What do your redfoots eat for protein?

Status
Not open for further replies.

nightoff

Active Member
10 Year Member!
Tortoise Club
Platinum Tortoise Club
Joined
Jul 9, 2011
Messages
110
Location (City and/or State)
South Florida
I had been feeding my year-old redfoot chicken or egg once a week. Then I switched to feeding her 6 moistened Masuri pellets once a week. Is this enough protein or do I need to feed more pellets or add another source? Do I need to worry about feeding her too much protein if it's only fed once a week? One other question. The Masuri pellets contain D3. My tortoise lives outside year round (South Florida). Do I need to worry about her being supplemented as well. Thanks for any info. I'm still pretty new to this.
 

Yvonne G

Old Timer
TFO Admin
10 Year Member!
Platinum Tortoise Club
Joined
Jan 23, 2008
Messages
93,390
Location (City and/or State)
Clovis, CA
Well, the Mazuri is plant protein. I think you want to occasionally give your RF tortoise animal protein.
 

kimber_lee_314

Well-Known Member
10 Year Member!
Joined
Nov 19, 2008
Messages
2,628
Location (City and/or State)
So Cal
Mine love boiled eggs, chicken, cat food, trout chow, pinkies ... just about anything!
 

Yvonne G

Old Timer
TFO Admin
10 Year Member!
Platinum Tortoise Club
Joined
Jan 23, 2008
Messages
93,390
Location (City and/or State)
Clovis, CA
A couple weeks ago Terryo gave us a recipe for a "slurry" she makes for her box turtles and redfoots. I made it and fed it to the two RF's that I'm babysitting, and they really chowed down.

I tried to find it to give you the link, but I'm sorry, I couldn't. Maybe Terryo will see this and give it again.

This might be it...I have this recipe typed up on a sheet of paper. It sounds like the one from Terryo:

in a food processor, I put

1 cooked sweet potato
some raw carrots
mushrooms
greens (escarole, dandelion, etc)
water turtle pellets (reptomin or mazuri)
grape leaves
rose of Sharon leaves
any greens or veggies you have
some fruit

Each week its something different...anything I have on hand. I only mix it so it tiny small pieces, not mush. Then I put it in a bowl and add some canned venison or white fish (its high quality dog food).


When I made this I put it into ice cube trays and froze it. Then to serve, I knocked however many I wanted out and placed them on a paper towell in the micro wave to defrost. Each little ice cube sized piece was good for one box turtle. So a redfoot would probably get two or three. My turtles love this.
 

Zergy

New Member
5 Year Member
Joined
Feb 5, 2012
Messages
79
Location (City and/or State)
Valrico, FL
I plan to feed phoenix worms (Hermetia illucens), which I think are black solider fly larvae.
 

GeoTerraTestudo

Active Member
5 Year Member
Joined
May 7, 2011
Messages
3,311
Location (City and/or State)
Broomfield, Colorado
I used to let my redfoot prey on snails, which she loved. I would also occasionally give her leftover chicken bones as a treat, which she would eagerly gnaw on to get the scraps of meat off. This not only gave her animal protein, but it also allowed her to wear down her beak naturally.

Interestingly, she did not like earthworms, and others here on TFO have said the same thing about their redfoots, too.
 

terryo

Well-Known Member
10 Year Member!
Joined
Aug 24, 2007
Messages
8,975
Location (City and/or State)
Staten Island, New York
I make that recipe once a week, and give it to all my box turtles, even the hatchlings will take some. The Cherry Head's love it. For them I only add the venison once every two weeks. Sometimes I give them boiled chicken breast, earth worms, and when they're outside I always see them eating slugs and worms. Sometimes I scramble an egg in a little bit of water and add some veggies to that for them. EVERYONE loves that.
 

DanaLachney

New Member
5 Year Member
Joined
Feb 12, 2012
Messages
892
So far I've given mine boiled egg, freeze dried mealworms (moistened) boiled tilapia, and sardines in water :)
 

nightoff

Active Member
10 Year Member!
Tortoise Club
Platinum Tortoise Club
Joined
Jul 9, 2011
Messages
110
Location (City and/or State)
South Florida
Thanks everyone for your replies. Do you all feed protein once or twice a week? I offered my little girl live meal worms once and she took one look and backed away. I never see her back up. It was funny. I think the sqirming mass scared her. :p How often do you all feed fruit? I only done banana, apple, and mango once in a blue moon but have read that they can be offered fruit fairly often.
 

