Some questions about food

[dnntau8]

I have a 1-2 month old Hermann tortoise and was wondering what foods I should be feeding it and how much?
I keep seeing different answers, some say to feed tortoise pellets, some say never do it. Some say carrots are okay and some don't.
And is there any plants I could put in there for him to nibble on? I'm using organic soil and coconut fiber as substrate.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Tom]

I have a 1-2 month old Hermann tortoise and was wondering what foods I should be feeding it and how much?
I keep seeing different answers, some say to feed tortoise pellets, some say never do it. Some say carrots are okay and some don't.
And is there any plants I could put in there for him to nibble on? I'm using organic soil and coconut fiber as substrate.

Thanks in advance.

Everyone you ask is going to tell you something different. Ask them to explain why.

You should be feeding a wide variety of broadleaf weeds. That is the "best" diet for them. What about winter? No weeds then, right? This is where the correct types and variety of grocery store greens, coupled with the right pellets and amendments come in.

No carrots because they are too high in sugar. Feeding a small amount of grated carrot once in a while will not harm your tortoise, but its best avoided. These are the kinds of things that cause all the controversy. Someone feeds carrots to their tortoise and their tortoise seems fine, so they go on the Internet and tell other people to feed carrots to their tortoise too. This sort of info circulates round and round. Some of it goes undisputed and sticks, while other info like this doesn't stick, and fades away.

Soil should never be used as tortoise substrate. Store bought soil usllau has additives, like perlite, that can be deadly to tortoises. Even with out additives, the soil itself is made from composted yard waste. There is no way to know what it is. Could be something toxic or irritating, or it could be something innocuous, There is no way to know, and it can change from one bag to another. You can use soil in pots to grow plants and not let the tortoise have access to the soil. Any plants planted in the substrate will be eaten or trampled anyway.

Give this a read through for the current and correct care info. There is a whole section on diet and feeding:

The Best Way To Raise Any Temperate Species Of Tortoise

I chose the title of this care sheet very carefully. Are there other ways to raise babies and care for adults? Yes. Yes there are, but those ways are not as good. What follows is the BEST way, according to 30 years of research and experimentation with hundreds of babies of many species. What is...

tortoiseforum.org

 

[dnntau8]

Everyone you ask is going to tell you something different. Ask them to explain why.

You should be feeding a wide variety of broadleaf weeds. That is the "best" diet for them. What about winter? No weeds then, right? This is where the correct types and variety of grocery store greens, coupled with the right pellets and amendments come in.

No carrots because they are too high in sugar. Feeding a small amount of grated carrot once in a while will not harm your tortoise, but its best avoided. These are the kinds of things that cause all the controversy. Someone feeds carrots to their tortoise and their tortoise seems fine, so they go on the Internet and tell other people to feed carrots to their tortoise too. This sort of info circulates round and round. Some of it goes undisputed and sticks, while other info like this doesn't stick, and fades away.

Soil should never be used as tortoise substrate. Store bought soil usllau has additives, like perlite, that can be deadly to tortoises. Even with out additives, the soil itself is made from composted yard waste. There is no way to know what it is. Could be something toxic or irritating, or it could be something innocuous, There is no way to know, and it can change from one bag to another. You can use soil in pots to grow plants and not let the tortoise have access to the soil. Any plants planted in the substrate will be eaten or trampled anyway.

Give this a read through for the current and correct care info. There is a whole section on diet and feeding:

The Best Way To Raise Any Temperate Species Of Tortoise

I chose the title of this care sheet very carefully. Are there other ways to raise babies and care for adults? Yes. Yes there are, but those ways are not as good. What follows is the BEST way, according to 30 years of research and experimentation with hundreds of babies of many species. What is...

tortoiseforum.org

Thank you so much for your reply! See this is another example of conflicting information lol. I was told that top soil was one of the best to use as long as it was organic and had no additives like fertilizer/perlite (like basically dirt you would just dig up out of the yard). I will reassess that too now though, so I greatly appreciate you telling me!
I also didn't know that about carrots. I will read through that. Thank you so much again.

