Shelled Warriors Forums
 

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

Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
Old 08-07-2006, 08:32 PM   #11
egyptiandan64
Super Moderator
Adult
 
Join Date: Jun 2006
Location: USA
Posts: 14,171
Default

Carl the D3 is found in the bodies of the insects, worms, snails, frogs and anything dead they might come across in the wild. I do though suppliment with a calcium powder that has D3 in it.

Dan
__________________
egyptiandan64 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 08-07-2006, 08:53 PM   #12
carl20
Member
Hatchling
 
Join Date: Jun 2006
Location: north east
Posts: 516
Default

they grow wuite fast too reds dont they, is there shell as hard as the next tort
carl20 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 08-07-2006, 08:58 PM   #13
egyptiandan64
Super Moderator
Adult
 
Join Date: Jun 2006
Location: USA
Posts: 14,171
Default

Their shells are just as hard as the next tortoise . Maybe even harder.

Dan
__________________
egyptiandan64 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 08-07-2006, 09:35 PM   #14
piglet
Senior Member
Adult
 
piglet's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jun 2006
Posts: 5,976
Default

Redfooted tortoises are omnivourous tortoises , in general they feed on a wider range of food items than
Mediterranean or grass land ( leopards) tortoises .
There digestive tract is much quicker than the above mentioned species and able to cope with fruit diets and carrion also fungi's (mushrooms) and invertabrates (insects/ snails).
Most redfoots live in rainforest or rainforest edges encrouching on thick grassland habitat's .
Hatchlings and Juviniles spend the greater part of there life in very thick cover amongst leaf litter or hidden in the roots of tall grasses so uvb intake via basking is limited to the odd open areas that sunshine can penetrate through and so redfoots have now evolved to a more adapted dierty in take that can cater for there needs allowing them to extract D3 and other minerals from.
Again think of what is available on the forest floor where light is prohibited by dense leaf cover from the forest canopy, well very little in the form of green food but rich in invertabrate life ( insects/snails ) so redfoots have adapted to hunting slow moving insects and invertabrates ( snails being the greater part of it )as hatchlings/ juveniles supplemented with fallen fruits and occasional seedlings .
Calcium and D3 is absorbed into the digestive system through the flesh of inverts and snail shells , of course any opptunity to bask through open pockets of the canopy will also be greatly appreciated to boost the D3 levels.
Now to see in the darkened substrate of the forest floor redfoots have evolved large eyes that are very sensitive to bright light and could easily be damged to excessive exposure to bright sunlight ,hense the theory why rainforest species in captivty suffer sight problems if over exposed to high level's of lights that are suited to more sun loving species such as mediterranean tortoises ie high grade strip lights and mercury vapour bulbs .
Again these tortoises have agreat many enemies so growth is more rapid and dietry intake faster to aid growth .

I allow my redfoots at least 5-6 hours access to a 100w trex bulb daily the background room temp is usually around 78-82 through the day but can go as low as 68 at night time depending on the time of year.
Diet is mixed varying from weed leaves and flowers to small inverts such as baby snails and mealworms (pre gut loaded with a calcium supplement feed) and fruits mainly papaya occasional melon or berry fruits these are heavily supplemented with calcium carbonate daily and occasional nutrabol may be once or twice weekly.
Humidity is kept at between 70-80% on the ground this is achieved with daily spraying of the soil only substrate topped with bark chips i use repti bark.
Mosses and other forms of humidity holding substrates are fine but i do find Sp moss drys quckly if not kept moist constantly and have known redfoot babies get impacted on moss fibres taken in while feeding.
Any way end of essay
Darren
__________________


17 years old 25 years ago
piglet is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 08-07-2006, 09:55 PM   #15
aprillinda
Guest
 
Posts: n/a
Default

thanks darren

did i understand this right the mealworms eat the limestone flour then the torts eat the mealworms
linda
  Reply With Quote
Old 08-07-2006, 09:58 PM   #16
shootinglou79
Senior Member
Sub Adult
 
shootinglou79's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jun 2006
Posts: 1,743
Default

wow darren superb info thankyou.
shootinglou79 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 08-07-2006, 10:02 PM   #17
Becks
Senior Member
Adult
 
Join Date: Jun 2006
Location: Somerset UK
Posts: 4,035
Default

as always darren brill info
thanks m8
luv becks xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
__________________

horsfields ,redfoots ,southern and northan morrocans,
map turtle .




http://www.redfoottortoiseplace.piczo.com
Becks is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 08-07-2006, 10:33 PM   #18
piglet
Senior Member
Adult
 
piglet's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jun 2006
Posts: 5,976
Default

linda
Gut loading the mealworms first is a great way to add extra vit/mins into the diet .feed the worms some cat biscuits coated with limestone they ingest both giving there own gut a supply of both protien and D3 plus calcium .
Hope the little ones are settled was going to pm you but kill two birds with one stone as to speak how they doing
Darren
__________________


17 years old 25 years ago
piglet is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-07-2006, 03:49 PM   #19
Becks
Senior Member
Adult
 
Join Date: Jun 2006
Location: Somerset UK
Posts: 4,035
Default

i also gut load my meal worms on carrot as carrots are full of vit a .. luv becks xxxx
__________________

horsfields ,redfoots ,southern and northan morrocans,
map turtle .




http://www.redfoottortoiseplace.piczo.com
Becks 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 08:50 AM.


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