DanaLachney

New Member
5 Year Member
Joined
Feb 12, 2012
Messages
892
nightoff said:
Thanks everyone for your replies. Do you all feed protein once or twice a week? I offered my little girl live meal worms once and she took one look and backed away. I never see her back up. It was funny. I think the sqirming mass scared her. :p How often do you all feed fruit? I only done banana, apple, and mango once in a blue moon but have read that they can be offered fruit fairly often.

Once a week on the protein most people do it on Sunday. Fruit can be given a few times a week. But I don't give large quantities at a time
 

EddieW

Active Member
10 Year Member!
Joined
Feb 10, 2012
Messages
101
Location (City and/or State)
Orlando
The Prol Plan cat food that turtletary uses in his caresheets is good too.

EddieW said:
The Prol Plan cat food that turtletary uses in his caresheets is good too.

* Pro Plan, sorry (Ipads)
 

dmmj

The member formerly known as captain awesome
10 Year Member!
Joined
Aug 15, 2008
Messages
19,695
Location (City and/or State)
CA
Mine loves slugs and snails, does not like worms though.
 

Madkins007

Well-Known Member
Moderator
10 Year Member!
Joined
Feb 15, 2008
Messages
5,393
Location (City and/or State)
Nebraska
A few things to remember:

1. Wild red-footed tortoises eat pretty much anything with nutritional value since so much of the local plant life is so low in nutrients. The stuff we get them in stores is much higher in nutrients, so they probably don't need much additional meat protein, although they can certainly digest it and generally love it.

2. When offered, it should generally only average about 10-15% of the total diet. In other words, if you are feeding about a packed cup of food, it should only be about 2 tablespoons worth.

By the way- Mazuri has plant proteins, but they are balanced and work nicely- although there are some controversies over using the stuff in general. Some people love it, some avoid it like the plague.

3. As with the diet overall, it is best to vary your source of proteins too. While people who keep large groups of tortoises sometimes prefer to use cheap, stable, and easy to use sources of protein- like cat food- there is not really any benefit to it for most of us.

4. You have a LOT of protein options:
- 'Bugs'- slugs, snails, isopods (rolly polly or pill bugs), roaches, larva (although if you use mealworms, don't give them too many at a time- the chitinous shell is hard to digest), etc.
- Live or frozen meats- young or baby mice, rats, and chicks (the smallest mice and rats are often called 'pinkies', then 'furries' and 'hoppers'. These can be pretty messy and gruesome, so even though more red-footeds seem to love them, many keepers avoid this option.)
- 'People food'- chicken or other poultry, lightly cooked egg (to make it less messy), 'oily' fish (sardine, mackerel, catfish, etc.- although they often make for smelly feces), mock crab, organ meats, ec. Bones are often provided for gnawing, and raw bones are generally better than cooked ones for this.)
- Prepared foods- cat or dog foods, pelleted tortoise foods, ferret foods, etc.

I generally offer some meat about once a week to once a month, and it is often something that we are having for a meal or on our salads... although when I get a good deal on them, I prefer pinkies and snails.
 

DixieParadise

Active Member
5 Year Member
Joined
May 15, 2011
Messages
1,085
Location (City and/or State)
Georgetown, TX
I give mine red wigglers from my worm farm. Pretty easy to do and they seem to like it. I only give them this once a week...A little easier to watch than giving them pinkies, although they like them too. Just can't stomach to watch.
 

wildak

Member
5 Year Member
Joined
Apr 13, 2010
Messages
180
I mix up the proteins also, Moose, caribou and mountain goat all have different values and little fat. I always have a sliced up game heart for my turtles in the freezer which the redfoot go crazy over. Sometimes wet mazuri croc chow in moderation since it's packed with protein. They love it.
 

DanaLachney

New Member
5 Year Member
Joined
Feb 12, 2012
Messages
892
Until today I had no idea what a pinkie was and was always afraid to ask now I know why lol :(
 

wildak

Member
5 Year Member
Joined
Apr 13, 2010
Messages
180
It's the finger that goes straight in the air as you sip your tea right.
 

Snapper925

Member
5 Year Member
Joined
Feb 29, 2012
Messages
410
Location (City and/or State)
Joliet,IL
Mine will get mazuri for his plant protein then a frozen pinky. Twice a month :)
 

Hustler

New Member
5 Year Member
Joined
Mar 24, 2011
Messages
383
Location (City and/or State)
Alberta Canada Eh
do you think shrimp would work? I get loads of it for my arowanas anyways and it would beat the prep im currently doing for protine
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

New Posts

Top