Zoo Med Natural Tortoise Food

[basilsulcata]

Hello all,

New to the forum and looking to take better care of my big boy sulcata tortoise.

I am looking to purchase this Zoo Med food for my tortoise and wanted to know a couple things.

1.) Do you recommend this product?

2.) Would I be good only feeding this product to my tortoise, or would you recommend I supplement his diet with other food as well?

Thank you for your help. Glad to be here.

 

[mainey34]

Zoomed is a good addition to their diet as well as Mazuri.

 

[basilsulcata]

Zoomed is a good addition to their diet as well as Mazuri.

Is a combination of Zoo Med and Mazuri a good idea, or are they basically the same thing? It looks like both have very similar ingredients. Here is the Mazuri feed I am looking at:
http://www.mazuri.com/mazuritortoisediet.aspx

On the web page above, the Mazuri site recommends to feed there product with grass hay as well. I am thinking that this will do:
http://www.amazon.com/Oxbow-Orchard-Grass-Hay-40/dp/B000WFKP80/ref=sr_1_1?s=pet-supplies&ie=UTF8&qid=1372221402&sr=1-1&keywords=grass+hay

So would a combination of Mazuri or Zoo Med with the grass hay I linked to above be a healthy meal for my tortoise?

Thank you.

 

[erica anne]

I use Zoomed as well and it is great but it is important to use this as a part of a varied diet.

 

[JoesMum]

As implied above, the best diet for your tort is fresh food. Pellets are best used as a supplement especially in winter when the greens are harder to come by. The ZooMed one you mention and Mazuri both are widely used and approved by tort keepers as a supplement.. Soak it before feeding.

 

[Yvonne G]

I use the Zoo Med Tortoise Diet, but it is a very small part of my tortoises' diet. I generally put some in a cup and fill the cup with water and in the meantime, I chop up a whole bunch of greens: mulberry leaves, grape leaves, dandelion leaves, prickly lettuce, sow thistle, endive, escarole, raddiccio, romaine, kale, turnip greens, zucchini and a bit of grated carrot. Then I add the moistened Zoo Med and stir it all up. This ends up being a great big bowl of food that lasts for two days.

 

[basilsulcata]

I use the Zoo Med Tortoise Diet, but it is a very small part of my tortoises' diet. I generally put some in a cup and fill the cup with water and in the meantime, I chop up a whole bunch of greens: mulberry leaves, grape leaves, dandelion leaves, prickly lettuce, sow thistle, endive, escarole, raddiccio, romaine, kale, turnip greens, zucchini and a bit of grated carrot. Then I add the moistened Zoo Med and stir it all up. This ends up being a great big bowl of food that lasts for two days.

I know I am a noob in this forum, but that sounds like an insane mix of greens. I understand that the sulcata tortoise is indigenous to Northern Africa, which is essentially a desert. Is there an abundance and variety of vegetation in that part of Africa?

 

[JoesMum]

Variety is important for health. In the wild, in the wet season, there will be good variety and the torts will thrive. In the dry season, pickings will be lean and only the healthiest will survive. It does rain in Africa, plants do grow. We have no reason to keep a tort on survival rations. We aim to keep them in good health,

 

[basilsulcata]

Variety is important for health. In the wild, in the wet season, there will be good variety and the torts will thrive. In the dry season, pickings will be lean and only the healthiest will survive. It does rain in Africa, plants do grow. We have no reason to keep a tort on survival rations. We aim to keep them in good health,

Thank you very much for your response.

I hope Joe is doing well.