Vitamins and minerals

Dbrocato2

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I dust my tortoise food twice a week with calcium. I've seen some post about another vitamin (I believe) powder. I will need something for the winter time as I will have to use store bought greens (growing inside as well but I stink at it) is there something I should be giving besides the calcium?
 

jsheffield

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I've shifted from dusting with vitamin & mineral powders to topping my winter feeds with a mix of flowers and weeds and herbs and seaweed... I feel better about the ingredients and think doing it this way offers my tortoises a broader and more natural range of macro and micro nutrients.

IMG_20200615_072625.jpg

Jamie
 

Suzieqc

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I dust my tortoise food twice a week with calcium. I've seen some post about another vitamin (I believe) powder. I will need something for the winter time as I will have to use store bought greens (growing inside as well but I stink at it) is there something I should be giving besides the calcium?
I myself question Vit/Mineral. I recently took my torque to the vet he is close to 20 years of age. He received a vitamin A injection which I was unaware was being done. The vet stated he is deficient visible by the rounding of the carapace and plastron and skin. I was instructed to have him eat A rich foods such as dark greens, sweet potato, carrots and squash.
 

Tom

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I myself question Vit/Mineral. I recently took my torque to the vet he is close to 20 years of age. He received a vitamin A injection which I was unaware was being done. The vet stated he is deficient visible by the rounding of the carapace and plastron and skin. I was instructed to have him eat A rich foods such as dark greens, sweet potato, carrots and squash.
That is sad. "Vitamin injections" are the mark of a vet that doesn't know tortoises and wanted to make some money.
 

Tom

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I dust my tortoise food twice a week with calcium. I've seen some post about another vitamin (I believe) powder. I will need something for the winter time as I will have to use store bought greens (growing inside as well but I stink at it) is there something I should be giving besides the calcium?
Feeding:
So much contradictory info on this subject. Its simple. What do they eat in the wild. Grass, weeds, leaves, flowers, and succulents. Feed them a huge variety of these things, and you'll have a healthy tortoise. All of these species are very adaptable when it comes to diet and there is a very large margin of error, and many ways to do it right. What if you don't have this sort of "natural" tortoise food available for part of each year because you are in the snow? You will have no choice but to buy grocery store food. What's wrong with grocery store food? It tends to lack fiber, some items are low in calcium or have a poor calcium to phosphorous ratio, and some items have deleterious compounds in them. All of these short comings can be improved with some simple supplementation and amendments. A pinch of calcium two times per week will help fix that problem. You can also leave cuttle bone in the enclosure, so your tortoise can self-regulate its own calcium intake. What about fiber? Soaked horse hay pellets, soaked ZooMed Grassland pellets, Mazuri tortoise chow, "Salad style", "Herbal Hay" both from @TylerStewart and his lovely wife Sarah at Tortoisesupply.com, or many of the dried plants and leaves available from Will @Kapidolo Farms. If you must use grocery store foods, favor endive and escarole as your main staples. Add in arugula, cilantro, kale, collard, mustard and turnip greens, squash leaves, spring mix, romaine, green or red leaf lettuce, butter lettuce, water cress, carrot tops, celery tops, bok choy, and whatever other greens you can find. If you mix in some of the aforementioned amendments, these grocery store foods will offer plenty of variety and fiber and be able to meet your tortoise's nutritional needs just fine. I find it preferable to grab a few grapevine or mulberry leaves, or a handful of mallow and clover, or some broadleaf plantain leaves and some grass, but with the right additions, grocery store stuff is fine too. Grow your own stuff, or find it around you when possible. Tyler and Sarah also sell a fantastic Testudo seed mix that is great for ALL tortoise species and also super easy to grow in pots, trays, raised garden beds, or in outdoor tortoise enclosures. When that isn't possible, add a wide variety of good stuff to your grocery store greens to make them better.

Supplements:
I recommend you keep cuttle bone available all the time. Some tortoises never use it and some munch on it regularly. Some of mine will go months without touching it, and then suddenly eat the whole thing in a day or two. A great diet is paramount, but it is still a good idea to give them some extra calcium regularly. I use a tiny pinch of RepCal or ZooMed plain old calcium carbonate twice a week. Much discussion has been given to whether or not they need D3 in their calcium supplement. Personally, I don't think it matters. Every tortoise should be getting adequate UV exposure one way or another, so they should be able to make their own D3. I also like to use a mineral supplement. "MinerAll" is my current brand of choice. It seems to help those tortoises that like to swallow pebbles and rocks. It is speculated that some tortoise eat rocks or substrate due to a mineral deficiency or imbalance. Whatever the reason, "MinerAll" seems to stop it or prevent it. Finally, I like to use a reptile vitamin supplement once a week, to round out any hidden deficiencies that may be in my diet over the course of a year.
 

Kapidolo Farms

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There are the all in one things like to ZooMed tortoise foods. I use them as a once a week meal (only for amount as a guide) but use that amount over 3-5 meals. Then there is the chicken layer crumbles, again an all-in-one thing to add a small amount 3-5 days a week. I've written about chicken layer crumbles elsewhere here on TFO (they are a good approximation to the old Mazuri without added sugar. I use the organic formula from Purina Mills.

