Tortoise has tripled in size!

[kewp]

Haven’t posted in a while and wanted to share my buddy Pancake. This guy is easily 3x larger now that he has a huge yard and two large hibiscus plants that bloom year round.

Having a small issues...About 9 months ago, I moved in with my 95 year old Grandma who is starting to suffer from dementia. Gram never liked animals, but loves this tortoise. Every time he makes a lap past her window she laughs and says “there’s the creature again”. Problem is she is, I guess, worried he is hungry and saves the last 1/4 of her slice of toast to give him each morning. She gets very insistent and upset if she doesn’t give it to him.... will try to get out of her wheelchair. Know that’s not “approved” food, but how bad is it? It’s sonethibg that really triggers the dementia and makes her so happy to do...

 

[method89]

Your answer is in your own question... It makes her happy, how bad can it be.

 

[Tom]

Bread is certainly not "good" for them, but I seriously doubt that tiny little bit is going to do any harm. Try to make sure there is no butter or any other topping on that little section of the toast.

Personally, I'd attempt to get Grandma to give something even better than the toast. Convince her that the tortoise likes cactus pads or hibiscus flowers or leaves even more than the toast. Maybe find some special mulberry leaves or grape leaves that Grandma can give to the tortoise. Grow some gazania flowers from seed. Gazanias and lavatera both do great here in SoCal. Using these other items will also allow her to give even more food items and enjoy spending even more time with the tortoise instead of the few seconds it takes to down the toast. She could drop a dozen mulberry leaves, one at a time, instead of one tiny piece of toast.

If you don't have cactus pads, you can buy them in a the store and she can feed them to the tortoise using salad tongs of some sort. In any Mexican grocery store like Vallarta or Tres Sierras, they are called "nopales". Sometimes, "regular" grocery stores will carry them too. I'm partial to Vallarta. They have an amazing molcajete salsa and their carne asada taco meat is second to none. Plus the daughter of the owners of the chain is a classmate of my daughter and they are terrific people.

I can guarantee there are large mature mulberry trees near you too, and the people who own them would probably be thrilled to have you pruning some branches from time to time.

 

[kewp]

Thanks Tom. I keep looking for Mulberry trees but have never seen one (that I know of). FYI, when I first got Pancake you commented on my post about the importance of humidity. He’s had 3 appointments with Dr Greek and they always comment on how good he looks (just a bit on the fat side). I told him what you said about humidity and he was interested and where to find your posts.

While I have you here, how do you think his shell is looking? There was zero pyramiding when he was in his house, but now that he is outside it is starting to show. He’s 5 and was always small until recently. Huge growth spurt. I’m worried about one spot where the scuts look like they growing over each other.





He is a very happy tortoise and is super friendly. Loves people and can charm the pants off everyone (even my grandma). Obligatory glamor shots below..











View attachment 277894

Bread is certainly not "good" for them, but I seriously doubt that tiny little bit is going to do any harm. Try to make sure there is no butter or any other topping on that little section of the toast.

Personally, I'd attempt to get Grandma to give something even better than the toast. Convince her that the tortoise likes cactus pads or hibiscus flowers or leaves even more than the toast. Maybe find some special mulberry leaves or grape leaves that Grandma can give to the tortoise. Grow some gazania flowers from seed. Gazanias and lavatera both do great here in SoCal. Using these other items will also allow her to give even more food items and enjoy spending even more time with the tortoise instead of the few seconds it takes to down the toast. She could drop a dozen mulberry leaves, one at a time, instead of one tiny piece of toast.

If you don't have cactus pads, you can buy them in a the store and she can feed them to the tortoise using salad tongs of some sort. In any Mexican grocery store like Vallarta or Tres Sierras, they are called "nopales". Sometimes, "regular" grocery stores will carry them too. I'm partial to Vallarta. They have an amazing molcajete salsa and their carne asada taco meat is second to none. Plus the daughter of the owners of the chain is a classmate of my daughter and they are terrific people.

I can guarantee there are large mature mulberry trees near you too, and the people who own them would probably be thrilled to have you pruning some branches from time to time.

 

[kewp]

Don’t know why that pic didn’t load.....here is the spot I’m concerned about



.

 

[Tom]

He looks great. The shell growth is very typical and characteristic of any sulcata grown in SoCal. All of mine look just like that.

 

[Yvonne G]

Don’t know why that pic didn’t load.....here is the spot I’m concerned about



View attachment 277905 View attachment 277906 .

You can paint on some cold pressed coconut oil with a Q-tip in that area, allow it to soak in, then polish off the excess with a cotton cloth.

A while ago I read (and for the life of me, I can't remember where I read it) that someone who keeps galapagos tortoises occasionally feeds bread to the tortoises to aid in keeping away goiter (because bread contains iodine). My friends father-in-law, from Oklahoma, tossed bread out into the backyard for his box turtles.

I doubt there's anything harmful in the little crust of toast from Gramma.

 

[Boogeyman]

He looks awesome... thanks for sharing