manouria emys emys veggie intake

[Matt996]

Hello, new to the forum and I’ve got a young manouria emys named tortellini had a few weeks. Its around 5” long eating a mix of weeds from the yard like Plantains, dandelion, clover, hosta, roses, bambo shoot and whatever else I find they can eat and mazuri but was wondering what percent of their intake can be vegetables like cucumbers or squash, peppers, tomatoes or things of that nature. I know they’re opportunistic feeders and can handle some protein too, so maybe beans too? Tortellini doesn’t seem to be the biggest fan of the leafy greens but if I pop in a cherry tomato or something not green they’ll go ham at dinner time. Would it be fine to include other veggies with every meal or only a couple times a week? Thanks for the help!

 

[The_Four_Toed_Edward]

I am no expert in manouria emys, so I can't advice on the percent.

Beans can't be fed raw as they contain a toxic compound that disolves in high heat (https://www.thetortoisetable.org.uk/plant-database/viewplants/?plant=494&c=8).

Tomatoes and peppers are so high in sugar that in a tortoises diet they are considered in the fruit category. Some say these high in sugar foods can be fed sparingly, some say to avoid the risks and not feed completely.

 

[Tom]

Hello, new to the forum and I’ve got a young manouria emys named tortellini had a few weeks. Its around 5” long eating a mix of weeds from the yard like Plantains, dandelion, clover, hosta, roses, bambo shoot and whatever else I find they can eat and mazuri but was wondering what percent of their intake can be vegetables like cucumbers or squash, peppers, tomatoes or things of that nature. I know they’re opportunistic feeders and can handle some protein too, so maybe beans too? Tortellini doesn’t seem to be the biggest fan of the leafy greens but if I pop in a cherry tomato or something not green they’ll go ham at dinner time. Would it be fine to include other veggies with every meal or only a couple times a week? Thanks for the help!

Manouria are garbage disposals. You can feed them just about anything. Just be sure harder veggies are either left whole or grated, not cut into chunks. Never feed them chunks.

As far as a percentage, there have been no studies, so we can't give you anything helpful beyond guesses. Most people just wing it, and there is an obvious very wide margin of error, because everyone's routine and preferences seem to work just fine for this species. I would just feed them whatever is available day by day, and I would favor more greens than anything else. Some grated squash or mushrooms thrown in daily won't hurt anything.

Public Service Announcement - Tortoise Food Chunks

I was reminded today that not everyone knows that "hard" foods like opuntia, cucumber, carrots, or this time of year, pumpkin should not be cut up and fed in chunks. Chunks of these types of food will be swallowed whole by tortoises and can cause them to choke to death. It doesn't happen every...

tortoiseforum.org

 

[Matt996]

Manouria are garbage disposals. You can feed them just about anything. Just be sure harder veggies are either left whole or grated, not cut into chunks. Never feed them chunks.

As far as a percentage, there have been no studies, so we can't give you anything helpful beyond guesses. Most people just wing it, and there is an obvious very wide margin of error, because everyone's routine and preferences seem to work just fine for this species. I would just feed them whatever is available day by day, and I would favor more greens than anything else. Some grated squash or mushrooms thrown in daily won't hurt anything.

Public Service Announcement - Tortoise Food Chunks

I was reminded today that not everyone knows that "hard" foods like opuntia, cucumber, carrots, or this time of year, pumpkin should not be cut up and fed in chunks. Chunks of these types of food will be swallowed whole by tortoises and can cause them to choke to death. It doesn't happen every...

tortoiseforum.org

Yeah I’ve read they eat a lot I just didn’t want too many vegetables if I tossed some on the mix every day. Thanks for the reassurance and advice. Trying to stay away from grocery store foods so we’d say any mushroom safe for people is good for them too? Like chicken of the woods or turkey tail?

 

[Yvonne G]

I fed my Manouria the same as I feed my box turtles - any fruits, veggies, animal protein, edible plants, etc.

 

[Len B]

In the wild a large percentage of their diet consist of plants in the araceae family. Alocasia and Colocasia which are old world plants we call elephant ears. There's a new world plant, Xanthosoma that grows in tropical America. It's sold under the name Malanga at food stores. You can start plants from the root. There are many colocasia types that will survive cold winter temperatures but I've never found an alocasia that could. As for protein I used frozen than thawed pinky mice for the youngsters. They also liked mushrooms and cooked sweet potatoes.

 

[Matt996]

Yes, I’ve planted elephant ears in the enclosure so when they come up they’ll be getting those, I’ll keep an eye out for malanga and how often do you feed the pinkies?