More Questions

[snake_girl85]

Just remembered some other questions I had...

-I've always used commercial reptile calcium, but while researching I saw that some people use crushed oyster shells or limestone powder. Where can I find limestone powder? I found "BarnLime" at Farm and Fleet, but it listed off other potentially dangerous trace ingredients like quartz, etc... and seemed kind of scary. Does anyone recommend trying limestone, and where do they buy it?


-People on here seem to swear by the baby lettuce spring mix, but as the owner of three Uromastyx it makes me cringe... It's not as bad as iceberg, but I was under the assumption that most leaf lettuces of ANY kind are fairly low in nutrients. I use endive, escarole, dandelion, collard, and turnip as my lizard staples, and most Uro owners discourage the use of leaf lettuces as a staple. Granted Uromastyx require significantly higher protein levels than tortoises. Are leaf lettuces still fairly nutritious, or will using my Uro greens be sufficient? Will they be too high in protein? I have no problem throwing spring mix into the mix, I just find the subtle differences of opinion between herp subgroups interesting.

 

[Seiryu]

Just remembered some other questions I had...

-I've always used commercial reptile calcium, but while researching I saw that some people use crushed oyster shells or limestone powder. Where can I find limestone powder? I found "BarnLime" at Farm and Fleet, but it listed off other potentially dangerous trace ingredients like quartz, etc... and seemed kind of scary. Does anyone recommend trying limestone, and where do they buy it?


-People on here seem to swear by the baby lettuce spring mix, but as the owner of three Uromastyx it makes me cringe... It's not as bad as iceberg, but I was under the assumption that most leaf lettuces of ANY kind are fairly low in nutrients. I use endive, escarole, dandelion, collard, and turnip as my lizard staples, and most Uro owners discourage the use of leaf lettuces as a staple. Granted Uromastyx require significantly higher protein levels than tortoises. Are leaf lettuces still fairly nutritious, or will using my Uro greens be sufficient? Will they be too high in protein? I have no problem throwing spring mix into the mix, I just find the subtle differences of opinion between herp subgroups interesting.

For the first paragraph. Most just use pure calcium carbonate (powder form). You can get it at most drug stores or health food stores. I can't say i've heard too many using the limestone stuff myself.

For the second paragraph. Most here use the spring mix as part of their tortoises diet. Not as a 100% diet. The ones around here have radicchio, frissee and a few other higher nutrient greens on top of the romaine's which arn't as good. I add in turnip, mustard, collard, radish greens on top of my spring mix. In the winter I don't have much access to those though, so I grow a grass/weed mix for the winter.

As far as high protein I think you want a very low amount of protein, not high. Not sure on the percent but I doubt it's anywhere near what you need for your Uro. The only protein my Leopard tort gets is 1 mazuri pellet a week. Which compared to the rest of his food for the week is about 5% of his diet.

 

[Stephanie Logan]

Limestone powder is the English translation for calcium. If you cannot find it or need advice on brands, Private Message either Stells (Kelly) or Kymiie, who are both based in the U.K. so will know what's available and what's preferred.

The lettuces in Spring Mix are all high in nutrients (compared to iceberg or just straight romaine), and it is the variety that makes it a good choice for tortoise food. I am not an expert in Leopards or even tortoises in general, but having read multiple posts and threads on TFO, I know that spring mix can always be rotated with the greens you listed above so that there is plenty of variety in the diet.

Make sure you browse through the "Food and Diet" section of the forum for more information on tortoise/leopard diets, and check people's signature lines to see if they keep leopards so you can PM them for more detailed advice. I know Terracolson and jblayza keep leopards, but I don't know if they're veterans or rookies with that species.

Leopards are especially prone to pyramiding on their shell, so you need to be very diligent on keeping your enclosure's temperature and humidity at appropriate levels.

If you post some photos, you will get lots of compliments, some constructive criticism, and good advice about tortoise husbandry from expert and experienced keepers.

Here's one way to post photos (I apologize if I've already posted this for you!): http://tortoiseforum.org/thread-5245.html