set her up in and I'll be buying all sorts of tortoise safe plants to add in for decor/ grazing material thanks to Lyn I can make her a much bigger and nicer enclosure. I live in a colder part of New York closer to Canada so Outside is not an option right now since it's begging to be winter time and way to cold to bring her out for too long. Any advice I can get I'll take and use for her to have a happy life, when she gets older and close to an adult she'll become an ambassador animal if she is comfortable with new people but no one but me will touch her when the time comes.
 

Lilly_Two

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www.thetortoisetable.org.uk is a good guide to tort safe plants for food and enclosures.
I believe I have coconut coir but not positive I know for a fact is is coconut though. I'll be getting a bigger enclosure for her ASAP then I'll take new pictures as soon as it's up with her in it, it may not be perfect when that picture come while the plants you recommend arrive and grow, well while I look for someone who grows them, I think there's a plant shop who someone I know owns it near me I can visit and make sure there are no pesticides but thanks for all the help so far I want to make the best life for her as I can.
 

Lyn W

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I believe I have coconut coir but not positive I know for a fact is is coconut though. I'll be getting a bigger enclosure for her ASAP then I'll take new pictures as soon as it's up with her in it, it may not be perfect when that picture come while the plants you recommend arrive and grow, well while I look for someone who grows them, I think there's a plant shop who someone I know owns it near me I can visit and make sure there are no pesticides but thanks for all the help so far I want to make the best life for her as I can.
Most plants from stores/garden centres have had fertilisers and pesticides used on them to make them fit to sell, depends on their suppliers, so don't believe all they say - better safe than sorry.
 

Lilly_Two

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Proba
Most plants from stores/garden centres have had fertilisers and pesticides used on them to make them fit to sell, depends on their suppliers, so don't believe all they say - better safe than sorry.
Probably true I still may go just to see what the plants I'm looking for look like in person. Then look elsewhere to buy any suggestions one where I could get the plants if nobody I know has them?
 

Krista S

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Proba

Probably true I still may go just to see what the plants I'm looking for look like in person. Then look elsewhere to buy any suggestions one where I could get the plants if nobody I know has them?
Then you’ll have to do like I did and buy the plants from the store, remove as much of the soil as possible, pot them in new soil and grow them out for a year before introducing them to the enclosure. I am sure I’ve read some of the Americans have bought reptile safe plants specifically from online reptile websites. Being that I’m not in the US, I’m not sure what websites there are, but I’m sure a Google search would provide some results if you’re interested in going this route.
 
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