What do your redfoots eat for protein?

[GeoTerraTestudo]

do you think shrimp would work? I get loads of it for my arowanas anyways and it would beat the prep im currently doing for protine

Occasional fish for a redfoot makes sense, because in nature during the dry season, they scavenge the carcasses of fish that got stranded in ephemeral ponds. However, they probably don't eat many crustaceans in the wild, which is why I never gave my redfoot tortoise shrimp.

 

[nickercrombie]

This might be a dumb question, but when you feed the chicken or any other sort of meat, is it cooked? Or raw? I would assume raw, but wanted to check!

 

[Yvonne G]

Some people fear to pass salmonella along by using raw chicken, so they cook it first. My thinking is no one cooks a dead animal found in the jungle for them, so I don't cook the chicken I feed to my pond turtles.

 

[goReptiles]

I've tried shrimp, but mine don't really care for it.

What I've found is that my guys love mice and rats! I have snakes, so when it's snake feeding day, whatever goes uneaten (which is usually just one or two mice or one small/medium rat) goes to the tortoises.

If I have a rat left over, I do end up having to skin it so that they can eat the innards. They go straight through the mice and any pinkies they may get.

Please excuse their dryness.

 

[herpgirl24]

Completely forgot redfoots can eat egg!!! Since the kids colored 3 dozen, looks like it will be protein day tomorrow!!!!

I put worms in the substrate of my redfoots cage, there are also slugs and pill bugs living in there. I let them eat them as they choose. I just feed a variety of veggies daily.

 

[Itort]

I give mine what I call omnivore goop (that I make for my bluetongues). It's 40% greens, 40% quality dog food, and 10% fruit with calcium powder mixed in (approx teaspoon per 12 oz). All this in food processor till it is well mixed. Freeze this in ice cube tray and feed a cube.

 

[GeoTerraTestudo]

This might be a dumb question, but when you feed the chicken or any other sort of meat, is it cooked? Or raw? I would assume raw, but wanted to check!

Some people fear to pass salmonella along by using raw chicken, so they cook it first. My thinking is no one cooks a dead animal found in the jungle for them, so I don't cook the chicken I feed to my pond turtles.

Redfoots can eat either raw or cooked meat, but since they have to live around humans (ahem), it's a good idea to cook meat first, so that they don't become carriers of Salmonella.

 

[Madkins007]

I give mine what I call omnivore goop (that I make for my bluetongues). It's 40% greens, 40% quality dog food, and 10% fruit with calcium powder mixed in (approx teaspoon per 12 oz). All this in food processor till it is well mixed. Freeze this in ice cube tray and feed a cube.

Just to pass on some information- there have been reports that food that is processed like this- where the cell walls are pulverized- reduces the beneficial long-strand fiber and the broken cell walls may contribute to some digestive tract issues such as diarrhea.

While this may be a great diet for Bluetongues, it seems to have a couple weaknesses for red-footed tortoises based on my research...

If this is the main diet, that is a lot of mediocre-quality protein in relation to the other foods for a red-footed tortoise. Excess protein can cause problems with kidneys, too-rapid growth, etc. A more common ratio would be 70% green stuff, 20% fruits, especially seeded veggies not so high in sugars, and 10% proteins.

The teaspoon of calcium per 12 oz of food seems high as well. I don't offer my herd of 5 young tortoises a teaspoon of calcium in an entire week. Excess calcium itself does little harm in a hydrated tortoise, but calcium blocks the intake of things like iron and zinc, so we generally aim to let the intake vary some.