Diet Questions

[reflectedgray]

So I want to make sure my 2 year old Russian female gets the proper sort of food but its hard for me to give her a varied enough diet of fresh vegetables. She has to live indoors during the winter, so I bought a turtle supplement(Reptile-Life Tortoise Veggie Plus) to dust on her fresh vegetables (she is being fed the recommended greens). But, because I a college student its hard for me to get a ton of different greens so I was hoping i could sometimes feed her pellets along with so veggies. The pellets i have are the Zoo Med Grassland Tortoise Food.

Does this sound like an okay solution for the tricky winter months?

 

[Yvonne G]

Terry (Nerd) had a good suggestion on another list. Only buy one item at a time. So, this week, say, you would buy a head of endive. You would feed the endive every day until its gone, then next time buy something else, like turnip greens. If you sprinkle the supplement on the greens I think this should be an ok diet. But I've never heard of or used Tortoise Veggie-Plus. Here is the list of ingredients that I GOOGLED:

Ingredients: Corn, Calcium Carbonate, Corn Gluten Meal, Dicalcium Phosphate, Fructose, Soybean Oil, Coconut Oil, Flax, DL-Methionine, L-Lysine, Yeast, Yeast Extract, Kelp Meal, Spirulina Algae, Marigold Extract, Canthaxanthin, Lactobacillus acidophilus Fermentation Product Dehydrated, Streptococcus faecium Fermentation Product Dehydrated, Dried Bacillus subtilis Fermentation Product, Saccharomyces cerevisiae Fermentation Product, Choline Chloride, Natural and Artificial Flavors, Vitamin E Supplement, Calcium L-Ascorbyl-2-Monophosphate (Stabilized Vitamin C), Ferrous Sulfate, Biotin, Yucca schidigera Extract, Zinc Oxide, Manganous Oxide, Niacinamide, Vitamin B12 Supplement, Mixed Tocopherols, Rosemary Extract, Copper Sulfate, Calcium Iodate, Vitamin A Acetate, Beta-Carotene, Calcium Pantothenate, Sodium Selenite, Folic Acid, Riboflavin, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Thiamine Mononitrate, Menadione Sodium Bisulfate Complex (Source of Vitamin K3), Vitamin D3 Supplement, and Cobalt Sulfate.

That doesn't sound like "veggie-plus" to me. I only see corn, marigold extract and yucca extract as veggies. There are better tortoise products on the market than this one, I'm afraid.

Yvonne

 

[reflectedgray]

well the veggie plus stuff isnt actually the food, its basically supposed to just be a calcium supplement i think. The other stuff has oat hay, timothy hay, soybean hulls, alfalfa meat, wheat ect.

 

[jpeck425]

So I want to make sure my 2 year old Russian female gets the proper sort of food but its hard for me to give her a varied enough diet of fresh vegetables. She has to live indoors during the winter, so I bought a turtle supplement(Reptile-Life Tortoise Veggie Plus) to dust on her fresh vegetables (she is being fed the recommended greens). But, because I a college student its hard for me to get a ton of different greens so I was hoping i could sometimes feed her pellets along with so veggies. The pellets i have are the Zoo Med Grassland Tortoise Food.

Does this sound like an okay solution for the tricky winter months?

It sounds like your doing fine. If she'll eat the pellets they are a good supplement. You can also leave an area covered with clover hay or timthy hay, commonly sold for rabbits. she will graze on it and burrow into it for shelter.

Be well

 

[Maggie Cummings]

I was given a one-eyed female Russian tortoise a couple of years ago. All the research I have come across says they eat dark leafy greens and grasses. I haven't read anything that says to feed them veggies. I am an experienced keeper so I realize that most tortoises are opportunistic feeders and will eat anything. But why spend the money on veggies they don't need?
Being as you are trying to feed her with little money, why don't you feed the way I do? I buy a box of Spring Mix from the produce section. I add endive one week or escarole the next week, or any of the recommended greens, dandelions, clover etc... I grate some zucchini from time to time and sometimes I buy a squash that I cook in the microwave to make soft and feed that to mine. I don't try to buy veggies simply because I can't afford them. The box of greens is $5 and lasts a week or longer. And the stuff I add is just a couple of bucks. I recently sent a picture of her to my sister who said..."My lord, that tortoise is fat, she needs to go on a diet and get more exercise"!
Anyhow, I just thought I would relate that. But I can't understand why humans eat salad to lose weight, and my tortoises eat salad and get fat???