Is this enough nutrient's

[Kirkie]

Originally Posted by Helen M

I think your tortoise will get what it needs from a well planted enclosure. You could just leave cuttlefish bones lying around if your concerned about calcium.

Pauls in Yorkshire by the look of his avatar. I wouldn't be too worried about the calcium levels and availability in the plants in that picture.
Same for Kent, Sussex and a few others.

[Alan1]

it always amazes me how cows and other large animals that graze survive on just grass mostly. I doubt if tortoises actually need much nutrition at all to get by

[16 shells]

I think it's the amount of grasses/hay taken in, there is very small amount's of nutrition in grass then it is fermented, where more is taken out given a result. In some area's where the Leopard Tort lives there will be a shorter flush of growth sometimes two a year. Some times not that at all and it can be gone quick as other animal's and scorch take hold. See it time again on Animal tv, they gorge and have a beano of good stuff. Some of the plant's could be vital for a yearly wellbeing of the animal, some could have a level toxicity as this has been witnessed.
We take them on or away and offer them what is set down for our eviroment and they sometimes adapt quite well. Babbleon, what we do and offer in form of nutrient's, is a gamble that we get it right.
I think a very few very old tortoises alive in this country is not evidence that our feeding offering habit's is the right way.

[Alan1]

no, they have just been lucky I reckon

[Helen M]

I guess the diet of the leopard tortoises explains why they reach such a size. They need a longer gut and a greater quantity of food to keep them going on just a grass based diet.

Helen xx

[Kirkie]

Have a look at this:

http://www.cebc.cnrs.fr/publipdf/2006/EJAE64.pdf

A study of T Graeca Graeca feeding in an agriculturally overgrazed area. 8 main plant species consumed, higher protein legimues sought out.

[EJ]

I haven't seen temperature mentioned.

I hope most have read that paper I offered. That is current thinking in reptile nutrition and answers many of the questions that have come up lately.

While many of these tortoises appear to be eating single items... get down on your hands and knees and see what is actually growing even on a well manecured lawn... then there is the stuff outside of the lawn which does include insects and the like. With a well planted yard I'm sure most tortoises would do quite well for a single individual or species.

[EJ]

In the wild they do consume way more than just grasses. Even then... the number of species of grasses have to be considered... the stage of development of the plants...

Originally Posted by Helen M

I guess the diet of the leopard tortoises explains why they reach such a size. They need a longer gut and a greater quantity of food to keep them going on just a grass based diet.

Helen xx

[terrypin]

i believe tortoises that exist on a mainly grasses diet need to attain greater basking temperatures to help digest this fibrous food stuff.i have taken readings of leopards on a hot day still basking when med tortoises have sought the shade and their temperature readings are different.they bask until they attain the optimum temperature for their species/size then move into the shade so as not to overheat.be aware i thnk size is important smaller tortoises are in greater danger from high temperatures including the very real risks of dehydration and even death from overheating.perhaps this is why we often find leopards are more inclined to graze outdoors when they can control their own basking temperatures and arent limited to what we provide indoors.
terry

[EJ]

There are a few... actually more than a few but they tend to shy away from the tortoise community for some reason. Susan Donoghue was a reptile keeper before she was a vet and devotes most of her time on reptile nutrition.

The pelleted diet I have faith in is supervised by a phd in animal nutrition.

The desert tortoise studies using a formulated diet is supervised by phds in animal nutrition.

In the last 10 years there has been an explosion of studies in tortoise nutrition... because of its commercial value.

To clarify... while it might be unknown(or every will be) it is way more understood today than it was 10 years ago.

Originally Posted by 16 shells

This is my little Leopard grazing as he does, safe? plant's and flower's on offer out of shot, also brought in weed's, chopped hay fed. Apart from all the other unknown protein like insect's slug's ect that i don't see him devour except for a slug and a worm once. Plus supplement's about twice a week and water.
If i was to take away the twice a week pellet's fed for about nearly three years now and maybe recently Pre Alpin occasionly. Would the nutrition be met.



There is no such independent authority for reptile nutrition..
As a result, the nutritional requirements of reptiles for almost all groups of nutrients is unknown.
Opinion's welcome .