 

[Tom]

Thank you so much for your reply! See this is another example of conflicting information lol. I was told that top soil was one of the best to use as long as it was organic and had no additives like fertilizer/perlite (like basically dirt you would just dig up out of the yard). I will reassess that too now though, so I greatly appreciate you telling me!

This is the benefit of an active ongoing forum! We learn, we share, we get better. I used to use soil too. I used to tell other people to use soil. I used it for years... until I had a problem, which led to research, which led to the new info that I've shared with you. Many of the older keepers learned to use soil when they started, haven't yet had a problem, that they know of anyway, and are still recommending it. Many people recommending soil are just parroting what they've read elsewhere. That is what I did for so many years.

Here is what happened to me: I made some 4x8' planter boxes to grow tortoise food and also to use for sunning babies amongst the growing food. I bought my usual plain, additive free soil from Home Depot, mixed it with some of my native dirt, as usual, planted my seeds and let them grow. Time passed, the plants grew, and eventually I had babies to put outside for sun. The very first day I put the babies out, I watched a baby sulcata put its head down to the soil, grab something, and start eating it. It occurred to me that I had put no "food" out there, so what was it eating? I grabbed the baby and pulled the brownish semi-composted material out of its mouth. It was jacaranda. We have no jacaranda trees. I don't think they will even survive where I live, but I know what they are from my childhood home. It didn't "kinda look like jacaranda". I was jacaranda. Clearly and obviously. I looked it up and jacaranda is toxic.

I called the soil maker/seller and started asking questions. How did jacaranda get in there? What material is their "soil" made from? Where is that material sourced? What sort of testing do they do to make sure its fully composted, and do they do any testing for toxic chemicals, or toxic plants? Here is what they told me: When people cut their grass, weed their garden, rake of up dead leaves, or trim their trees, cut their roses for the season, etc..., they throw that "garden material" into their greens bin. This could be grass treated with fertilizers, pesticides, fungicides or anything else. It could be roses treated with pesticides to kill the aphids. It could be oleander or azaleas. I bought a 3 acre ranch property and the previous owner had planted oleander all over the place. I cut it all down, dug out the roots and put all of that in... wait for it... the greens bin. Week after week I filled that bin with Olander cuttings. Where do those bins go? The big trash truck comes around once a week and hauls it away. Then the soil companies buy it and compost it at their facilities. The soil companies don't know and don't care if its toxic plants, and any toxic yard pesticides or chemicals will be diluted enough for their purposes that it doesn't matter. Soil companies intend for you to put their product in the ground, a planter box or a pot, and plant seeds or plants with it. It works fine for that purpose and causes no problems. They do NOT intend for people to house live little animals in small indoor enclosures on their product and have no idea from batch to batch if its safe to do so, or not. It might be safe, or it might be someone's composted oleander. Or jacaranda. It might be grass clippings that are untreated. Or it might be grass clippings that just had a "weed n' feed" applied. There is no way to know. You could buy 10 bags that were all safe and had nothing "bad" in them. What about number 11? What is in that soil that your tortoise is walking on right now? What composted material is under your tortoise's feet as we speak? I don't know and neither do you.

I don't have the time or inclination to type this all out eveytime someone says, "but I've read to use soil on three different websites and two different care sheets..." I know. I used to write it in my own care sheets. I was wrong. Now I know better. Someone else will ask about this in a week or two, and I won't be able to find this post. I'll have to type this story out all over again. It would be nice if people would just take my word for it, but I completely understand why they don't. I wouldn't either. I just hope that when I do type it all out anyone reading "gets it", and then helps me spread the word so that eventually it will not be in every care sheet and on every web site.

 

[dnntau8]

This is the benefit of an active ongoing forum! We learn, we share, we get better. I used to use soil too. I used to tell other people to use soil. I used it for years... until I had a problem, which led to research, which led to the new info that I've shared with you. Many of the older keepers learned to use soil when they started, haven't yet had a problem, that they know of anyway, and are still recommending it. Many people recommending soil are just parroting what they've read elsewhere. That is what I did for so many years.

