I have a spoiled tortoise...

[Dookus]

when I got her, she was the size of a small VW bug matchbox car. The dumbass at the store told me to feed her this special tortoise food. So I did. And she grew. I kept buying more of this food and she grew and she grew.

Then I did some research and learned that THIS type of tortoise doesn't do well on that kind of food - they grow too fast. I read she should eat low-nutrient greens. So I feed her greens. And she grew and she grew.

Then I did some MORE research and found she should eat greens occasionally, but her staple should be dried grass/timothy hay. So I got her some timothy hay. She just turns up her nose at it.

Rosebud wants her bok choy and her romaine. Whaddya do for a finicky tortoise? I guess after a few days she'll eat what's there, right?

[bigwillq]

1. How much does she weigh now? (nt)

[Dookus]

2. oh probably

about 10 lbs. She'll get up to well over 100 eventually. But she's only 2 and a half.

[bigwillq]

5. 10 lbs is not too bad right now

Hey, if she's gonna get to be 100 lbs. then I say feed her more. How long will she live to? Don't they usually live a long time?

[slackmaster]

3. I give mine the run of the back yard

He does just fine on grass, weeds, and whatever young cactus pads he can find.



For occasional treats he gets broccoli, kale, Swiss chard, fruit, or rose blossoms.

He's a desert tortoise. What's yours?

[Dookus]

7. It's a Sulcata Tortoise

a bit like yours, but with spiny limbs. She's very cool.

They live 100 years or more.

[Dookus]

12. she looks just like this

Except there's no snow around her. I don't know WHAT this tortoise is doing out in the snow....

[Guy Fawkes]

4. You must buy this book!

"Esio Trot" by Roald Dahl (illustrated by Quentin Blake)

[Canuckistanian]

6. Here's some Info

If you feed your tortoises too much of the foods that should be fed in relatively small amounts or occasionally, you risk causing health problems, ranging from diarrhea to kidney disease. There apparently has been a problem with people not reading this entire page, so I have reorganized it to put the emphasis on the forage.

85% Grasses and weeds; dark, leafy greens; cactus...

Grasses and Weeds
Foraging Mix
Alfalfa hay or pellets
Bermuda grass
Fresh clover
Clover hay
Rye grass
Rice grass
Mallow
Sowthistle

Dead Plants
Don't be an overly fastidious groundskeeper. Tortoises enjoy munching on dried brown leaves and stalks as much as they do the fresh plant. Top off your edible greens and ornamentals and drop them in the tortoise pen; depending on their mood, the tortoises will eat them fresh or ignore them until they are nice and brittle.

Leafy Greens
These should make up no more than half (and ideally much less) of your tortoise forage:
Cabbage**
Chard**
Collards
Dandelion greens and flowers
Endive
Grape leaves
Kale**
Mustard greens
Parsley*
Spinach*
Turnip greens
Watercress

* These are high in calcium oxalates that may bind calcium causing metabolic bone disease, and may cause visceral gout (mineralization/crystallization of the soft tissues and internal organs). Feed sparingly. ** These are high in goitrogens, which impair thyroid function when fed in excess. Feed sparingly.

Don't feed at all as they have little or no nutrition:
Iceberg lettuce
Boston lettuce
Romaine lettuce
Red- and Green-leaf lettuce

Cactus:
Opuntia cactus pads and flowers (high in water content)




15% Vegetables...
Acorn squash
Bell Peppers, red and green
Broccoli**
Butternut squash
Carrots
Green beans
Lentils
Peas
Potatoes (cooked, plain)
Pumpkin and other winter squash
Rice (cooked, plain)
Snow peas
Sweet potatoes
Turnip

**These are high in goitrogens, which impair thyroid function when fed in excess. Feed sparingly.


Feed sparingly as these are low in nutrition
Corn
Cucumbers
Radishes
Sprouts (alfalfa, bean, and grain)
Zucchini



Occasional foods
Apples (no seeds)
Apricots (no pits)
Avocados (no pits or leaves)
Bananas
Berries
Cantaloupe (with scrubbed rind)
Figs
Grapes
Mangos (no pit)
Oranges (not for hatchlings)
Papayas (ripe, no seeds)
Peaches (no pit)
Pears (no seeds)
Plums
Tomatoes (not for hatchlings)

