Zoo Med

[Yvonne G]

I mix up a pretty big batch of 'baby' food, and it lasts two days. The night before I put a handful of the Zoo Med Grassland Tortoise Food into a bowl with a lid, and add about 6 or 8 Mazuri pellets. I cover with more water than you might think - actually looks like too much water - then cover the bowl and place it in the refrigerator overnight. In the a.m. if there is any water remaining, I just pour it off, but there usually isn't. Then I mash up all the soaked pellets with a fork and dump it into a big dish pan. Then I proceed to chop up the greens into tiny baby-sized bites. I usually use Artisan lettuce, romaine, turnip greens, collards, mulberry leaves, grape leaves, a grated zucchini, a couple grated carrots, a half a grated cucumber, a scoop of calcium powder without D3. If there are still edible weeds available from the yard, I add them too. Then I mix it all up until all the greens are coated with the mushed up pellets. I feed this to leopards, desert tortoises, box turtles, YF tortoises and Manouria - all babies. None of these species has ever refused this menu. (for the box turtles, YF and Manouria I add a tiny bit of cat food juice, some chopped, cooked chicken and maybe a worm or two).

 

[no one]

Try to find Nutrazu. It is european trademark of mazuri.

Thank you cyclopunx!!

 

[cyclopunx]

Thank you cyclopunx!!

My pleasure my red foots love it.

 

[Ernie Johnson]

Time for me to start with the heretical comments. Don't waste your time, money, or your tortoises health with commercial food. I know, I know, many swear by Mazuri and I have used it a few times in the past. Most commercial foods are grain or soybean based or have a healthy amount of both. Neither are items a tortoise would ever come across in the wild and if they did they wouldn't eat it.

Why? Because both contain lectins (and beans phytase the precursor to phytic acid) which are both lower GI irritants for both people and tortoises and in the case of phytic acid block or serious retard the uptake of various minerals the big one being. . . . .wait for it. . . .calcium.

The only animals on the planet who have evolved to successfully consume grains are rats and mice, so leave it to them.

For 46+ years all I've ever fed my torts was what they'd either come across in their native environment or a green, weed, or fruit close to what they would come across.

Save your money and feed them items their genome has developed over millions of years to consume.

 

[chin_lee]

Time for me to start with the heretical comments. Don't waste your time, money, or your tortoises health with commercial food. I know, I know, many swear by Mazuri and I have used it a few times in the past. Most commercial foods are grain or soybean based or have a healthy amount of both. Neither are items a tortoise would ever come across in the wild and if they did they wouldn't eat it.

Why? Because both contain lectins (and beans phytase the precursor to phytic acid) which are both lower GI irritants for both people and tortoises and in the case of phytic acid block or serious retard the uptake of various minerals the big one being. . . . .wait for it. . . .calcium.

The only animals on the planet who have evolved to successfully consume grains are rats and mice, so leave it to them.

For 46+ years all I've ever fed my torts was what they'd either come across in their native environment or a green, weed, or fruit close to what they would come across.

Save your money and feed them items their genome has developed over millions of years to consume.

Easier said than done. I live in pacific northwest where natural weeds are not present to be harvested for 6 months of the year. I agree it's the best to feed natural but there strikes a balance between the two methods of food source. To completely eradicate commercial food products will make it impossible to feed torts in the northern hemisphere unless we want to resort to romaine lettuce as it's primary food source. There are many reliable sources that have substantiated the use of commercial foods. We need to be open to the various methods out there and make informed decisions on what is best given our geographical challenges.

 

[Tortgrl43]

So true Chin lee! Work with what's available!

 

[Ernie Johnson]

When we lived in a Minneapolis suburb for 20 years, before moving to the Dallas MetroPlex 2 1/2 years ago, Turnip, Collard, and Dandelion greens were available year round at a number of groceries stores as was radicchio, endive and escarole. In the Boston area (prior home) the same were all available year round, so there should be plenty of alternative "healthy" greens to backyard weeds available during the winter months before you need to go to commercial food.

Now, if you live miles away from a store that has them, do what ya gotta do.

 

[oramarco]

I compared Zoo med grassland against Mazuri and zoo med'sseems to have a better Fiber/protein ratio than Mazuri. If so, why is Mazuri more popular? Check below:

Zoo med Grassland Guaranteed Analysis
Crude Protein (min) 8.5%
Crude Fat (min) 1.9%
Crude Fiber (max) 22.0%


Mazuri Guaranteed Analysis
Crude protein (min) 15.0%
Crude fat (min) 3.0%
Crude fiber (max) 18.0%

 

[chin_lee]

I like the zoomed stuff but I couldn't get my torts to eat it without mixing with mazuri. Now my hermanns prefer zoomed over mazuri and will only eat if the mixture had more zoomed than mazuri. I use the mazuri more as a binding agent for the zoomed as it's quite loose when moistened and breaks apart easily.

 

[Ernie Johnson]

My very old Male Greek won't touch Mazuri or ZooMed, Redfoot's gobble down Mazuri and ignore ZooMed, and the Russian's - well they eat anything not nailed down.

Can't speak to Berlandier's as commercial food didn't exist when I had them 40+ years ago.

I only feed them commercial food once in a blue moon, so I'm no benchmark.