Here is what happened to me: I made some 4x8' planter boxes to grow tortoise food and also to use for sunning babies amongst the growing food. I bought my usual plain, additive free soil from Home Depot, mixed it with some of my native dirt, as usual, planted my seeds and let them grow. Time passed, the plants grew, and eventually I had babies to put outside for sun. The very first day I put the babies out, I watched a baby sulcata put its head down to the soil, grab something, and start eating it. It occurred to me that I had put no "food" out there, so what was it eating? I grabbed the baby and pulled the brownish semi-composted material out of its mouth. It was jacaranda. We have no jacaranda trees. I don't think they will even survive where I live, but I know what they are from my childhood home. It didn't "kinda look like jacaranda". I was jacaranda. Clearly and obviously. I looked it up and jacaranda is toxic.

I called the soil maker/seller and started asking questions. How did jacaranda get in there? What material is their "soil" made from? Where is that material sourced? What sort of testing do they do to make sure its fully composted, and do they do any testing for toxic chemicals, or toxic plants? Here is what they told me: When people cut their grass, weed their garden, rake of up dead leaves, or trim their trees, cut their roses for the season, etc..., they throw that "garden material" into their greens bin. This could be grass treated with fertilizers, pesticides, fungicides or anything else. It could be roses treated with pesticides to kill the aphids. It could be oleander or azaleas. I bought a 3 acre ranch property and the previous owner had planted oleander all over the place. I cut it all down, dug out the roots and put all of that in... wait for it... the greens bin. Week after week I filled that bin with Olander cuttings. Where do those bins go? The big trash truck comes around once a week and hauls it away. Then the soil companies buy it and compost it at their facilities. The soil companies don't know and don't care if its toxic plants, and any toxic yard pesticides or chemicals will be diluted enough for their purposes that it doesn't matter. Soil companies intend for you to put their product in the ground, a planter box or a pot, and plant seeds or plants with it. It works fine for that purpose and causes no problems. They do NOT intend for people to house live little animals in small indoor enclosures on their product and have no idea from batch to batch if its safe to do so, or not. It might be safe, or it might be someone's composted oleander. Or jacaranda. It might be grass clippings that are untreated. Or it might be grass clippings that just had a "weed n' feed" applied. There is no way to know. You could buy 10 bags that were all safe and had nothing "bad" in them. What about number 11? What is in that soil that your tortoise is walking on right now? What composted material is under your tortoise's feet as we speak? I don't know and neither do you.

I don't have the time or inclination to type this all out eveytime someone says, "but I've read to use soil on three different websites and two different care sheets..." I know. I used to write it in my own care sheets. I was wrong. Now I know better. Someone else will ask about this in a week or two, and I won't be able to find this post. I'll have to type this story out all over again. It would be nice if people would just take my word for it, but I completely understand why they don't. I wouldn't either. I just hope that when I do type it all out anyone reading "gets it", and then helps me spread the word so that eventually it will not be in every care sheet and on every web site.

This is the benefit of an active ongoing forum! We learn, we share, we get better. I used to use soil too. I used to tell other people to use soil. I used it for years... until I had a problem, which led to research, which led to the new info that I've shared with you. Many of the older keepers learned to use soil when they started, haven't yet had a problem, that they know of anyway, and are still recommending it. Many people recommending soil are just parroting what they've read elsewhere. That is what I did for so many years.

Here is what happened to me: I made some 4x8' planter boxes to grow tortoise food and also to use for sunning babies amongst the growing food. I bought my usual plain, additive free soil from Home Depot, mixed it with some of my native dirt, as usual, planted my seeds and let them grow. Time passed, the plants grew, and eventually I had babies to put outside for sun. The very first day I put the babies out, I watched a baby sulcata put its head down to the soil, grab something, and start eating it. It occurred to me that I had put no "food" out there, so what was it eating? I grabbed the baby and pulled the brownish semi-composted material out of its mouth. It was jacaranda. We have no jacaranda trees. I don't think they will even survive where I live, but I know what they are from my childhood home. It didn't "kinda look like jacaranda". I was jacaranda. Clearly and obviously. I looked it up and jacaranda is toxic.

