Complete Idiot's Guide?

[hunterk997]

I went to my local library today and checked out s book called The Complete Idiot's Guide To Turtles & Tortoises. And in the book, where it talks about food for Russian tortoise feeding, it said soaked dog food/ kibble. That makes me kind of irritated because it's the "complete idiot's guide" it's more as if the writer is an "idiot" to me... Just thought I would share that. It kind of erked me.

 

[Yvonne G]

One might interpret the title that way..."A complete idiot has written this guide."

 

[lisa127]

I have that book here. No where in my book does it say to feed soaked dog kibble to a Russian tortoise.

 

[hunterk997]

Well in mine, it says it on page 119. I'll attach a picture.



It's kind of hard to make out but I think it's able to be read. I can try to take a better one if you can't.

---

 

[Jd3]

The book was written in 1997. It isn't particularly surprising.

 

[lisa127]

Well, mine must be an updated copy from the OP's. Because that does not appear in my book. She says the Russian is an herbivore that eats some fruit, fleshy vegetables, flowers.....no protein whatsoever.

 

[Madkins007]

It was pretty common in the 90's and earlier to feed most tortoises a pretty omnivorous diet- it was sort of an over-reaction to earlier diets like 'just cabbage', 'only hamburger and lettuce', and so on.

 

[Tom]

I never bought into that genre of books. I always thought they should come up with "A Reasonably Intelligent Person's Guide To..."

Since I'm not a complete idiot, I never felt like those books were for me.

 

[GeoTerraTestudo]

Wow, that is pretty bad. Glad they amended it in later editions.

I'm not a fan of the "Complete Idiot's" series, but I do rather like the "For Dummies" series. I used to have Turtles and Tortoises for Dummies, and I thought it was a pretty good introduction to turtle- and tortoise-keeping.

 

[Spn785]

I never bought into that genre of books. I always thought they should come up with "A Reasonably Intelligent Person's Guide To..."

Since I'm not a complete idiot, I never felt like those books were for me.

LMAO! That is funny, and I agree completely! Though like Geo said the "For Dummies" books can actually be pretty good.

 

[lisa127]

I didn't realize there was a "for dummies" series and a "complete idiots" series. I'm not sure which I have, I'll have to look. The copy I have has a copyright of 2006 though. So it is an updated version.

 

[CtTortoiseMom]

One might interpret the title that way..."A complete idiot has written this guide."

Too funny!

 

[lisa127]

I just looked at mine. It is Turtles and Tortoises for Dummies. Copyright 2006. I didn't realize there was two different series!

 

[GeoTerraTestudo]

I just looked at mine. It is Turtles and Tortoises for Dummies. Copyright 2006. I didn't realize there was two different series!

Yeah, I think the Dummies series came first, and then the Idiots series kind of copied that format.

So, that's the Dummies one, eh? Oh, dear. Not good at all. Well, my edition of the book was from before 2006 - more like around 2002 - so that misinformation must have been in there back then, too, although I don't think I noticed it. If I had, I'm sure I would have been as appalled as you, since the dangers of giving tortoises dog food were known before then.

Looks like the four species listed in that table are the Russian, sulcata, star, and yellowfoot tortoises. The recommended diet for the star tortoise looks okay, but she botched up the sulcata and the yellowfoot, too. She says "some fruit" for the sulcata, but how much is that? (Shouldn't be much, if any.) And she says "grass for grazing" for the yellowfoot, but yellowfoots and redfoots are forest tortoises, somewhat omnivorous, and not grazers. Not that they should be getting dog food, either, but if you're going to wrongly recommend dog food, at list do it for the yellowfoot, which needs more protein than the Russian!

Certainly not the right information for turning dummies (or complete idiots) into competent tortoise keepers.

 

[Jd3]

I just looked at mine. It is Turtles and Tortoises for Dummies. Copyright 2006. I didn't realize there was two different series!

Yeah, I think the Dummies series came first, and then the Idiots series kind of copied that format.

So, that's the Dummies one, eh? Oh, dear. Not good at all. Well, my edition of the book was from before 2006 - more like around 2002 - so that misinformation must have been in there back then, too, although I don't think I noticed it. If I had, I'm sure I would have been as appalled as you, since the dangers of giving tortoises dog food were known before then.

Looks like the four species listed in that table are the Russian, sulcata, star, and yellowfoot tortoises. The recommended diet for the star tortoise looks okay, but she botched up the sulcata and the yellowfoot, too. She says "some fruit" for the sulcata, but how much is that? (Shouldn't be much, if any.) And she says "grass for grazing" for the yellowfoot, but yellowfoots and redfoots are forest tortoises, somewhat omnivorous, and not grazers. Not that they should be getting dog food, either, but if you're going to wrongly recommend dog food, at list do it for the yellowfoot, which needs more protein than the Russian!

Certainly not the right information for turning dummies (or complete idiots) into competent tortoise keepers.

Lisa is saying her for dummies book does not say this.

 

[GeoTerraTestudo]

Lisa is saying her for dummies book does not say this.

Ah, very good. So, those screen shots are from the Idiots book then, and not the Dummies book. That explains why I don't remember seeing it in the book I had. As I said, I think the Dummies series introduces topics better than the Idiots series.