How often should i be giving my baby greek calcium and vitamin powder? I have been giving calcium 4 days a week, d3 and vitamins 2 days a week, then giving her a day off on sundays. I keep reading only a couple days a week on here. Am i giving her too much???
Calcium and Vitamins for baby greek
- Thread starter Hbomb
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iAmCentrochelys sulcata
Well-Known Member
Try one a week, I think what you are giving is too much. You can also try eggshells.
way too much of everything. What type of food are you feeding it? do you have a UVB light?
Yes i have uvb. I give her grape leaves, mulberry leaves, spring mix, dandelions and dandelion greens. Okay i had a feeling it was too much but the reptile store acted like i was gonna kill her if i did not adhere to this schedule. So should i do calcium 1-2 times a week and d3 once a week? That was initially what i wanted to do...i have had her for a couple weeks now. Do you think i hurt her already? I am new here
You can do calcium once a week and if your providing uvb I would d3 once every month. I can't say if you hurt her in the short term but I think if you continued doing so it would have led to problems. Pet stores very rarely know what they are talking about when it comes to tortoises. It sounds like you are providing a well balanced diet and are providing "sunlight" so you are in good shape. Read the care sheets found here on the forum and you should be all set.
I have not seen a care sheet for a baby Greek. Can you link me please?
Greek Tortoise Care Guide
The Greek Tortoise Care Guide (Testudo graeca ssp) Chris Leone HermanniHaven.com GardenStateTortoise.com theTurtleRoom.com THIS CARE-SHEET IS DETAILED FOR A REASON. READ IT THOROUGHLY BEFORE PROCEEDING WITH OBTAINING A TORTOISE. Moroccan tortoise (Testudo graeca marokkensis) Introduction...
www.tortoiseforum.org
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I suggest offering calcium in powder form (calcium carbonate) 24/7 in a small, shallow, easily accessible container in your tortoises enclosure. You will find that your tortoise will consume calcium as it needs too. Often at different stages of growth and season. By mixing calcium with it's food you are essentially forcing the tortoise to consume calcium when it may not need that much at that time. You also have to consider that many of the foods you feed a tortoise contain calcium also. Once your tortoise gets bigger, over 4" you can switch to small broken pieces of cuttlebone as a calcium source. In my experience most Greek species that I have had do not consume a lot of calcium in general. The exception being developing young and to some degree egg producing females.
As far as other vitamins, they aren't really necessary if your tortoise is getting a good quality varied diet. Supplements should not be a replacement for a good quality diet. But if vitamins are to be used I would only do so about once every 7-10 days. Tortoises can be fed too much calcium and vitamins. It's especially hard for them to regulate their intake when those supplements are coating the food that they consume.
As far as other vitamins, they aren't really necessary if your tortoise is getting a good quality varied diet. Supplements should not be a replacement for a good quality diet. But if vitamins are to be used I would only do so about once every 7-10 days. Tortoises can be fed too much calcium and vitamins. It's especially hard for them to regulate their intake when those supplements are coating the food that they consume.
Greek Tortoise Care Guide
The Greek Tortoise Care Guide (Testudo graeca ssp) Chris Leone HermanniHaven.com GardenStateTortoise.com theTurtleRoom.com THIS CARE-SHEET IS DETAILED FOR A REASON. READ IT THOROUGHLY BEFORE PROCEEDING WITH OBTAINING A TORTOISE. Moroccan tortoise (Testudo graeca marokkensis) Introduction...
Very informative but i notice it says to use top soil and sand as substrate as well as mentions that glass tanks should never be used...both which everyone in this group said the opposite in my newbie post when i first got her. So which one is right??
Okay so put the calcium powder in a tiny dish will be enough for her? She will know what to do? She is only 2.5 inches long so definitely still developing.
IMO, The one you are most comfortable with is the right one. I got my tort from Chris (who wrote the care sheet) and he's been keeping and breeding all species of Testudo for 30 years and is well respected in the chelonian world. I try to follow what he's doing when it comes to my tortoise husbandry. That said, there are plenty of others who have been doing this as long if not longer than Chris that say no sand and glass tanks are great and their tortoises are no worse for wear. These care sheets and forum provide a great template for raising a tortoise but ultimately the decisions on how you want to do it have to come from you.
That brings us to the closed chamber, lol. Only way to maintain constant humidity in that range is in a closed chamber. An open table just won't hold temp or humidity enough for a hatchling to do well. I started with an open enclosure but was able to close it every night which would get the humidity up to 90-100%. But I was constantly spraying during the day. I have a closed chamber now and the difference is night and day. I add moisture once a week now just to maintain water/humidity levels.
I moved her to a tank per suggestion of people in this group. She is not in an open chamber. She is in a 45 gal reptile tank.
Screen top? Can you post pictures?
some easy fixes to the humidity issues:
add some plants (fake or real) they will hold humidity under them.
install plexiglass on top to keep humidity in
right now you have a screened top open chamber
add some plants (fake or real) they will hold humidity under them.
install plexiglass on top to keep humidity in
right now you have a screened top open chamber
take a look at the pictures in this thread:
tortoiseforum.org
open top enclosure help
i have talked to a few people about my open top enclosure that i have already built for my leopard tortoise that i am getting next week. I need to put some sort of top on it. I have been advised to put either a screen or plexiglass on top of it. i would really like to use the plexiglass idea...
tortoiseforum.org
Too much and too often !
Be careful with vitamins. Some, like vitamin A can be quickly overdosed. When you feed a wide diet you need no extra vitamins. Calcium powder once a week is absolutely sufficient.
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