Winter food!

[abyrhianl]

Hi,
We are in the UK and got our first tortoise (leopard) in April, I am growing concerned about feeding him throughout winter and wondered what people recommend. I grow his food and forage for weeds, I try to avoid shop bought. But with harsh winters I don’t think there will be many weeds and don’t think my seeds will do very well.
We bought some redi-grass (dried grass) but he won’t eat it, is there anything we can do to encourage him into eating it? He is only young we believe; he currently weighs 133grams.
Thank you.

 

[JoesMum]

Few tort keepers manage through the winter months without shop bought and/or supplementing with a quality pelleted food.

I am in the UK and used Komodo pellets. Mazuri is now available from the Shelled Warriors Shop

You can also use the Tortoise Table Plant Database to check the suitability of the plants that grow around you and those you can buy.
https://www.thetortoisetable.org.uk

@Lyn W has a Leopard Tort in Wales ... hopefully she will respond to the tag. If she doesn't, send her a PM

 

[abyrhianl]

Few tort keepers manage through the winter months without shop bought and/or supplementing with a quality pelleted food.

I am in the UK and used Komodo pellets. Mazuri is now available from the Shelled Warriors Shop

You can also use the Tortoise Table Plant Database to check the suitability of the plants that grow around you and those you can buy.
https://www.thetortoisetable.org.uk

@Lyn W has a Leopard Tort in Wales ... hopefully she will respond to the tag. If she doesn't, send her a PM

Thanks, yes that’s where I bought his mazuri from and he lives that, but I’ve been told not to feed it to often. I have some indoor plants that he likes (aloe, opuntia) but I just can’t get him to eat this redi-grass and I don’t know what to do about that, I’m sure I’m just over reacting as it’s our first winter with him, I just want him to be okay.

 

[JoesMum]

How big/old is he?

@Tom says they tend not to eat much grass or hay when they're young. You have to chop a tiny amount of it very small using scissors and then mix it with wet greens to introduce them to it. You then gradually increase the amount over a very long period of time.

 

[Tom]

What you can do is use as much variety from the grocery store as possible and mix in something with high fiber to amend it. Favor endive and escarole as your staples, but add in cilantro, arugula, collard, mustard and turnip greens, bok choy, celery tops, carrot tops, and whatever else you can find.

To amend the shop foods, get some ZooMed Grassland Tortoise Chow, some blended grass hay cubes for horses, some real sprouted wheat grass, or sprout your own tortoise grass in trays under lights. Soak or chop up small amounts of this amendment stuff and mix it in with the shop greens. Over time the tortoise will begin to accept it as food, and you can add in more and more of the high fiber amendment stuff.

I don't know what redi-grass is, but show us a pic. It might be workable.

Mazuri is fine two or three times a week. Just be sure the baby is soaked and sprayed daily and kept in a warm humid closed chamber to prevent pyramiding.

 

[Reptilony]

There’s also repashy grassland grazers. First ingredient is dandelion, then nopal and hibiscus flower is the 4th ingredient if I remember correctly. All kinds of good stuff!

 

[abyrhianl]

What you can do is use as much variety from the grocery store as possible and mix in something with high fiber to amend it. Favor endive and escarole as your staples, but add in cilantro, arugula, collard, mustard and turnip greens, bok choy, celery tops, carrot tops, and whatever else you can find.

To amend the shop foods, get some ZooMed Grassland Tortoise Chow, some blended grass hay cubes for horses, some real sprouted wheat grass, or sprout your own tortoise grass in trays under lights. Soak or chop up small amounts of this amendment stuff and mix it in with the shop greens. Over time the tortoise will begin to accept it as food, and you can add in more and more of the high fiber amendment stuff.

I don't know what redi-grass is, but show us a pic. It might be workable.

Mazuri is fine two or three times a week. Just be sure the baby is soaked and sprayed daily and kept in a warm humid closed chamber to prevent pyramiding.

Hi, thanks, I have a pro rep tortoise food that is low protein and high fibre is this any good? And the redo-grass is slowly dried grass a little like hay but not as sharp.
We soak him everyday and his is kept in an closed humid chamber.
Thank you for all the advice.