You can dry weeds and your own grasses, leaves etc during the summer when you have an abundance and crumble them and mix with grocery store greens over the winter.

I sell all this stuff on my on-line store which @Tom has mentioned.

Here are some direct links...
or in bulk

out of 1,000's of orders I've had but one complaint - that the cactus was a 'fibery mess' which is true, and the half the point to using it. The other half is the high calcium content.

For actual vitamin powders I use Vionate one a week.

WATER is and will always be the single most important nutrient.


I dust my tortoise food twice a week with calcium. I've seen some post about another vitamin (I believe) powder. I will need something for the winter time as I will have to use store bought greens (growing inside as well but I stink at it) is there something I should be giving besides the calcium?
 

Dbrocato2

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Feeding:
So much contradictory info on this subject. Its simple. What do they eat in the wild. Grass, weeds, leaves, flowers, and succulents. Feed them a huge variety of these things, and you'll have a healthy tortoise. All of these species are very adaptable when it comes to diet and there is a very large margin of error, and many ways to do it right. What if you don't have this sort of "natural" tortoise food available for part of each year because you are in the snow? You will have no choice but to buy grocery store food. What's wrong with grocery store food? It tends to lack fiber, some items are low in calcium or have a poor calcium to phosphorous ratio, and some items have deleterious compounds in them. All of these short comings can be improved with some simple supplementation and amendments. A pinch of calcium two times per week will help fix that problem. You can also leave cuttle bone in the enclosure, so your tortoise can self-regulate its own calcium intake. What about fiber? Soaked horse hay pellets, soaked ZooMed Grassland pellets, Mazuri tortoise chow, "Salad style", "Herbal Hay" both from @TylerStewart and his lovely wife Sarah at Tortoisesupply.com, or many of the dried plants and leaves available from Will @Kapidolo Farms. If you must use grocery store foods, favor endive and escarole as your main staples. Add in arugula, cilantro, kale, collard, mustard and turnip greens, squash leaves, spring mix, romaine, green or red leaf lettuce, butter lettuce, water cress, carrot tops, celery tops, bok choy, and whatever other greens you can find. If you mix in some of the aforementioned amendments, these grocery store foods will offer plenty of variety and fiber and be able to meet your tortoise's nutritional needs just fine. I find it preferable to grab a few grapevine or mulberry leaves, or a handful of mallow and clover, or some broadleaf plantain leaves and some grass, but with the right additions, grocery store stuff is fine too. Grow your own stuff, or find it around you when possible. Tyler and Sarah also sell a fantastic Testudo seed mix that is great for ALL tortoise species and also super easy to grow in pots, trays, raised garden beds, or in outdoor tortoise enclosures. When that isn't possible, add a wide variety of good stuff to your grocery store greens to make them better.

Supplements:
I recommend you keep cuttle bone available all the time. Some tortoises never use it and some munch on it regularly. Some of mine will go months without touching it, and then suddenly eat the whole thing in a day or two. A great diet is paramount, but it is still a good idea to give them some extra calcium regularly. I use a tiny pinch of RepCal or ZooMed plain old calcium carbonate twice a week. Much discussion has been given to whether or not they need D3 in their calcium supplement. Personally, I don't think it matters. Every tortoise should be getting adequate UV exposure one way or another, so they should be able to make their own D3. I also like to use a mineral supplement. "MinerAll" is my current brand of choice. It seems to help those tortoises that like to swallow pebbles and rocks. It is speculated that some tortoise eat rocks or substrate due to a mineral deficiency or imbalance. Whatever the reason, "MinerAll" seems to stop it or prevent it. Finally, I like to use a reptile vitamin supplement once a week, to round out any hidden deficiencies that may be in my diet over the course of a year.
As always @Tom you have helped greatly! Thank you.
 

Dbrocato2

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There are the all in one things like to ZooMed tortoise foods. I use them as a once a week meal (only for amount as a guide) but use that amount over 3-5 meals. Then there is the chicken layer crumbles, again an all-in-one thing to add a small amount 3-5 days a week. I've written about chicken layer crumbles elsewhere here on TFO (they are a good approximation to the old Mazuri without added sugar. I use the organic formula from Purina Mills.

You can dry weeds and your own grasses, leaves etc during the summer when you have an abundance and crumble them and mix with grocery store greens over the winter.

I sell all this stuff on my on-line store which @Tom has mentioned.

Here are some direct links...
or in bulk

out of 1,000's of orders I've had but one complaint - that the cactus was a 'fibery mess' which is true, and the half the point to using it. The other half is the high calcium content.

For actual vitamin powders I use Vionate one a week.

WATER is and will always be the single most important nutrient.
Thanks! I will check out your site
 

Ink

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I feed mine a variety from kapidolo farms too. Currently red clover and the crumbles with chayote squash ( not from them). Thanks Will
 
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