[Jovita]

So im rehoming a 1-2 year old tortoise and although i am starting growing my own weeds etc. i won't have any ready for a month or so and there is no where safe for me to collect any nearby.
What are some safe veggies i can get at the market and can feed initially until i get my own plants going? Is it okay for the first month to feed the commercial diet mixed in with veggies? Also what vitamin/mineral supplement do i need and how often. I already have a big tub of arkvits (commercially combined nutrobal and ace-high) with 30:1 calciumhosphorous ratio. Is this okay or do i need a different specialist one/mixture.

Thanks!

 

[purplepixie]

So im rehoming a 1-2 year old tortoise and although i am starting growing my own weeds etc. i won't have any ready for a month or so and there is no where safe for me to collect any nearby.
What are some safe veggies i can get at the market and can feed initially until i get my own plants going? Is it okay for the first month to feed the commercial diet mixed in with veggies? Also what vitamin/mineral supplement do i need and how often. I already have a big tub of arkvits (commercially combined nutrobal and ace-high) with 30:1 calciumhosphorous ratio. Is this okay or do i need a different specialist one/mixture.

Thanks!

There are no safe veggies when you dont know what your doing. As over feeding on them can cause problems. There are plenty of weeds around with all the rain we have had:0) So going out and looking for them is a great way of learning whats good and whats not. Dandilions, sowthistle, mallow, plantains are all in abundance. Lavetra flowers are coming into their own too.
Pelleted food is not good for any tortoise in my opinion whent there are so many weeds around. You can feed cos/romaine lettuce but only as part of a normal diet.
But I know someone will come along and differ:0)
Calciumcarbonate and nutrabol and the like are great for tortoises.

 

[Jovita]

Unfortunately i live in the inner city for another year so finding weeds is just not very reliable. Any areas where there are some is where all of the city's dog walkers go, and therefore they've all been urinated on and god knows what.

 

[purplepixie]

Unfortunately i live in the inner city for another year so finding weeds is just not very reliable. Any areas where there are some is where all of the city's dog walkers go, and therefore they've all been urinated on and god knows what.

If they are urinated on just wash them, I am sure in the wild a lot worse happens:0)
Try graveyards or parks for weeds.
Giving them a diet brought from a supermarket or pellets is not the answer I am afraid:0(
Do you not have friends, neighbours or family that can help out?

 

[TillyTortoise]

Most of us live in towns and cities, with a little work its easy to find weeds. Cycle paths and walkways are good places!

Pelleted diet can be used sensibly along side a diet of fresh plants and weeds.

 

[Wizzasmum1]

So im rehoming a 1-2 year old tortoise and although i am starting growing my own weeds etc. i won't have any ready for a month or so and there is no where safe for me to collect any nearby.
What are some safe veggies i can get at the market and can feed initially until i get my own plants going? Is it okay for the first month to feed the commercial diet mixed in with veggies? Also what vitamin/mineral supplement do i need and how often. I already have a big tub of arkvits (commercially combined nutrobal and ace-high) with 30:1 calciumhosphorous ratio. Is this okay or do i need a different specialist one/mixture.

Thanks!

Don't feed pellets to russians (horsfield has no e in the middle lol) as they are only programmed to eat for three to four months of the year. Feeding as much as they can eat for 12 months of the year is bad enough, but feeding pellets is ten times worse. A russian fed this way willnot look like a russian, but an overstuffed overbaked pie

 

[Wizzasmum1]

Unfortunately i live in the inner city for another year so finding weeds is just not very reliable. Any areas where there are some is where all of the city's dog walkers go, and therefore they've all been urinated on and god knows what.

Foxes and badgers pee on the weeds around here, but they are fine when washed. You should see what happened at the back of our old fish and chip shop when the boxes of fish were left there :whistling2:

 

[Wizzasmum1]

If they are urinated on just wash them, I am sure in the wild a lot worse happens:0)
Try graveyards or parks for weeds.
Giving them a diet brought from a supermarket or pellets is not the answer I am afraid:0(
Do you not have friends, neighbours or family that can help out?

LOL, missed this, have to agree though, there are always weeds to be found if you look hard enough, especially if you drive.

 

[Wizzasmum1]

Most of us live in towns and cities, with a little work its easy to find weeds. Cycle paths and walkways are good places!

