I bought some sulcata tortoises!!!

KarenSoCal

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Sure I'll make sure to do that, I'm kinda scared that I'm not feeding them enough nutrients, today, they ate some grass, half a lettuce (they absolutely love lettuce) and some mint, is that enough nutrients? If not what else can I give them to make sure they're getting enough of everything?

Here is a thread that will help you with feeding.

 

AgataP

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alright then. Thanks for sharing! I hope they catch up in size, but it might be just normal, not all grow at the same rate (I'm not professional I'm a new owner but many people said that variation in size, if they're eating healthy and normally is ok)

Yet you don’t want to take the advice of professional like @Tom.
At the end you do what you want.
 

Lana Dhaou

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Thank you s
Here is a thread that will help you with feeding.


Thank you so much ill read it, today, I noticed that their shells are a tiny, very tiny bit soft, I don't know if this is normal in babies, but I cracked an egg, cleaned the shell, and put it in their enclosure.
 

KarenSoCal

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Thank you s

Thank you so much ill read it, today, I noticed that their shells are a tiny, very tiny bit soft, I don't know if this is normal in babies, but I cracked an egg, cleaned the shell, and put it in their enclosure.

Their plastrons (bottom shell) do stay a bit soft for a while.

That was good to give them an egg shell. If they don't eat it, you can put a cuttlebone in with them. You find cuttlebone in the bird section of a pet shop.

It's also a good idea to get some calcium powder at the pet shop, like RepCal. A tiny pinch 2x/week is good.

Too much calcium is not good, so just a tiny pinch.
 

Lana Dhaou

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Their plastrons (bottom shell) do stay a bit soft for a while.

That was good to give them an egg shell. If they don't eat it, you can put a cuttlebone in with them. You find cuttlebone in the bird section of a pet shop.

It's also a good idea to get some calcium powder at the pet shop, like RepCal. A tiny pinch 2x/week is good.

Too much calcium is not good, so just a tiny pinch.

Ok I'll try to find the calcium powder and the cattle bone, there aren't much pet shops close to me though.. So I might order it online.
 

Nash

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Please listen to Karen and Tom! If you look around this tortoise forum you will see for yourself they have been support and education for a very long time to all of us. You can't go wrong if you listen to them.
 

Lana Dhaou

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Please listen to Karen and Tom! If you look around this tortoise forum you will see for yourself they have been support and education for a very long time to all of us. You can't go wrong if you listen to them.

What are you talking about? I already listen to them and do everything in their care sheets.
 

KarenSoCal

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That works.

If you use enough eggs, you can continue them and forget the cuttle bone. I don't use enough eggs to have a constant supply of shells. Either way works fine. There's no guarantee they will eat cuttlebone either.
Get the powder and use it 2x/week. Then use either eggshells or cuttlebone, whichever they will eat.

When you order the calcium powder, it comes either with or without vitamin D3. Get the one with D3
 

mastershake

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we run a rescue and take in many sulcata. we only ever keep them in larger groups as babies or singly. trust the help here and u will have 2 amazing sulcata. I see first hand way to often the effects of keeping them together. also if u find your heat bulbs are to high you can use an in line dimmer slide switch to bring down the output of that bulb to reduce Temps.
 

Lana Dhaou

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That works.

If you use enough eggs, you can continue them and forget the cuttlebone I don't use enough eggs to have a constant supply of shells. Either way works fine. There's no guarantee they will eat cuttlebone either.
Get the powder and use it 2x/week. Then use either eggshells or cuttlebone, whichever they will eat.

When you order the calcium powder, it comes either with or without vitamin D3. Get the one with D3


I ordered a reptile calcium powder, also We are a big family, we eat like 6 to 11 eggs a day haha?? so we have enough eggshell, no worries about that, but isn't both eggshell and calcium powder too much calcium for them or it's ok?
 

KarenSoCal

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I ordered a reptile calcium powder, also We are a big family, we eat like 6 to 11 eggs a day haha?? so we have enough eggshell, no worries about that, but isn't both eggshell and calcium powder too much calcium for them or it's ok?

Here, we give a tiny pinch of calcium 2x/week. Then we toss in a cuttlebone.