 

[Lyn W]

Few tort keepers manage through the winter months without shop bought and/or supplementing with a quality pelleted food.

I am in the UK and used Komodo pellets. Mazuri is now available from the Shelled Warriors Shop

You can also use the Tortoise Table Plant Database to check the suitability of the plants that grow around you and those you can buy.
https://www.thetortoisetable.org.uk

@Lyn W has a Leopard Tort in Wales ... hopefully she will respond to the tag. If she doesn't, send her a PM

Hi and welcome. My leopard is about 8 years old so will eat more than yours and winter feeding can be a bit expensive but you have to go for better leaf mixes to get any nutritional value.
My tort won't touch pellets in any form so as JoesMum said, shop bought bags of salads will have to be fed through the winter. I use Florette classic crispy salad which has a good mix of leaves, as does Sainsburys Mixed leaf salad and you could also bulk it out with the cheaper Florette Mix in the orange packs.(but take out any iceberg), Tesco Mixed leaf bags and Lidl Crispy salad too. I try to add variety with some Romaine, Pak Choy, a little kale and spring greens (but only a little of the last 2 now and again and to be honest my tort isn't keen on them, and Tom has mentioned some other goodies.

Avoid cheaper lettuce like iceberg and little gem etc as these can cause diarrhea and have little or no nutritional value. I always soak the salad for a while to rehydrate it.

I also use Readigrass - which my tort won't eat either - but I grind it up finely in a blender and sprinkle it onto the wet salad leaves, then spray it with water and mix it all in so that it sticks on as many leaves as possible.
Last winter I found that Pets at Home do packets of dried Dandies called 'Dandelion Feast' and also a dried Clover and Plantain leaf mix which Lola won't eat as it as it is, so I grind that up and sprinkle with the readigrass too. They are made by Woodlands in bright orange bags and I think I found them in the rabbit/guinea pig etc section.
I also try to grow my own tort weeds over winter but not very successfully. if you have a green house you may do better.
Hope that helps.

 

[abyrhianl]

Hi and welcome. My leopard is about 8 years old so will eat more than yours and winter feeding can be a bit expensive but you have to go for better leaf mixes to get any nutritional value.
My tort won't touch pellets in any form so as JoesMum said, shop bought bags of salads will have to be fed through the winter. I use Florette classic crispy salad which has a good mix of leaves, as does Sainsburys Mixed leaf salad and you could also bulk it out with the cheaper Florette Mix in the orange packs.(but take out any iceberg), Tesco Mixed leaf bags and Lidl Crispy salad too. I try to add variety with some Romaine, Pak Choy, a little kale and spring greens (but only a little of the last 2 now and again and to be honest my tort isn't keen on them, and Tom has mentioned some other goodies.

Avoid cheaper lettuce like iceberg and little gem etc as these can cause diarrhea and have little or no nutritional value. I always soak the salad for a while to rehydrate it.

I also use Readigrass - which my tort won't eat either - but I grind it up finely in a blender and sprinkle it onto the wet salad leaves, then spray it with water and mix it all in so that it sticks on as many leaves as possible.
Last winter I found that Pets at Home do packets of dried Dandies called 'Dandelion Feast' and also a dried Clover and Plantain leaf mix which Lola won't eat as it as it is, so I grind that up and sprinkle with the readigrass too. They are made by Woodlands in bright orange bags and I think I found them in the rabbit/guinea pig etc section.
I also try to grow my own tort weeds over winter but not very successfully. if you have a green house you may do better.
Hope that helps.

Hi, yes I have got some of the packs from pets at home but he won’t touch any dried food so I’ll have to try your suggestion. We don’t have a green house I want to in future but we are still living with our parents until we buy our own house, can’t imagine they’d be thrilled about a greenhouse, I am however sending my boyfriend out to b&q today as they had some planters with lids that I thought might keep the frost off the seeds so I’ll try that to! Hopefully with the seeds, dried stuff and supermarket food we’ll get through. Thank you for your help.

