Help! What to feed my leopard tortoise

littleleo

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Hello. I have a baby leopard tortoise and have been giving him a mixed variety of prickly pear, spring mix, orchard hay, and cucumbers but it goes to waste so fast and I don't even know if it is as nutritious for him than other things. I just bought the Rep-Cal Tortoise Food which I am going to slowly introduce. Any tips or specific foods that should be given on a daily basis instead of these?
 

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dmmj

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it goes to waste, is your tortoise not eating it?
 

Linhdan Nguyen

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Does it go to waste because the veggie spoil/wilt? Do you wash the veggies and put them back in the fridge wet? I usually wash my veggies and let them air dry. Then before i put them back in the fridge, ill place a paper towel between or around the veggies so it soaks the water into the paper towel and my veggies stay fresh longer.
 

littleleo

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dmmj: he eats them but the veggies spoil

Linhdan: I don't put them back in wet. The spring mix came in a sealed container so when I am done I just seal it back. But the cucumber goes bad and so do the cactus.
 

dmmj

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I'm sorry I'm having trouble understanding why it spoils. I've left for out all day before inside and outside that doesn't spoil. If he's eating it and then leaving some behind try feeding less
 

Nmcgowan

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That pellet food has fruit in it. Leopards can barely have any fruit in their diet. If I were you I wouldn't use that and try to stick to the veggies, hay, and cactus. I use Tupperware and Ziploc to keep things fresh.
 

Gdbyrd

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What I recently discovered that seems to help prolong cut produce is adding dried grass. I finely cut orchard grass with scissors and add it to the mix. It soaks up some of the juices and the tort seems to like it better.

As for uncut stuff, those green bags they used to sell by infomercial actually work. My wife got some and we stick most of our produce in there. Seems to last considerably longer.
 

Nmcgowan

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He can't have a little?

Too much fruit can really mess up their insides. To me it's a risk, but if you think you can measure out the right percentage of fruit into the diet (I believe the general consensus is no more than 5%) then it's risk you have to be willing to take.
 

Linhdan Nguyen

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dmmj: he eats them but the veggies spoil

Linhdan: I don't put them back in wet. The spring mix came in a sealed container so when I am done I just seal it back. But the cucumber goes bad and so do the cactus.
Your spring mix doesnt get a little humid (i guess that what it is?) when you leave it in the fridge for a couple of days? Mines does. The water droplet begin to form inside the container. I havent introduced cucumber to my tortoises yet but i believe if you cut just part of the cucumber off & using plastic wrap, wrap up the remaining unused part, the cucumber should last longer. Cucumber and cactus should just be used soon when cut due to their water content.
 

Greg T

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I feed my babies a steady diet of chopped spring mix (minus the spinach) each morning. I will mix in green or red leaf lettuce, flowers, or other weeds I pull from the yard. I will give them mazuri twice a week and occasionally a small amount of melon or strawberry. I sprinkle their food with calcium powder once a week. If they are hungry in the afternoon, I'll throw a few pieces of lettuce in there to munch on.
 
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