Breakfast time

[lisser]

Here is the baby chowing down on some dandelion flowers this morning..

I'm a little worried...I've had these guys for over a week and I've only seen one turd. They are eating great, they devour everything I put in their enclosure but no poop!

I'm doing daily soaks and still no poop. I see them drink, I see them eat. How long can they go without poop? Should I try some squash? Prunes? Pumpkin?

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here is a bathtime photo!

 

[Livingstone]

Happy tort sitting and eating dandelion

 

[coreyc]

They are probably getting to them before you and eating them

 

[lisser]

They eat their poop? Oh....I really don't want them doing that unless there is some sort of nutritional benefit to it?

Uck.

 

[coreyc]

It's normal for them to eat poop how old is your smallest one?

 

[Tom]

Corey is right. It helps "seed" their GI tract with beneficial flora and fauna. I'd do your soaks a little deeper, make sure its warm water and leave them in there a little longer. Sometimes I go for 30-40 minutes. Other days, only 10-15. Mine usually poop in the water and that keeps their enclosures cleaner.

You seem to really be getting the hang of things, but just a cautionary note. Dandelions are great, but make sure they get lots of other stuff too. I think you already know that, just want to make sure all the bases are covered.

 

[lisser]

Ok, deeper longer soaks, got it...I guess I'll let them eat their poop if it helps them....ewww! hahahaa!!

Tom, can you give me an example menu of what you feed your babies each day? (when I say babies, I don't really mean infants, it's what I call all my fur and now shelled animals.) They are my babies. I'm a dork I know.

Should I be doing breakfast, lunch, dinner type thing or make sure they have food available to them at all times? I know they are grazers so that pretty much tells me they need to have stuff to munch on all the time right? I've been giving them some cactus as a treat but I am afraid to give them much more than Spring mix, grass and dandelion leaves and flowers. Again, I don't give them anything that has been chemically treated.

I'm still learning so I will gladly take all suggestions, comments and criticisms I can handle it

I am not sure how old these guys are. I got them from a 4th grade student who had to abruptly move from Northern KY where I am to San Diego. The airline would not allow him to take the tortoises with him on the plane so I agreed to take them. There was no time for research, I didn't even know what they were, I was told they were turtles. I did find out from the student's mother that all of the tortoises were purchased from a local pet store, not a chain store, a local one that specializes in reptiles and exotic fish. The mom told me the biggest one they've had for 4 years, the middle one about 2 years and the youngest one about 3-4 months. I can measure them all for you so you can get an idea of their size. The middle one's shell is in the best condition. The smallest one and the largest one have some pyramiding but for some reason the middle one has a smooth shell.

The tortoises were allowed to roam the student's house, on the floor. There was no light or heat source and they were fed iceberg lettuce and "dried worms". I don't know what type of dried worms they were but the student told me they were not alive?

That's pretty much the story of my new babies.

 

[Torty Mom]

Nawww your so not a dork!! I refer to my hatchlings as babies too. I think it's great all the questions you are asking, not to mention how hard you are working to get it just right! I am always learning something new here!! Keep up the good work!!

 

[ekm5015]

Good luck with the new torts. Like Tom said, I would make the water a little bit deeper...so it comes about half way up their shell or so. Also spraying their shells a few times a day won't hurt.

During the winter I pretty much feed whatever healthy greens I can find at the grocery store such as:

Dandelion greens, collard greens, kale, mustard greens, endive, chicory and mix them in with the pre-made lettuce mixes such as spring mix. You could also look into getting some optunia or prickly pear catctus which is a great food to feed a couple times a week as well. In the summer there is a much greater variety of edibles you can grow for them such as figs leaves, grape leaves, and hibiscus just to name a few.

 

[Tom]

You are not a dork! (But you might be a nerd.) Everyone here loves your enthusiasm and great attitude.

I try to use lots of variety with all of mine. Mainly I use grass and weeds. A whole variety of weeds including; dandelion, mallow, sowthistle, thistle, wild mustard, wild onion, hawksbit, pineapple weed, filaree, plantain, burr clover, clover... I know there are more, but I can't think of them all. I scrounge them up all over the place. For my big sulcatas, I also have grass hay (Bermuda, Orchard Grass or Timothy) available all the time. I also use various greens from the grocery store including; mustard, collard and turnip greens, red and green leaf lettuce, parsley, cilantro, bok choy, chard, endive, escarole, butter lettuce, Italian parsley, carrot tops, celery, romaine, etc... I also feed lots of mulberry, grape, rose and hibiscus leaves. Occasional flowers from hibiscus, rose, rose of sharon, cape honeysuckle, and squash or pumpkin flowers. I also feed them occasional pumpkin, peppers, cucumber, carrot, tomatoes, iceberg lettuce, yams, "mixed" frozen/thawed veggies and whatever else I can find. I also feed several species of opuntia cactus and organ pipe cactus. I also feed Mazuri twice a week, mixed in with all of the above.

Whew! That's the most I've thought about all of that in a long time. Basically I feed them anything that is edible for tortoises. Spring mix and Santa Barbara Mix are very easy when I'm feeding a bunch of babies all at the same time, but I mix it up a lot. All of this varies seasonally too. They only see pumpkin from Oct.-Jan, usually, for example. The weeds go crazy around my place from Oct-May, but dry up and die from June until the rains come again in the fall. Right now, I'm literally waist deep in Mallow. That makes up a large part of their diet for several months of the year.

If I were you, I'd try to ID the weeds you see daily and use a variety of those mostly. Vary that with some spring mix. Add some cactus and Mazuri, and you'll have nice healthy torts.

If you can, locate some local established mulberry trees, plant a few grape vines and rose of sharon plants and you will be golden.

 

[lisser]

Ha! Thanks guys for all the encouragement. I can't tell you enough how much I appreciate it. We did deeper and longer soaks today but after about 20 minutes I felt the water was getting too cool so I took them out and put them under the basking lamp while I made their breakfast.

I made sure today to get some clovers in there, some thistle leaves, and some other big green week that almost looks like endive. The mexican store is getting me some different types of cactus flowers too and some jamaica flowers that aren't not dried out. Is that ok for them?

 

[Tom]

I think jamaica is hibiscus, which is fine as a small part of their diet, not sure on the cactus flowers. Just make sure not to feed them anything you are not sure of. Use the weed ID section if you aren't 100% positive that you know what it is and its safe for them to eat. We all say we feed them weeds, but its all weeds that we have ID'd and are known to be safe to feed out And we are sure don't have any chemicals on them.