Tortoise Diet Help!?

[charlotte 111]

Hi,


I have a 3year old Hermann female. I bought her about 6months ago, unfortunately the lady I bought her off was feeding her incorrectly - only lettuce - and as a result her shell has pyramided and her back right leg is shorter than her others - because of the lack of nutrients in her diet [although she still gets around very well mind!!]

I have obviously changed her diet, giving her a variety of veg and adding powder supplements to help and bathing her regularly.

Is there anything else I can do to help her? Any suggestions at all....

Thank You

[terrypin]

hi congratulations on getting a hermans tortoise they are marvellous.it sounds like you have improved her diet already.i would be careful not to give her to many brassica's and personally i would feed mixed weeds along with a small percentage of salad mix or cos lettuce if overwintering, to increase the water content as it can get very dry indoors.how are you keeping her what sort of lighting and substrate are you useing.if she has spent a lot of time indoors without adequate uvb this could be the cause of a lot of her problems

terry

[Tamie]

Congratulations on your tortoise. This link may help you choosing the correct diet for you tort:

Tortoise Trust Web - Feeding your tortoise

As Terry has said please avoid veg from the brassica family (cabbage, spinach etc.) if you have to add to her weed diet then romaine or little gem, florette mix will be ok.

Are you overwintering her this year?

HTH

Tamie

[Tina]

to RFUK and congratz on your first Hermann... they're gorgeous torts.

This link has some great information on the care of med torts:

Tortoises

It also has an illustrated edible weed list.

[-EJ]

For the new keeper I always suggest any of the following diets... Mazuri, NutraZu, T-Rex tortoise diet or Pretty Pets. All of these are nutritionally complete diets. Add some greens and grasses and that's all you need to raise a perfectly healthy tortoise.

The formulated diets give you all the nutrition your tortoise needs and the other stuff just adds variety.

Originally Posted by charlotte 111

Hi,


I have a 3year old Hermann female. I bought her about 6months ago, unfortunately the lady I bought her off was feeding her incorrectly - only lettuce - and as a result her shell has pyramided and her back right leg is shorter than her others - because of the lack of nutrients in her diet [although she still gets around very well mind!!]

I have obviously changed her diet, giving her a variety of veg and adding powder supplements to help and bathing her regularly.

Is there anything else I can do to help her? Any suggestions at all....

Thank You

[wizzasmum]

Hi I would check out your lighting and if in need of a new uvb (6months replacement needed on tubes) or a combined lamp try here Kimbos Reptile World | Supplies | Equipment | Housing | Lighting | where Darren will give you excellent advise regarding what is best for you and your setup. Keep on feeding fresh weeds as described at www.tortoises.net and sprinkle with nutrobal daily while the tort is growing. Keep away from dried or pelleted food which will just make your tortoise grow quicker than it needs right now.
Hope this has helped a little

[-EJ]

You might want to elaborate on your advice just a little bit concerning dried diets. If you have some experience in the area of formulated diets that you have not shared with us in the past you might like to enlighten us at this time.

Yes... formulated diets do allow for good growth because it is nutritionally complete. It is a good/simple/complete diet that the tortoise keeper does not have to worry about deficiencies.

In all fairness... how about providing a list of all the necessary plants that the op needs to provide so that all the tortoises nutritional requirements are met... that might be helpful.

Originally Posted by wizzasmum

Hi I would check out your lighting and if in need of a new uvb (6months replacement needed on tubes) or a combined lamp try here Kimbos Reptile World | Supplies | Equipment | Housing | Lighting | where Darren will give you excellent advise regarding what is best for you and your setup. Keep on feeding fresh weeds as described at www.tortoises.net and sprinkle with nutrobal daily while the tort is growing. Keep away from dried or pelleted food which will just make your tortoise grow quicker than it needs right now.
Hope this has helped a little

[xscrunchee]

I would actually love a list of plants which I need to feed to ensure that I am feeding my tortoise a completely balanced diet.
I give her at least 5-7 different weeds a day but in all fairness I do not know how much dandelion she needs in relation to plantain or vetch or clover etc.
So-although I am trying my best, I have no idea whether or not I am meeting all of her nutritional requirements, in fact I would be very surprised if I am considering that 'in the wild' they can eat up to 200 different species of plant-some fresh, some old and tough and some dry.

[Tina]

Originally Posted by xscrunchee

I would actually love a list of plants which I need to feed to ensure that I am feeding my tortoise a completely balanced diet.
I give her at least 5-7 different weeds a day but in all fairness I do not know how much dandelion she needs in relation to plantain or vetch or clover etc.
So-although I am trying my best, I have no idea whether or not I am meeting all of her nutritional requirements, in fact I would be very surprised if I am considering that 'in the wild' they can eat up to 200 different species of plant-some fresh, some old and tough and some dry.

Investigation of torts stomach contents in the wild has shown as little as 7 different varieties of plant. Not all plants will be available all the time to the torts in the wild so their nutritional needs will be met very differently throughout the seasons... just the same as the plants we're able to provide in the UK which are seasonal.

[SWsarah]

Originally Posted by charlotte 111

Hi,


I have a 3year old Hermann female. I bought her about 6months ago, unfortunately the lady I bought her off was feeding her incorrectly - only lettuce - and as a result her shell has pyramided and her back right leg is shorter than her others - because of the lack of nutrients in her diet [although she still gets around very well mind!!]

I have obviously changed her diet, giving her a variety of veg and adding powder supplements to help and bathing her regularly.

Is there anything else I can do to help her? Any suggestions at all....

Thank You

Hello
I would recommend a good UVB Source so that she can process the calcium you are giving her. I recommend the combined bulbs heat and UVB in one powersun, Megaray, Solaglow.