Pellets - weeds, UV bulbs - sunlight debates - Page 10

Drummerkid · #91 (**permalink**) 23-02-2008, 02:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Trice

No offence intended in the people who support the fact that they believe pellets to be wrong..
But if a number of people say for example, that walking down the street will get you killed, and post a number of pictures of people dead on the pavement or in the road, without explaining how, or why the person got killed, other than just because they were on the street, would you refuse to go on the street? Because in my opinion it's a similar way of thinking that people like drummerkid is going by

Nice example

Trice · #92 (**permalink**) 23-02-2008, 02:25 PM

Not really, if i could think straight i would come up with a much better example Lol.

Drummerkid · #93 (**permalink**) 23-02-2008, 02:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Trice

Not really, if i could think straight i would come up with a much better example Lol.

Blood pouring out of your nose sure is a distraction

Tina · #94 (**permalink**) 23-02-2008, 02:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Trice

ps. feeling like crap, blood dripping out of my left nostrel, both nostrels have massive hard bits of blood.
the top teeth are aching probably due to the operation,
i'm fighting the urge to pick at the dried blood in my nostrel, but not allowed to :P
yourself?

euwww, sounds horrid! What have you had done?

Hope you feel better soon

Anyway, back to topic...

I've been thinking (okay no jokes)... if the pellet diet is a complete diet how does feeding it once or twice a week work? If it's a complete diet then surely it would need to be fed every day to get the right nutritional balance? Feeding infrequently is just using it like a supplement isn't it? So, if it's just being fed as a supplement then it's no different than using any other supplement.... or is it?

Trice · #95 (**permalink**) 23-02-2008, 02:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tina

euwww, sounds horrid! What have you had done?

Hope you feel better soon

Anyway, back to topic...

I've been thinking (okay no jokes)... if the pellet diet is a complete diet how does feeding it once or twice a week work? If it's a complete diet then surely it would need to be fed every day to get the right nutritional balance? Feeding infrequently is just using it like a supplement isn't it? So, if it's just being fed as a supplement then it's no different than using any other supplement.... or is it?

Polyps removed, a whole load of them from both nostrels and the bit where the nose meets the throat. :P

Thats what i want to find out, can it be fed as a supplement with no problems? I doubt i'd want to see my tort feed just little colourful pellets all the time, i like watching him/her munch on the weeds. But stuff like this, there is hardly any proof of people testing, all you get is word of mouth.

Athravan · #96 (**permalink**) 23-02-2008, 02:56 PM

I live in the city, Cardiff isn't the biggest city in the UK by far, and has quite low polution levels compared to some of the big cities in England. I personally would not go out and eat something I found growing in this city. I wouldn't expect my animals to either. I am sure there is a study somewhere about pollution, chemical levels and also acidity of rain water and in the city it is considerabley higher than in the country where the majority of our edible things are farmed.

I hope that anyone who feeds a weed based diet to their animals is 100% sure of the pollution levels, soil analysis and rainwater acidity before they go out picking them because they are "free".

I personally worry that in 10 years tortoise keepers are going to be paying the price. You can't see what is in those weeds you pick, you can't see any immediate affect on the tortoise but it could well be having long term effects.

Obviously this doesn't apply if you are lucky enough to live in a low polution area or out in the country, and perhaps you would be happy to eat the things that grow in your area.

I personally would strongly recommend anyone who lives in an urban area grow their own weeds if they are going to feed a plant based diet, using proper soil and in an enclosed greenhouse or similar, in which case using weeds is no longer as free / easy as it might originally sound.

Trice · #97 (**permalink**) 23-02-2008, 02:58 PM

I'm lucky enough to have a nan who has a glass greenhouse in her backgarden which she doesn't really use any more because of her living in France for 6 months a year, when the stuff she used to grow is ready to be picked, she's usually out there. (tomatos, green beans etc) but i've just gotta clear it out and replace the glass panels

Tina · #98 (**permalink**) 23-02-2008, 03:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Athravan

I live in the city, Cardiff isn't the biggest city in the UK by far, and has quite low polution levels compared to some of the big cities in England. I personally would not go out and eat something I found growing in this city. I wouldn't expect my animals to either. I am sure there is a study somewhere about pollution, chemical levels and also acidity of rain water and in the city it is considerabley higher than in the country where the majority of our edible things are farmed.

I hope that anyone who feeds a weed based diet to their animals is 100% sure of the pollution levels, soil analysis and rainwater acidity before they go out picking them because they are "free".

I personally worry that in 10 years tortoise keepers are going to be paying the price. You can't see what is in those weeds you pick, you can't see any immediate affect on the tortoise but it could well be having long term effects.

Obviously this doesn't apply if you are lucky enough to live in a low polution area or out in the country, and perhaps you would be happy to eat the things that grow in your area.

I personally would strongly recommend anyone who lives in an urban area grow their own weeds if they are going to feed a plant based diet, using proper soil and in an enclosed greenhouse or similar, in which case using weeds is no longer as free / easy as it might originally sound.

That's such a good point... I'm lucky and live in the country with a garden backing onto fields and woodland but I wouldn't even pick weeds from there... goodness knows what kind of germs wild animals could have spread in those areas (my dog has a habit of drinking dirty water when out walking and picked up a nasty infection a few months back which made him very ill). My weeds and plants are from my own garden, in an area where I grow strawberries which we eat ourselves with no adverse affects so hopefully there won't be any for my tortoise.

Hopefully people in urban areas are very careful about where their weeds come from.

v-max · #99 (**permalink**) 23-02-2008, 04:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Athravan

I personally worry that in 10 years tortoise keepers are going to be paying the price.

I agree strongly with this notion - not just for weeds - but for tortoise keeping in general. Too many notions are now set in concrete, too many followers of the same routine - I am proud to say that in the 30 years of keeping that I have racked up I have never become blinkered. I may not agree with everyones ideas, thats human, but I dont rule those ideas out. We are now in a strange position where a total beginner can sound as though he knows what he is talking about but just agreeing with what is popular on these forums. You would hate to see how many keepers with poorly tortoises we see that have been bought elsewhere - but they went to that seller because they advised a tortoise table instead of a viv. Suddenly that seller got credibility, the set up is all wrong, no info about diet, often wrong lights, etc etc - but as its now set in concrete on forums that tortoise tables are best that seller "knew what they were doing". Ridiculous, annoying and ultimately damaging to the hobby in the long term. Sorry to rant......

Tina · #**100** (**permalink**) 23-02-2008, 04:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by v-max

I agree strongly with this notion - not just for weeds - but for tortoise keeping in general. Too many notions are now set in concrete, too many followers of the same routine - I am proud to say that in the 30 years of keeping that I have racked up I have never become blinkered. I may not agree with everyones ideas, thats human, but I dont rule those ideas out. We are now in a strange position where a total beginner can sound as though he knows what he is talking about but just agreeing with what is popular on these forums. You would hate to see how many keepers with poorly tortoises we see that have been bought elsewhere - but they went to that seller because they advised a tortoise table instead of a viv. Suddenly that seller got credibility, the set up is all wrong, no info about diet, often wrong lights, etc etc - but as its now set in concrete on forums that tortoise tables are best that seller "knew what they were doing". Ridiculous, annoying and ultimately damaging to the hobby in the long term. Sorry to rant......

I didn't think it was a rant actually

As you've been a keeper for so long would you share with us your keeping methods... including feeding? I'm sure lots of us would be interested to hear, especially us newbies to tort keeping who are trying to gather as much information as possible.

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