calcium

[jhongsen]

hi everyone , meter (my indian star tort) is currently almost 11 month and I want to know , do meter need calcium? I was thinking that maybe calcium are given to those who have reach the age more than 3 years.

And I saw 2 kind of calcium one is made by Exoterra and the other one is from japan. The clerk tells me that Exoterra is already been mix with other material so it's not pure calcium and on the other hand he said it is pure calcium , so witch one is better? i don't want to give too much calcium for meter though

 

[Robbie Denby]

hi everyone , meter (my indian star tort) is currently almost 11 month and I want to know , do meter need calcium? I was thinking that maybe calcium are given to those who have reach the age more than 3 years.

And I saw 2 kind of calcium one is made by Exoterra and the other one is from japan. The clerk tells me that Exoterra is already been mix with other material so it's not pure calcium and on the other hand he said it is pure calcium , so witch one is better? i don't want to give too much calcium for meter though

I've always read that tortoises no matter what age need calcium, it's abit like us as children, you need calcium to grow big and strong, without out there bones would grow brittle, sine Foss are rich in calcium where sometimes you don't need to apply as much, but I always No matter what sprinkle a bit onto all foods.

 

[Yvonne G]

I hardly ever give my adult tortoises a calcium supplement, but there are cuttlebones in every habitat, and I feed calcium-rich foods.

 

[lisa127]

I do the same as Yvonne with boxies.

 

[jhongsen]

hmmm so it's better to give food that have high calcium rather than using product that add calcium... , thanks for the reply

 

[Redari]

If you don't want to supplement calcium, I would put a cuttlebone in meter's enclosure. It's a white disk that you can find in the bird section of most pet stores, and then if meter isn't getting enough calcium he can always nibble on it.

They look like this: http://www.petsmart.com/product/index.jsp?productId=11147210

 

[jhongsen]

cuttlebone? did you mean something like this?


well never see one in my whole life... , maybe i should try to look around

 

[Yellow Turtle]

Not that it's better to give food which contains high calcium, but if you should research your food nutrition and if your food already contains high calcium then additional one is not necessary. I'll keep giving calcium supplement to tortoise, especially during our rainy seasons, or just put cuttlebone in the enclosure so your tort can nibble at it at leisure.

I'm really not sure what the clerk trying to tell you. I know exoterra coming with 2 products, calcium and calcium with vit D. You give the one with vit D if you can't provide your tort with enough uvb and that's it.

Yes, those are cuttlebones on your last picture.

 

[jhongsen]

Not that it's better to give food which contains high calcium, but if you should research your food nutrition and if your food already contains high calcium then additional one is not necessary. I'll keep giving calcium supplement to tortoise, especially during our rainy seasons, or just put cuttlebone in the enclosure so your tort can nibble at it at leisure.

I'm really not sure what the clerk trying to tell you. I know exoterra coming with 2 products, calcium and calcium with vit D. You give the one with vit D if you can't provide your tort with enough uvb and that's it.

hmm i never think about it before , to research food nutrition.. i only feed meter base on thread in food and diet section. so if the food that i give not provide calcium , that means i need to give another food or put calcium on current food.. okay noted

 

[GeoTerraTestudo]

hmmm so it's better to give food that have high calcium rather than using product that add calcium... , thanks for the reply

In nature, tortoises are found only in environments with calcium-rich soils. Animals need calcium for their skeleton, and tortoises need even more for their shell. So, they must have a calcium-rich diet, whether as plants with lots of calcium in their tissues, or as minerals to gnaw on directly.

Leaving out a cuttlebone or calcium block is an excellent idea, because not only does it provide calcium, it also helps the tortoise keep its beak trim by gnawing on it.

However, without vitamin D3, all the calcium in the world cannot be absorbed. Outdoor tortoises get plenty of sunshine, so they don't need supplementation because their body makes its own vitamin D3. However, even if indoor tortoises have UVB-emitting lights, they still don't produce as much vitamin D3 as outdoor tortoises, so they need dietary supplementation. This can be supplied as a calcium + vitamin D3 powder sprinkled onto their food about 3x per week.

