Current (7-27-14) picture of SO

[Yvonne G]

Two hatchling Aldabran tortoises came to live with me in 2000. I made mistakes with them, and they're not perfect specimens, but they're coming along. Besides the bumpy shells, you'll notice a scoop over what would be the hip area. This shows a calcium deficiency or MBD. The last time I weighed SO, two years ago, he weighed 180lbs. He's much bigger than that now, but we can't pick him up to weigh him. I give both of the Aldabran tortoises extra calcium daily, inserted into a piece of fruit and stuck on the end of a skewer. After three years, I'm starting to see an improvement. The bumps will never smooth out, but the MBD is slowly going away.

 

[ben awes]

Love the shots of SO. Thanks for posting Yvonne. you were one of the very first to jump into this species I suppose? Even when i started with Leopards in 2004, there was no discussion that I was aware of about humidity. We all benefit from you sharing what you have learned! I have had my Aldabra for just 10 months. I sprinkle calcium on their food 5 or 6 times a week - but I really have no idea how much calcium. I would love to know more accurately what to do. Should I be giving him calcium every day? and how much? It is not uncommon for him to take bite of just a pile of calcium powder. I figure that he knows how to self regulate how much to digest, but maybe not?

Continued best of luck with your beauties!
Ben

 

[tortoisetime565]

They are beautiful Yvonne!!

 

[wellington]

Nice update. I didn't realize they were that old, I thought around 7 years and around 150 pounds as of now. They look on my ipad more brown then black. Are they?

 

[Flipper]

It's very helpful and supportive that you share your mistakes and learning experiences with all of us

SO is fabulous as is his name

 

[Yvonne G]

BO and SO live in the same yard now that they have always lived in. In 2000 it was mostly clover with a little bit of Bermuda grass. Their main diet was grazing, but I gave them veggies and greens occasionally. There was also a couple of wax leaf privets in their yard. About three, maybe four years ago I saw that Bo couldn't raise himself up when he moved. He just dragged himself along on his plastron. Along with this he had bubbles coming out of his mouth on a continuing basis. The vet didn't know if the wax leaf privet was toxic or not, and the tortoises had been eating the berries off the shrubs, so she wasn't sure if the dragging was due to calcium deficiency or poison.

I cut down the bushes and started the tortoises on extra calcium daily. After all this time (I can't remember if its been 3 or 4 years) BO is finally starting to be able to lift himself up when he walks. He still can't get way up, but at least he doesn't drag anymore. And the bubbles went away after about 6 months. And he stopped growing at this time too. SO has surpassed him in size and is probably about twice as big as BO.

So, Ben, to get back to the reason I started this story, I THINK either too much clover, or depleted calcium in their soil besides the mild toxicity of the shrubs. If you give your giant supplemental calcium two or three times a week, you should be ok. They grow faster than sulcatas do, and they need more calcium than you think they do.

(BO - the Bigger One, and SO - the Smaller One)

 

[kathyth]

SO looks like a moose! . What a beauty!

 

[ALDABRAMAN]

Fantastic growth lines!

 

[mikeh]

Love the shots of SO. Thanks for posting Yvonne. you were one of the very first to jump into this species I suppose? Even when i started with Leopards in 2004, there was no discussion that I was aware of about humidity. We all benefit from you sharing what you have learned! I have had my Aldabra for just 10 months. I sprinkle calcium on their food 5 or 6 times a week - but I really have no idea how much calcium. I would love to know more accurately what to do. Should I be giving him calcium every day? and how much? It is not uncommon for him to take bite of just a pile of calcium powder. I figure that he knows how to self regulate how much to digest, but maybe not?

Continued best of luck with your beauties!
Ben

BO and SO live in the same yard now that they have always lived in. In 2000 it was mostly clover with a little bit of Bermuda grass. Their main diet was grazing, but I gave them veggies and greens occasionally. There was also a couple of wax leaf privets in their yard. About three, maybe four years ago I saw that Bo couldn't raise himself up when he moved. He just dragged himself along on his plastron. Along with this he had bubbles coming out of his mouth on a continuing basis. The vet didn't know if the wax leaf privet was toxic or not, and the tortoises had been eating the berries off the shrubs, so she wasn't sure if the dragging was due to calcium deficiency or poison.

