Little Piggy Pics

[ReptileHQ]

Joe, pyramiding is directly related to diet and UV exposure. Usually a high protein or too rich of a diet or an overfed tortoise will make the shell pyramid.

Sulcata tortoises should be thought of as the cows of the reptile world. Their diet should consist of 50-75% grasses(yes pesticide free lawn clippings will do just fine). The rest should consist of common weeds(dandelion, plantain, clover, sowthistle, so on....), flowers, and opuntia cactus pads. No dog food, no broccoli no alfalfa(18% protein), no commercial tortoise foods. There are a bunch of other no no foods that can be researched. www.chelonia.org and www.tortoisetrust.org will tell you everything you need to know.

Lots of sunshine or a mercury vapour full spectrum bulb will do the rest.

High fibre + UV + High calciumhosphorus ratio= smooth tortoise

This is for sulcatas, other species of tortoises may vary in diet requirements.

all the best,

Chris

[JoeBradley]

Sulcata Station also has a great website for sulcata care. This is where I get my care tips from.

[Linds]

Angie,
Glad to see you on the site!

Originally posted by ReptileHQ
Hey, is he yelling at you in the second pic for not including his favourite food?

LOL... everything's his favourite food Well except blackberries...

[Oliverian]

Wow, he sure is a bright little tort. Really beautiful!
-Tammy

[if_i_were_u]

Linds,
What do u feed ur redfoots. I am looking for some new ideas and would like to know what ur doing. Thanks

[Linds]

Tammy,
Thanks!

if i were u,
For greens I feed him: endive, mixed spring greens, collards, dandelion, clover (summer only), watercress, romaine, green leaf lettuce, celery leaves, kholrabi, raddichio. I would like to include more, such as mustard greens, but cannot find any, but am planting him a fenced in garden next year and will grow my own. Unfortunately I didn't get started on the planting early enough this year
For fruits and veggies: prickly pear, pear, peaches, black grapes, plums, strawberries, blueberries, mandarin orange, butternut squash, spaghetti squash, pumpkin, zucchini, cucumber, pineapple, canteloupe, kiwi, dates, figs, green beans, peas, broccoli, mushrooms. The last four are fed very ocassionally for variety. I'd like to include blackberries but the little guy just doesn't like them.
In the summer he also gets hibiscus flowers.

[daver676]

WOW. He eats better than I do! Great looking tort Linds!

[Tim and Julie B]

As a treat Linds offer some over ripe mango. They go nuts for it.

[Linds]

Oops.....yeah left out papaya, mango, watermelon. Get great deals on papaya and mango in china town in the summer I freeze them, they get a bit squishy, but he isn't bother by it...lol. Most of the fruits are best fed overly ripe, but I avoid doing so with mango due to the kerosene is produces.

For greens I also left out escarole and kale