 

[jhongsen]

hmm so the key is giving calcium and let him basking in real sunlight every day.. , but does that mean i still need using cuttlebone or calcium supplement? i'm giving him bok choy now but he doesn't seems to like it now , a couple days will make him eat it properly , and I'm growing some dandelion for food.. , these two are giving high calcium for meter about 105 mg

 

[GeoTerraTestudo]

hmm so the key is giving calcium and let him basking in real sunlight every day.. , but does that mean i still need using cuttlebone or calcium supplement? i'm giving him bok choy now but he doesn't seems to like it now , a couple days will make him eat it properly , and I'm growing some dandelion for food.. , these two are giving high calcium for meter about 105 mg

Yes, basking in real sunshine is important for all tortoises. In addition, all tortoises (indoor or outdoor) should have some kind of mineral block available to gnaw on. Like a lot of herbivores, they gnaw on calcium-rich rocks in the wild for three reasons: 1) dietary calcium enrichment, 2) beak trimming, and 3) plant detoxification. So, having access to a cuttlebone or calcium block is important for all tortoises, especially those that are young and growing fast, as well as females producing eggs (the shells are made of calcium).

In addition, indoor tortoises should have calcium + vitamin D3 supplementation about 3x per week. When they get this, I find that they gnaw on cuttlebone less. When they don't, they gnaw on cuttlebone more. Either way, they need the additional vitamin D3 beyond what they synthesize themselves from basking. Again, if they live outdoors full-time in a suitable climate, they don't need the supplementation. But even indoor tortoises that get some outdoor time benefit from some supplementation. You don't want to overdose on D3, so that's why you offer it only a couple times per week, instead of everyday.

Bok choy is okay as part of a varied diet, but it's not really the best tortoise food. It does provide calcium, but it also contains oxalic acid, which is an antinutrient that can have the opposite effect of weakening the skeleton if ingested in relatively large amounts. It also contains goitrogens, which can interfere with the thyroid gland in the neck, again if a relatively large amount is eaten on a frequent basis. There may be tortoises out there that do like bok choy, but my Russians don't, probably because they smell the antinutrients. It's also a bit too fibrous to be very palatable. Again, it is edible, but you really want to limit how much of it you offer, and they probably won't want much of it, anyway.

Dandelion is a good tortoise food, as are other members of the sunflower family. Indian star tortoises are grazers, so give your tortoise access to lots of fresh grass. You can also include a few plants from the cabbage family, other than bok choy, like turnip greens. And you can offer quality pelleted foods, like Mazuri Tortoise Diet or ZooMed Grassland Tortoise Food. Here's a good thread on feeding Indian star tortoises:

"Indian Star Tortoise Diet?"

 

[jhongsen]

hmm from the link that you just gave.. i got a little confused , they said that half diet is grass and half diet by weed , flower and greens , does this mean breakfast feed them with green lettuce , hibiscus , dandelion etc. And let him grazing on grass field for the whole day and for dinner feed them again just like breakfast?

and does very rarely means once a week?

 

[Yellow Turtle]

You get it right, although don't feed them in the night time. They certainly don't need dinner. I usually feed them once in the morning, but there are people who also feed them twice in the morning and afternoon. You can feed those greens once in the morning, and let them graze freely after that.

 

[jhongsen]

i already found the cuttlebone , but the size quite huge , how small do i need to cut it?

 

[GeoTerraTestudo]

i already found the cuttlebone , but the size quite huge , how small do i need to cut it?

If you want to, you can just snap it in half with your hands. But I wouldn't worry about it. Just place in your tortoise's enclosure, and let him nibble on it whenever he wants to. It can last a long time.

 

[jhongsen]

put in whole? hmm will do thanks for the advice

 

[Cowboy_Ken]

With cuttlebone, I found my tortoises ignore it until it has aged and weathered some in the outdoor enclosure.
I now no longer use cuttlebone for calcium. I use 100% limestone flour. This is pure calcium that I freely broadcast on the growing plants of the outdoor enclosure. A large, 20lb. bag is very inexpensive and will last for years. I live in an area that receives much rainfall and calcium is leeched from the soil, so this helps.

 

[jhongsen]

With cuttlebone, I found my tortoises ignore it until it has aged and weathered some in the outdoor enclosure.
I now no longer use cuttlebone for calcium. I use 100% limestone flour. This is pure calcium that I freely broadcast on the growing plants of the outdoor enclosure. A large, 20lb. bag is very inexpensive and will last for years. I live in an area that receives much rainfall and calcium is leeched from the soil, so this helps.

hmm so the soil give calcium to the grass in the yard? sounds perfect but I don't have a yard in my house so i keep meter inside and every day I will bring the enclosure and put it directly to the sunlight. so i still working out how to make a small yard for meter

 

[Cowboy_Ken]

The limestone flour sticks to the plant material that is growing that they actively consume. And yes, as the plants grow, they absorb calcium from the soil. Africa, with little rainfall, tends to have a high calcium level in the soil.