I cut down the bushes and started the tortoises on extra calcium daily. After all this time (I can't remember if its been 3 or 4 years) BO is finally starting to be able to lift himself up when he walks. He still can't get way up, but at least he doesn't drag anymore. And the bubbles went away after about 6 months. And he stopped growing at this time too. SO has surpassed him in size and is probably about twice as big as BO.

So, Ben, to get back to the reason I started this story, I THINK either too much clover, or depleted calcium in their soil besides the mild toxicity of the shrubs. If you give your giant supplemental calcium two or three times a week, you should be ok. They grow faster than sulcatas do, and they need more calcium than you think they do.

(BO - the Bigger One, and SO - the Smaller One)

I think in the wild tortoises ingest lot more calcium and other trace minerals then we may think. Most of the leafs and grass close to the ground are covered with coat of dirt on the underside of leaf's from rainwater splashing of the ground upward. This dirt is ingested with every leaf eaten. I don't wash any weeds to be consumed, the more dirt the better. Soils low in minerals further restricts mineral intake.
Calcium and some other minerals are not easily absorbed and just pass thru the digestive system. I observe my leopard tortoise biting off large chunks of calcium block and scraping pure limestone rocks daily as if it was main course. If I pour calcium powder on the ground he will run to it and furiously work on it like an addict. Surprisingly Emys Emys do this as well.

 

[tortadise]

Awesome Yvonne. When your ready I've got room for them ;-) ;-) doesn't matter about the past. The best thing is that they are showing improvement. These guys have a lot more growing to do too. So all is well and they look great.

 

[Blakem]

I wish there were more pictures! Fun, knowing that I met these guys.


———-------------------------
(This is my signature)
Here's some great plant identification websites I use.

http://www.tlady.clara.net/TortGuide/diet.htm#plantlist

http://africantortoise.com/edible_landscaping.htm

http://m.thetortoisetable.org.uk/m/plants_19.asp

 

[ben awes]

I think in the wild tortoises ingest lot more calcium and other trace minerals then we may think. Most of the leafs and grass close to the ground are covered with coat of dirt on the underside of leaf's from rainwater splashing of the ground upward. This dirt is ingested with every leaf eaten. I don't wash any weeds to be consumed, the more dirt the better. Soils low in minerals further restricts mineral intake.
Calcium and some other minerals are not easily absorbed and just pass thru the digestive system. I observe my leopard tortoise biting off large chunks of calcium block and scraping pure limestone rocks daily as if it was main course. If I pour calcium powder on the ground he will run to it and furiously work on it like an addict. Surprisingly Emys Emys do this as well.

So mike, what are you saying? We should be using calcium supplements (powder, blocks) generously? Or that does not do much good because they can't absorb it anyway? Is it possible to O.D. on calcium or do they self regulate?

 

[Abdulla6169]

Beautiful! I never thought you has SO many torts

 

[mikeh]

So mike, what are you saying? We should be using calcium supplements (powder, blocks) generously? Or that does not do much good because they can't absorb it anyway? Is it possible to O.D. on calcium or do they self regulate?

Given ample opportunity tortoises do self regulate calcium intake, that is my observation. There are some days the calcium block/cuttle bone/limestone rocks are completely ignored while most days they will consume rather large quantities. This I believe exhibits self regulating. The amount ingested is certainly much larger then lightly sprinkling calcium on food twice a week. I would say in a week my leopard(one of yours) consumes calcium volume equaled to size of his head, not including neck.

I think it would take deliberate effort on our part for a tortoise to OD on calcium.

Other things to consider is the large amounts of food we feed. With all this extra available food on the plate at will, the digestive tract is pushing everything along much faster then it would in the wild. This allows for fast absorbing nutrients like protein and carbs to be absorbed, while some minerals not having enough time to make into the system before being flushed out. This creates imbalance.

Yet another aspect is over hydration, which many of us do, further flushing minerals out at accelerated rate before they are absorbed.

If you can get a tortoise to self regulate by providing variety forms of calcium (cuttle bones, calcium blocks, lime flower, etc) then no guess work is needed. I am lucky enough that all my tortoises self regulate at will, without guessing on my end.

Some say their tortoises won't touch calcium. This possibly could be a result of some other husbandry deficiencies, (lack of adequate UVB levels, wrong temperatures)

 

[ben awes]

Thanks Mike - good stuff. Mine tend to self-regulate calcium I think, but I do not have enough options/forms of it - that's changing as we speak. Over hydration? I suppose that is true too. Most owners would tend to over hydrate then the opposite. I would think that turd shape consistency is a good indicator? Tricky business really.