Random I know but can anyone help with Horsfields Tortoises?

[sonjafoers]

As title really - I've exhausted all my other contacts so hoped someone on here may be able to help. I did see a post re ferrets on here recently so thought it was worth a try.

If so I need some feeding advice - you can PM me if preferred.

Thank you.

 

[MissMincePie&Brandy]

I have tortoises! Mine are over 60 years old and have been passed down the generations of my family and I am the current keeper

Feeding. Ours eat Dandelion leaves, thistles, Spring greens, the outer leaves you discard off cauliflower & cabbages, etc. Lettuce (their favourite type is round lettuce, or any lettuce with darker leaves. They don't like iceberg lettuce). They love Tomatoes. As a treat I also give them smaller quantities of strawberry, grape, peach & banana. Ours will also graze on the clover growing in the grass.

The green leaves are the most important.

Regarding drinking. Ours have never drank water. We made a special drinking bowl sunk into the ground for them, but they seem to get all their moisture requirements from eating lettuce and tomatoes.

You will find they might not be eating every day at the moment, as it isn't really warm enough for them yet. Ours are going out on the warmer summy days and on colder or wet days they stay in the shed and we have a special UV heat lamp for them to bask under. They won't eat at all unless they are warm enough, so some days they will not eat and that is fine. On really hot days they'll get through loads of food.

When it is very hot, later this summer, you must make sure they have some shade otherwise they will overheat.


If yours is very young, you should get feeding advice from a vet, as I think there is a ready mix food you can buy for them, as they need extra calcium.

 

[sonjafoers]

Thank you for replying, I am so worried about mine.

I have 2 roughly about 3 years old, which when I got them were only fed the ready made pellets you can buy. Apparently though these are not good for them although they love them - my petshop said it's like constantly feeding a child sweets, very palatable but no good at all!

I tried to wean them off the pellets with little success & now I am still feeding pellets a few days a week just to get them to eat something. I have picked them clover, vetch,dandelions,plantain etc etc and they won't touch it. I then grew my own thinking they didn't like the picked stuff so they have a patch of 'weeds' in the garden which they totally ignore.

I have tried apples, carrots, cucumber, tomatoes, peppers, strawberries & they won't touch them. The only things they will have an odd nibble of are pak choi, romaine lettuce and brocoli but they don't eat very much of it and would rather starve until I give them pellets again.

My male is dropping weight although the female isn't so I have given them pellets just to get them to eat something! I bathe and weigh them weekly but neither of them are increasing in weight. Can you suggest anything that might tempt them or do you think maybe they aren't warm enough?

I do give them water in their house & in the garden but I've never seen them drink so I guess they must be getting something from their food.

I put them outside when it is sunny, and if we have good weather they are out for about 12 hours but always in at night, and always in if it is colder or wet. Their cage is heated to about 80 with a thermostat & tortoise UV light so I am hoping I am doing everything right.

 

[frostie652]

I know it sounds mean but sometimes you need to be cruel to be kind, its really hard not to give into them but if you only leave them with the weeds and no pellets they will eat them eventually , lots of warm soaks in a tuppaware box or something similar will help their digestive systems along the way , pm me if you want anymore help or anything, where abouts are you? x

 

[Ponyfeet]

Like the link below says, they are like people and will have favourite foods. Don't despair!! If you are really worried, ask a vet or specialist.

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20070525130602AAtQtFx

 

[sonjafoers]

Thanks Frostie652, I'm near Plymouth.

I have tried not giving them pellets and I lasted a week without them hardly eating a thing so I had to give in!

 

[vhf]

Do get them checked if you can find a tortoise specialist vet... but a trick we've tried is chopping up the intended target (romaine lettuce, whatever) quite fine and then mixing with the pellets, which I assume you're soaking? Then gradually increase the amount of "green food" and reduce the pellets.
Ours are leopards but our two each have different "treat" foods", and they are completely different to the favourites of a colleague's tort, which is a Hermanns I think. There's loads of info online if you google, just don't take it all as gospel...

 

[frostie652]

im in devon too! YAY hehe. well to give you an idea during wind down for hibernation foos can be with held for upto a month (and then theres hibernation ontop), so although it is very hard you must be stronger!! hehe. err have you tried, adding alot of water to the pellets and putting them in a bag with the weed and then shaking so the weeds smell like the pellets? they proberly wont eat that much but just one bite or twos progress x

 

[sonjafoers]

Yes I do soak the pellets but I haven't tried chopping the veg etc up really small & mixing it with them. It's a great idea so I will chop it up and shake it all together tomorrow before feeding it.

I picked them clover flowers & dandelion flowers today & put them in the garden with pak choi & their weed patch - they bypassed everything apart from a few nibbles of pak choi which they will often eat in small amounts.

Blooming nuisances are more stressful than my horses

 

[jrp204]

Try ringing these people, they are near St Austell.
http://www.thetortoisegarden.co.uk/

 

[joeanne]

I know it sounds mean but sometimes you need to be cruel to be kind, its really hard not to give into them but if you only leave them with the weeds and no pellets they will eat them eventually , lots of warm soaks in a tuppaware box or something similar will help their digestive systems along the way , pm me if you want anymore help or anything, where abouts are you? x

Sorry but that isnt strictly true. Once they stop eating, it can be all but impossible to get them going again at times.
Torts dont drink. They absorb the water they require through their anus. This is why it is so important to pop them into a shallow dish of water every day. the only other moisture they will get comes from food.
Young torts need extra special care. Tortoise tables are hugely preferable to vivariums. They like very good ventilation, which unless you remove the glass and replace with mesh, is never going to happen with a vivarium.
They should also have all food dusted with a good quality calcium powder, and access to a uv light. On warm days, a couple of hours in the natural sunlight will do the world of good!
The above link is a good one, but a better one is the tortoise trust:
http://www.tortoisetrust.org/
Misinterpreted has given you very good advice on the feeding front, the only thing I would add, is if feeding dandilions etc, make sure they are from a source that is not sprayed with weedkillers, for saftey, there is nothing as well known as your own garden!

 

[vhf]

I agree - the torts are far more trouble than my mare!! But still worth it...
By the way, ours drink in the conventional manner, but ideally have to have a drinking container big enough to sit in as they drink by putting their whole lower jawline down into the water. (The female often performs at the other end at the same time, charming!) It wasn't a problem when they were small, but now they are the size of a small footstool, it's more of a challenge!

 

[The_snoopster]

I love my tortoise and I have also seen him drink and do a poo at the same time, mine lives in a vivarium but it,s very large and takes most of my front room up. He goes out in a rabbit arch with a enclosed bit so he can get out of the sun if he wants, he is in the all day in the summer but comes in at night. His favorite fruit is apple and if he could he would leave all his greens and live on apple, so apples are fed after the greens have mostly gone.

I in all honesty have never had a problem with his food as he is extremely greedy, he is 6 this december and was 1 years old when I bought him they are really entertaining when they set their minds to get somewhere mine can push doors open and tried to climb the stairs.