If the tort feels like he needs more calcium than what we give him, he eats the cuttlebone. Or he leaves it there for months, and in a day gobbles it all down.

It just isn't something that can be precisely known...you might feed a week of food that's higher in calcium than a normal week...

If my tort ate 2 eggshells every day, I'd be on here asking if it was too much? Or could I stop giving powder along with them? I don't know what the answer would be. How about I ask our nutritionist?

@KapidoloFarms
Will, if a tortoise eats several eggshells, say 2, every day, would that be enough calcium by itself? Or would powder still be required? The tort in question is an adult female Greek.
 
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AgataP

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I would say since you ordered the powder stick to the powder.
To be honest I would be worried a little about eggshells with a young tortoise.
They can cut their tongue. I think it’s less of an issue with a big tortoise.
I had this conversation with my vet regarding dogs as I had a dog with a very limited diet.
I also took the eggshells dried them in the oven on very low and put them in the coffee grinder to get the powder.
It killed possible salmonella on the eggshells and was able to keep it for a long time.
 

KarenSoCal

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I would say since you ordered the powder stick to the powder.
To be honest I would be worried a little about eggshells with a young tortoise.
They can cut their tongue. I think it’s less of an issue with a big tortoise.
I had this conversation with my vet regarding dogs as I had a dog with a very limited diet.
I also took the eggshells dried them in the oven on very low and put them in the coffee grinder to get the powder.
It killed possible salmonella on the eggshells and was able to keep it for a long time.

Thank you for posting this. You've made a valid point here. And I agree with you.

@Lana Dhaou
Forget the eggshells and toss a cuttlebone in, after scraping off the hard shiny back on it.
 

AgataP

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I got two of the cuttlebones of amazon (of course) for like 2$ I broke them in half seems like Herbie beside eating it loves to carry them around the enclosure.
 

Yossarian

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My Greek eats a lot of cuttlefish bone. The key is it has to be broken up into almost bite size chunks. He doesnt mess with it whole, but once you break it down he goes to town on it. We collect it from the beach and boil it, I have a big box if it.
 

Ray--Opo

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Thank you for replying, and i appreciate the information you gave me, this is probably what I needed thank you, but yes I did do my research before getting a tortoise, I did research on every aspect I can think of and asked many people on this forum and looked for sites like this one for help and spent days not sleeping just researching about those fantastic animals and didn't bring one home until I was very sure that I'm ready and that I have learned enough for starters, we all try and all make mistakes, I might make a small mistake in caring, they might die, they might live, they might fight, they might get along im already scared , but ill definitely try my best in care, if I didn't succeed, it is what it is, and ill learn for next time, please don't freak me out, I'm still learning nobody knows everything when they first start in any topic, we ther pet or whatever, and I did read the sheets immediately with no delay at all and ite read them before over and over again to make sure I understand everything, I said " I will read when I have time" as a way of saying "thank you for telling me this I'm interested in it" and if you got that in anotherras "i don't care about my tortoises so I will not read them" then no, that's not what I meant
Good luck, it is a lot to take in at once I was in your shoes before. If something goes wrong with your sullies you won't get any blame from us. Buying a tort from a pet store is a gamble anyways. They are there to make money. Which is obvious because he sold you two. If you follow the info given to you here will be your best bet. Try not to surf the internet for info. It just brings more confusion.
 

Lana Dhaou

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Good luck, it is a lot to take in at once I was in your shoes before. If something goes wrong with your sullies you won't get any blame from us. Buying a tort from a pet store is a gamble anyways. They are there to make money. Which is obvious because he sold you two. If you follow the info given to you here will be your best bet. Try not to surf the internet for info. It just brings more confusion.

Yes I take this forum as my one and only information source, I was a little confused at first and got stressed because of the contrary information at once, and many people told me "they will die if u do this" and "they will die if u do that" so I got stressed about their lives, I hope my torts live for long cause people on this forum said that if they're started dry they won't live for long, i dont think they were started correctly by their owner though... But they seem very healthy and are eating a varied diet, drinking lots of water, daily soaking, they're climbing rocks and logs around their enclosures, and they're always walking! When i think of a tortoise or turtle, I usually think they're slow and lazy, but those guys walk around their enclosures all day long! They do more exercise then I do?
 

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