Pelleted diet can be used sensibly along side a diet of fresh plants and weeds.

I've yet to see a HORSFIELD reared well with any pellets in the diet - I'd love pics of some for my website though if they exist I'm always open to new results.

 

[TillyTortoise]

I've yet to see a HORSFIELD reared well with any pellets in the diet - I'd love pics of some for my website though if they exist I'm always open to new results.

Its hard enough finding pictures of well raised horsfields on a weed based diet :whistling2:

But i'm sure I can find you some pictures.

 

[Wizzasmum1]

Its hard enough finding pictures of well raised horsfields on a weed based diet :whistling2:

But i'm sure I can find you some pictures.

Here are some raised on weeds :whistling2:

 

[Wizzasmum1]

Here are some raised on weeds :whistling2:

All my babies

 

[Jovita]

I don't wish to offend but you seem to all be missing the point of the original post. I thoroughly intend to use a varied weed based diet i've grown myself, but i need to find an alternative until i get my own plants going - its not going to be a permanent solution, just temporary for a month or less. Everyone has to start somewhere. I know pellets are not a good diet, but when a good well researched brand is used in moderation with supplemented fresh matter and vit/minerals they cannot be so terrible surely. I know about providing a well varied diet and such, i have studied animal behaviour and welfare for the last 4 years. I have a diploma in animal management and i am in my 2nd year of a BSc animal behaviour and welfare degree. Its just practicality dictates i use an alternate diet for a short while.
I do not drive and don't have any family to help out, so collection of weeds is very limited to my local area - the very inner city. I have other commitments besides pets, as i'm sure everyone else does so collecting weeds is not always an option or practical, particularly in the inner city. Grabbing local grown veg while im at the market getting my own food is feasible till i get my plants growing, and im sure there must be some veg that are fine. I'd also worry about collecting the wrong plant - many look so similar, and i can't be sure about pesticides etc. Also urine on plants is not the biggest concern i have. Local grassed areas and such are a haven for drug addicts, drunks and the like. I don't wanna feed my tort vodka soaked plants... I'd have to travel several miles on foot to reach any park anyway.
Walkways are often sprayed with pesticides, particularly with local events going on recently that required a city-wide cleanup of streets and walkways.
Also i apologise for the spelling mistake in horsfield. I am highly dyslexic/dyspraxic and spelling is not my forte - an issue im rather sensitive about

 

[TillyTortoise]

imageimage
image
All my babies

If only they all looked like that.. Nice tortoises. :2thumb:

 

[FLINTUS]

I don't wish to offend but you seem to all be missing the point of the original post. I thoroughly intend to use a varied weed based diet i've grown myself, but i need to find an alternative until i get my own plants going - its not going to be a permanent solution, just temporary for a month or less. Everyone has to start somewhere. I know pellets are not a good diet, but when a good well researched brand is used in moderation with supplemented fresh matter and vit/minerals they cannot be so terrible surely. I know about providing a well varied diet and such, i have studied animal behaviour and welfare for the last 4 years. I have a diploma in animal management and i am in my 2nd year of a BSc animal behaviour and welfare degree. Its just practicality dictates i use an alternate diet for a short while.
I do not drive and don't have any family to help out, so collection of weeds is very limited to my local area - the very inner city. I have other commitments besides pets, as i'm sure everyone else does so collecting weeds is not always an option or practical, particularly in the inner city. Grabbing local grown veg while im at the market getting my own food is feasible till i get my plants growing, and im sure there must be some veg that are fine. I'd also worry about collecting the wrong plant - many look so similar, and i can't be sure about pesticides etc. Also urine on plants is not the biggest concern i have. Local grassed areas and such are a haven for drug addicts, drunks and the like. I don't wanna feed my tort vodka soaked plants... I'd have to travel several miles on foot to reach any park anyway.
Walkways are often sprayed with pesticides, particularly with local events going on recently that required a city-wide cleanup of streets and walkways.
Also i apologise for the spelling mistake in horsfield. I am highly dyslexic/dyspraxic and spelling is not my forte - an issue im rather sensitive about

Your spelling is much better than most on this forum! :no1: Do you have a garden? Clover is found everywhere and plantain and dandelions are still pretty common. You could buy a hibiscus plant and feed the flowers and the leaves. Go on the shelled warriors site and buy some plug plants.

