Shelled Warriors Forums
 

Go Back   Shelled Warriors Forums > Tortoise Information > Non Med Species - Information & Questions

Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
Old 31-05-2011, 11:27 AM   #21
littlestar
Member
Hatched
 
Join Date: Jan 2010
Location: England
Posts: 279
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by LYNNEEASTER View Post
yeh think thats the one i've seen in rep shops but i'd advise just buy the refill packs & plant in pots. that way your getting a choice of 20+ weeds to feed.
littlestar is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 31-05-2011, 11:31 AM   #22
littlestar
Member
Hatched
 
Join Date: Jan 2010
Location: England
Posts: 279
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by Gemstone-Dragons View Post
This is what I meant, the lists I've read give probably around 50 plants that are good feeders but varied.
There must be many aspects needed to make up a torts diet and the lists dont help with which of them make a balanced diet just mix as many as possible and you 'should' be ok.

That is what I was now looking into, if I could cut their varied lust down using your experience to maybe 10-20 plants that fit that nutritional balance as much as possible to use as a basic diet with extras added ontop.

IMO if you choose to feed your dog a raw food diet over processed petfood it is only beneficial to the animal if you get the nutritional balance right otherwise lacking in allsorts.

I wanted to go down the fresh homegrown weeds route at least as my basic diet I could top up but am trying to learn and benefit from your experience as to the best way to do this for my little man.

then again you will be feeding certain weeds but how much of each weed do you feed?
littlestar is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 31-05-2011, 11:45 AM   #23
Alan1
Super Moderator
Adult
 
Alan1's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2008
Location: Sunny Scotland
Posts: 21,512
Default

if it has to be only 5 then I wouldn't include dandelion or chickweed. chickweed and dandelion should only be fed in moderation. TTT has dandelion as safe to feed yet goes on to explain why it should only be fed in moderation, can't understand that one I would list it as feed sparingly rather than safe to feed.

dandelion is high in oxalates and is a diuretic which can cause dehydration and bladder stones (and by association, possibly the first stages of pyramiding) so why list it as 'safe'?

they have chickweed as feed in moderation but no reasons as to why it's not listed as safe to feed

sowthistle would be on my list but to be honest, 5 is not near enough even for starters
Alan1 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 31-05-2011, 11:55 AM   #24
Alan1
Super Moderator
Adult
 
Alan1's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2008
Location: Sunny Scotland
Posts: 21,512
Default

..actually, all plants should be listed as feed in moderation since no one knows how most plants affect torts long term. we exclude some plants that are toxic to mammals yet feed plants like hosta to torts, hosta is toxic to horses, cats and dogs so how does anyone know it doesn't do long term damage to the organs of torts? it is known that torts eat highly toxic plants in the wild, do they need to eat them or just fancy them? if they need them and we exclude them are we doing them long term harm?

Last edited by Alan1; 31-05-2011 at 12:00 PM.
Alan1 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 31-05-2011, 12:46 PM   #25
Gemstone-Dragons
Junior Member
Egg
 
Gemstone-Dragons's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2011
Posts: 41
Default

Exactly how much of each was another factor I was looking at and I asked for 5 top ones to allow for different lists/opinions making the sublist longer and giving space to add my own extras ontop as I learn more.

Just wondered if everybody using weeds was throwing in a bit of everything - if this is working please could I have that list, or different amounts of set plants topped up with wild grown and extras?

Using the pellets topping up with small amounts of lots of weeds seems the most balanced food at the moment especially over winter months but if I can satisfy myself that I have the diet right I would prefer to use a fresh homegrown diet
Gemstone-Dragons is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 31-05-2011, 12:57 PM   #26
EJ
Senior Member
Adult
 
Join Date: Apr 2007
Location: Atlanta, GA
Posts: 8,277
Default

That's the one.

Quote:
Originally Posted by LYNNEEASTER View Post
__________________
Ed
Tortoise Keerpers @
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Tortoise_Keepers
and
http://www.facebook.com/#!/groups/284442591651347/
Trying to keep the fun in Chelonian care
EJ is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 31-05-2011, 01:02 PM   #27
EJ
Senior Member
Adult
 
Join Date: Apr 2007
Location: Atlanta, GA
Posts: 8,277
Default

The point I'm making is that you can formulate a diet with relatively known ingredients. Once again... the formulated diets are based on a biological model to begin with. They are then tweeked based on input from data on specific animals.

My faith goes with those who seem to know what they are doing. This faith is based on what I think is some pretty good networking and research.

Quote:
Originally Posted by littlestar View Post
exactly! its impossible! but you keep mentioning a good "formulated diet" there is no formula, we feed what we feed and hope its for the best for them. we are ALL entitled to our individual opinions.
__________________
Ed
Tortoise Keerpers @
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Tortoise_Keepers
and
http://www.facebook.com/#!/groups/284442591651347/
Trying to keep the fun in Chelonian care
EJ is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 31-05-2011, 01:24 PM   #28
Alan1
Super Moderator
Adult
 
Alan1's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2008
Location: Sunny Scotland
Posts: 21,512
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by Gemstone-Dragons View Post
Exactly how much of each was another factor I was looking at and I asked for 5 top ones to allow for different lists/opinions making the sublist longer and giving space to add my own extras ontop as I learn more.

Just wondered if everybody using weeds was throwing in a bit of everything - if this is working please could I have that list, or different amounts of set plants topped up with wild grown and extras?

Using the pellets topping up with small amounts of lots of weeds seems the most balanced food at the moment especially over winter months but if I can satisfy myself that I have the diet right I would prefer to use a fresh homegrown diet
from my observations of when they are outside and have a variety of growing plants available, they tend to have a few bites of most things out there rather than sticking to one or two

if I was listing five then they would be..
1 campanula
2 sowthistle
3 plantain
4 cat's ear
5 lavatera

this is a good list http://www.thetortoisehouse.com/Edible04.htm

Last edited by Alan1; 31-05-2011 at 01:42 PM.
Alan1 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 31-05-2011, 02:04 PM   #29
yagyujubei
Member
Incubating
 
Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: Homerville, Ohio, USA
Posts: 119
Default

Conspicuous by their absence are Grape leaves and Mulberry leaves. My leopards eat a lot of these all summer.
yagyujubei is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 31-05-2011, 02:13 PM   #30
Alan1
Super Moderator
Adult
 
Alan1's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2008
Location: Sunny Scotland
Posts: 21,512
Default

mulberry is listed on that link I posted, I don't think I've ever seen one though
Alan1 is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply


Currently Active Users Viewing This Thread: 1 (0 members and 1 guests)
 
Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump


All times are GMT +1. The time now is 02:30 PM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.7
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.