I called the soil maker/seller and started asking questions. How did jacaranda get in there? What material is their "soil" made from? Where is that material sourced? What sort of testing do they do to make sure its fully composted, and do they do any testing for toxic chemicals, or toxic plants? Here is what they told me: When people cut their grass, weed their garden, rake of up dead leaves, or trim their trees, cut their roses for the season, etc..., they throw that "garden material" into their greens bin. This could be grass treated with fertilizers, pesticides, fungicides or anything else. It could be roses treated with pesticides to kill the aphids. It could be oleander or azaleas. I bought a 3 acre ranch property and the previous owner had planted oleander all over the place. I cut it all down, dug out the roots and put all of that in... wait for it... the greens bin. Week after week I filled that bin with Olander cuttings. Where do those bins go? The big trash truck comes around once a week and hauls it away. Then the soil companies buy it and compost it at their facilities. The soil companies don't know and don't care if its toxic plants, and any toxic yard pesticides or chemicals will be diluted enough for their purposes that it doesn't matter. Soil companies intend for you to put their product in the ground, a planter box or a pot, and plant seeds or plants with it. It works fine for that purpose and causes no problems. They do NOT intend for people to house live little animals in small indoor enclosures on their product and have no idea from batch to batch if its safe to do so, or not. It might be safe, or it might be someone's composted oleander. Or jacaranda. It might be grass clippings that are untreated. Or it might be grass clippings that just had a "weed n' feed" applied. There is no way to know. You could buy 10 bags that were all safe and had nothing "bad" in them. What about number 11? What is in that soil that your tortoise is walking on right now? What composted material is under your tortoise's feet as we speak? I don't know and neither do you.

I don't have the time or inclination to type this all out eveytime someone says, "but I've read to use soil on three different websites and two different care sheets..." I know. I used to write it in my own care sheets. I was wrong. Now I know better. Someone else will ask about this in a week or two, and I won't be able to find this post. I'll have to type this story out all over again. It would be nice if people would just take my word for it, but I completely understand why they don't. I wouldn't either. I just hope that when I do type it all out anyone reading "gets it", and then helps me spread the word so that eventually it will not be in every care sheet and on every web site.

Oh I definitely take your word for it. That's why I come here, I've always gotten solid advice here and have learned to trust what I'm told from experienced owners. After reading the link you posted and doing some research, I'm definitely switching away from soil (there's some horror stories out there). I'm 99% sure I'm going to go with the orchid bark.
I want my little baby to be safe and happy!
Thank you again.

 

[ZEROPILOT]

Oh I definitely take your word for it. That's why I come here, I've always gotten solid advice here and have learned to trust what I'm told from experienced owners. After reading the link you posted and doing some research, I'm definitely switching away from soil (there's some horror stories out there). I'm 99% sure I'm going to go with the orchid bark.
I want my little baby to be safe and happy!
Thank you again.

As you learn by trial and error and experience in general, post about it.
Our knowledge base grows and changes all the time.
We share and try to help each other here.
This forum is so valuable to the hobby!

 

[Sanderson121]

I have a food question if I may interject here, how often should babies eat Mazuri? My little guy loves it, he also eats a good variety of leaves, weeds, greens, opuntia, wheat grass and a sulcata seed mix that I grow in pots. Just wondering if he can have it everyday as long as he is eating his other stuff too or if it should just be twice a week? I know you guys must get tired of diet questions, but I promise I looked through tons of posts to find the answer and had no luck ?. Your sage advice is greatly appreciated ☺️

 

[ZEROPILOT]

I have a food question if I may interject here, how often should babies eat Mazuri? My little guy loves it, he also eats a good variety of leaves, weeds, greens, opuntia, wheat grass and a sulcata seed mix that I grow in pots. Just wondering if he can have it everyday as long as he is eating his other stuff too or if it should just be twice a week? I know you guys must get tired of diet questions, but I promise I looked through tons of posts to find the answer and had no luck ?. Your sage advice is greatly appreciated ☺️

As part of the diet a few times a week is ok.
Avoid feeding it alone (in my opinion) because some young tortoises will decide that they don't want to eat anything BUT Mazuri.
And stop eating.