Mixed Veggie Salad
The following, based on my green iguana salad, can be fed occasionally:

1/2 cup shredded raw green beans
1/2 cup shredded raw squash (acorn, butternut, banana, kabocha, pumpkin, summer)
1/2 cup shredded raw parsnip
3/4 cup alfalfa pellets or 1/8 cup alfalfa powder from the health food store
1/4 cup fruit

Mix thoroughly together. Add in or sprinkle on salad a multivitamin supplement and a calcium supplement as recommended. Store in a sealed food storage container. Stays fresh for 6-7 days. Additional quantities may be frozen. Add a pinch of thiamine to the defrosted salad to replace the thiamin lost through the defrosting process



...and flowers and houseplants for grazing treats.
For more information on edible and harmful plants, please see the Plant Information & Identification page.

Ficus benjamina (note: the milky sap may be irritating to skin, eyes and gastrointestinal tract).
Geraniums
Hibiscus flower and leaves
Nasturtium flowers and leaves
Pansies
Petunias
Pothos
Rose petals and leaves
Snail vine (Vigna caracalla)
Violets


Sunlight...
Sunlight is critical for proper growth. The UVA promotes normal behavior and appetite; the UVB is necessary to enable the animal to synthesize vitamin D3, a substance crucial to calcium metabolization. Be sure, however, to provide some shade. Being too hot is just as dangerous as being too cold. If regular direct sunlight cannot be provided for them, you must use UVB-producing fluorescent lights daily.


...and Water
Always have fresh water available for drinking. A large shallow bowl is best, one they can access but not accidentally tip into and possibly drown. Leopards, radiated and all hatchlings are at risk for drowning or suffocating if they tip over onto their backs and are unable to right themselves.

[Dookus]

8. Thank you!

bookmarked.

She's got a good setup and she seems very healthy. She had slight pyramiding of her shell due to the pellets I fed her when she was young, but it's not too bad - I've seen much worse on the 'net.

I just need to get her to start eating the hay. She's been grazing in the yard and eating plenty of clover and natural grasses. I'll just withhold the good veggies for awhile 'til she gets used to the hay and keep the veggies as a treat.

[slackmaster]

9. Tomatoes are high in oxalates

People who get oxalate kidney stones are often advised by physicians to avoid them. I'm surprised this source doesn't mention that fact.

I never give my tortoise tomatoes.

[xchrom]

10. oh -- go ahead and spoil her

that's why you have her! broccolli, chard, mustard greens -- life is short{relatively speaking} -- you can both live it up a little!

[Dookus]

11. yeah, she loves all that

but I guess it's not good for it to her staple food. Her really special treat is watermelon - she loves it.

[Blue-Jay]

13. My stupid advice on feeding reptiles:

Feed 'em whatever in the hell they like to eat. One of the hardest things about having a reptile is finding food that they like. If she's eating it, and it has the correct nutrients, let her eat it. With turtles and tortoises, you can't tell if they're not eating enough until you have a problem on your hands.

It took forever for me to figure out what to feed my prehensile-tailed skink liked to eat. Speaking of Gumby, you can visit him at the Miller Park Zoo in Bloomington IL, if you're ever in the neighborhood. Tell him I said "hi!" (for the record, I didn't give him to the zoo. They gave him to me to nurse him back to health after he refused to eat)

[Dookus]

14. thanks

The main concern with this species getting food that's too rich is "pyramiding" of the shell, which can be troublesome if it gets bad.

Hers is slight, and it stopped as soon as I took her off the pellet food. She's otherwise thriving, so I'm not too worried - I just want her to start eating more grasses like she's supposed to.

[Pithlet]

15. What kind do you have?

My parents have a breed that comes from Africa. I can't remember the name of it.

It was a tiny little cute thing when they bought it a few years ago. The thing is huge, now. About the size of a small tractor tire. It roams freely around the yard, and startles people who don't expect to see a monstrous tortoise cruising around a sub-urban neighborhood backyard. It still catches me off guard when I'm sitting in my mom's living room and a giant turtle breezes by the back door window.

[Dookus]

16. An African Sulcata Tortoise...

sounds like what your folks have.

[Pithlet]

17. I think that's it.

Her name is Tut. They thought she was a boy until they took her into the vet.