New red footed tort owner ?help?

[Madkins007]

OK, lets clear up this fruit thing. Unlike some other species, red-footeds like and can digest fruit. They eat a LOT of fruit in the wild, but that stuff is nothing like what we have in our grocery stores- our 'typical fruits' are a LOT higher in carbs and water, and a LOT lower in calcium and fiber.

Red-footeds, like most other tortoises, NEED calcium and fiber, but not a lot of carbs and empty sugar. The fruits we should be loading up on are things that low in sugars and high in other nutrients- squash, pumpkin, and bell peppers in all colors are a good start. Figs when you can find them. Papaya and mango are good if you get them cheap (Mexican and other ethnic markets often have great deals on this and other great fruits.)

I like percentages of what to feed, it makes things sound more scientific, but when a wild tortoise eats about 50-70% fruit in the wet season, that DOES NOT mean we can load it up on the sweet stuff. Saying that the diet should be 10, 20, 30, or whatever percent of fruit completely ignores the actual nutrition in question.

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I also wanted to ask if its normal to hear her breathing? She does not wheeze.

The breath sounds should be kind of like a humans- not really noticeable most of the time, but hearing air move is not a big deal.

 

[FLINTUS]

Yes but as I said before they eat high sugar fruits as well-figs to name one.

 

[RosieRedfoot]

I feed Rosie a lot of squash and peppers and on occasion berries. For the most part she gets greens, wandering jew, dandelion, and herbs. She does get plantain or banana though, which are occasional treats. I've also given her apple, papaya, mango, peaches, pear, kiwi, grapes, and a variety of flowers (hibiscus and pansy and geranium). Her favorite things are strawberries, pansies, hibiscus (leaves and flowers), peaches, and mango. She really dislikes mustard greens but I include them in part of her rotation of foods since the farmer's market sells them for so cheap here and they're fresh and grown locally.

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I've yet to try fig, but might once they're in season.