Calcium powder?

[kassijo3432]

Any advise on calcium powder? My tort has his crack on his stomach and I was told sprinkling it on his food twice a week can help heal his crack some? Idk how much calcium he gets normally because all I feed him is his romaine, and kale lettuce with occasionally some cherry tomatoes. He's a pretty picky eater.

 

[hunterk997]

First, your tortoise needs much more variety than those listed foods. If you live in an area that gets snow, once it warms up you can get weeds. But your local grocery stores should have enough safe foods for your tortoise during the cold seasons. About the crack, did you take him to an experienced herp vet? A crack isn't something I would try treating alone. Calcium twice a week sounds sufficient. It also depends on the age of your tortoise. I use calcium two to three times a week for my one-year-old tortoise, and once a week for my 5 inch tortoise.

 

[kassijo3432]

Ok sounds good. He is about 8yrs old. I've had him for 5 yrs. and yes he sees a vet annually. Vet says he's not as healed as he wanted him to be a year prior but he's very active and his appetite is very good. He's a very picky eater so it's hard to find something he'd like. He loves romaine and I'm gradually adding kale into the romaine. He eats a little spinach but I don't feed him too much of that. I just figured the calcium powder would help make his diet a little better sense I wasn't focusing much on the calcium before.

 

[Yvonne G]

Calcium doesn't taste good to tortoises, and if he can taste it he won't eat. So, use it sparingly.

 

[kassijo3432]

Ok sounds good. Thank you.

 

[Jazenami]

My tort went on a hunger strike when I switched his diet to collards endive and more from just romaine but he caved eventually lol

 

[kassijo3432]

Lol nice.

 

[kassijo3432]

So I fed my tortoise his first plate of lettuce with a tsp of the calcium powder and he devoured it.

 

[Tom]

A TEASPOON? That is enough for a month. All you need is a tiny pinch sprinkled on top of the greens every few days. Your tortoise needs a better diet and some sunshine to help heal a crack in the shell.

Please understand something: Tortoises are creatures of habit. They do not readily take to new and unfamiliar foods in most cases. A keeper must spend lots of time introducing new foods. Get some of the old favorite food and chop it all up super fine. Then get a tiny amount of the new food, like endive, certain garden weeds and flowers, grape, hibiscus or mulberry leaves, spineless opuntia cactus pad, etc... and mince it up super fine. When I say a small amount, I mean like 5% of the total pile of food for the day. Mix the new food in thoroughly with the old food and serve. When the tortoise is eating up this mixture with no problem gradually increase the ratio of new food to old, over a period of weeks. After a few months of this, and possibly a few days where your tortoise decides not to eat his pile of food (hunger is a good motivator), you will end up with a tortoise that is no longer picky and will eat anything you put in front of it.

 

[Grandpa Turtle 144]

Tom gave you some good advice . But may I ask in the last year how much sun have you gave the tort ?

 

[kassijo3432]

Ya that's what I do when I want to change his food. Thank you. Ok less powder got it. And he hasn't had any uv light sense summer because he went into hibernation but I pulled him out just a couple weeks ago because I didn't think it was healthy for him with his crack and I haven't fed him enough proper foods before he went into hibernation. So he hasn't had much except his heat lamp. But he's back on track with the daily heat lamp and uv light and he eats really good when I feed him and he's very active he runs around a lot.