 

[Ellen & Toby]

Hi @abyrhianl, Welcome to the Forum! I literally live down the road from you, I am in Crewe. You could try looking on Northampton Reptile Centre, they grow organic live plants for feeding that are available all year round, I have a couple that I grow on my windowsill, Dandelion and ribwort (plantain) usually but there are others you can get. They are great for supplementing the diet and if they die off I just order a new one, great for winter forage supplement. The plants are fully grown when they arrive so could be a good option while you wait for your seeds to grow.

 

[abyrhianl]

Hi @abyrhianl, Welcome to the Forum! I literally live down the road from you, I am in Crewe. You could try looking on Northampton Reptile Centre, they grow organic live plants for feeding that are available all year round, I have a couple that I grow on my windowsill, Dandelion and ribwort (plantain) usually but there are others you can get. They are great for supplementing the diet and if they die off I just order a new one, great for winter forage supplement. The plants are fully grown when they arrive so could be a good option while you wait for your seeds to grow.

Hi! Thank you! And oh wow yes you are! That’s brilliant thank you I’ll look into those, I have ordered some stuff from there before I believe. Thank you so much. With it being our first winter with him I think I’m just panicking.

 

[Lyn W]

Hi! Thank you! And oh wow yes you are! That’s brilliant thank you I’ll look into those, I have ordered some stuff from there before I believe. Thank you so much. With it being our first winter with him I think I’m just panicking.

It's good to plan ahead.
Have you found www.thetortoisetable.org.uk yet? That is a good guide to tort safe foods and what to feed in moderation etc.
At least with a smaller tort he won't need as much daily as my older leopard who is about a foot long.

 

[abyrhianl]

It's good to plan ahead.
Have you found www.thetortoisetable.org.uk yet? That is a good guide to tort safe foods and what to feed in moderation etc.
At least with a smaller tort he won't need as much daily as my older leopard who is about a foot long.

Yeah I use the tortoise table all the time! It’s been a huge help since we got him, I’ve got a covered planter thing from B&Q now to that I’ve put some plants in, hoping the lid keeps the frost off them

 

[abyrhianl]

Does anyone have any experience with the NutraZu pellets? Or the Zoo Med Grassland? I currently have the Mazuri but I believe what we have in the UK is actually a different pellet to the US?

 

[JoesMum]

Does anyone have any experience with the NutraZu pellets? Or the Zoo Med Grassland? I currently have the Mazuri but I believe what we have in the UK is actually a different pellet to the US?

As far as I am aware SW is importing the US version.

I used Komodo pellets for a long time

 

[abyrhianl]

As far as I am aware SW is importing the US version.

I used Komodo pellets for a long time

Brilliant! That’s where I bought it from, I’d heard different things from different people and wasn’t to sure.

 

[JoesMum]

Brilliant! That’s where I bought it from, I’d heard different things from different people and wasn’t to sure.

There are, naturally, no guarantees any tortoise will like it. Just because 99% of them treat Mazuri as an addictive substance, it doesn’t mean that yours isn’t one of the 1% that completely ignores it and treats as if he’d been asked to eat floor polish. They can be the worst picky eaters

 

[abyrhianl]

There are, naturally, no guarantees any tortoise will like it. Just because 99% of them treat Mazuri as an addictive substance, it doesn’t mean that yours isn’t one of the 1% that completely ignores it and treats as if he’d been asked to eat floor polish. They can be the worst picky eaters

To be honest other than dried food he will eat anything we give him! I have to wet any pellets but anything dry he won’t even look at[emoji23]

 

[JoesMum]

To be honest other than dried food he will eat anything we give him! I have to wet any pellets but anything dry he won’t even look at[emoji23]

Pellets of any sort should always be served wet to torts. Soak them in tap water for a few minutes before serving

 

[abyrhianl]

Pellets of any sort should always be served wet to torts. Soak them in tap water for a few minutes before serving

Yeah we’ve never attempted to give those to him dry, but I had some dried grass and dried dandelion and flower mix and he won’t touch it. In fact last time I attempted to give it him he pooped on it and went back to bed