 

[Shellsfeathers&fur]

I don't think for one minute anyone was commenting on your spelling at all - I don't think you made any errors, except Horsfield. You probably were unaware that there is no first 'e' as are apparently a lot of keepers, hence the correction.

Will you be able to keep the tortoise outdoors for the summer months?

What is s/he being fed currently?

 

[Wizzasmum1]

I don't wish to offend but you seem to all be missing the point of the original post. I thoroughly intend to use a varied weed based diet i've grown myself, but i need to find an alternative until i get my own plants going - its not going to be a permanent solution, just temporary for a month or less. Everyone has to start somewhere. I know pellets are not a good diet, but when a good well researched brand is used in moderation with supplemented fresh matter and vit/minerals they cannot be so terrible surely. I know about providing a well varied diet and such, i have studied animal behaviour and welfare for the last 4 years. I have a diploma in animal management and i am in my 2nd year of a BSc animal behaviour and welfare degree. Its just practicality dictates i use an alternate diet for a short while.
I do not drive and don't have any family to help out, so collection of weeds is very limited to my local area - the very inner city. I have other commitments besides pets, as i'm sure everyone else does so collecting weeds is not always an option or practical, particularly in the inner city. Grabbing local grown veg while im at the market getting my own food is feasible till i get my plants growing, and im sure there must be some veg that are fine. I'd also worry about collecting the wrong plant - many look so similar, and i can't be sure about pesticides etc. Also urine on plants is not the biggest concern i have. Local grassed areas and such are a haven for drug addicts, drunks and the like. I don't wanna feed my tort vodka soaked plants... I'd have to travel several miles on foot to reach any park anyway.
Walkways are often sprayed with pesticides, particularly with local events going on recently that required a city-wide cleanup of streets and walkways.
Also i apologise for the spelling mistake in horsfield. I am highly dyslexic/dyspraxic and spelling is not my forte - an issue im rather sensitive about

I don't wish to offend either, but the animal diploma really isn't any use for tortoises and studying torts in the wild gives far more knowledge than any book or even veterinary studies from most levels. Many good vets will happily tell you that unless they specialise in exotics, they learn nothing at all about the husbandry of tortoises, just enough to put them right from a medical point of view when things go wrong. If you wish to use an alternative, then use something like florette crispy salad used in supermarkets. There are other brands but on the whole steer away from anything with spinach or cabbage type content as this is high in oxalates, which can cause kidney problems. In a tortoise such as a horsfield (the spelling is widely incorrect due to incorrect info re petshops etc) which in nature hibernates for 6 months and aesitvates for another 2-3, extra feeding is just not necessary, especially with something such as a dried diet, which is obviously going to be far more concentrated than leaves, so really should be avoided.
Well done on taking a course with animals, but do be well aware that the actual husbandry recommended on these courses is far outdated where chelonia are concerned. You will gain far more information from a long term recommended breeder than you will on the course itself. Of course chelonia take a long time to break and a lot longer to fix, so looking at pix of various torts in the wild should give you a good idea of what you are aiming for.

 

[Wizzasmum1]

If only they all looked like that.. Nice tortoises. :2thumb:

It's the easist thing in the wild to produce, so long as food is limited and the climate is conducive with what they would have in nature, which is a choice of deep (none artificial) substrates, with moist and dry areas and not an attempt to grow them the same as hermanns, spurs etc. Shallow substrate and overfeeding are the biggest mistakes when keeping them.

 

[Wizzasmum1]

I don't think for one minute anyone was commenting on your spelling at all - I don't think you made any errors, except Horsfield. You probably were unaware that there is no first 'e' as are apparently a lot of keepers, hence the correction.

Will you be able to keep the tortoise outdoors for the summer months?

What is s/he being fed currently?

I agree, it's just a personal thing I have when talking about torts. If incorrect spellings are used, then it is always harder to find correct info about them when searching. I would say most posts re them are spelled this way, which is a shame as they are not going to be known re the correct name eventually. Poor spelling where species is concerned is so common that even some long term keepers spell their own species incorrectly, even in their sigs :lol2: Yep, have a look folks, it might even be you

 

[Testudo horsfieldii]

my horsfield occasionaly has pellets when we are on holiday but he really hates it:lol2: