In praise of pre alpin

[Stellanne]

I tried this many years ago but my creep didn't seem bothered. I have reintroduced it since they came out of hibernation this year and so far all is going well. I mix a small amount on wet weeds so it sticks and they don't seem to notice. I haven't tried with the hatchlings as yet but haven't completely ruled out giving it a try. X x x hugs x x xStella x x

[Ozric Jonathan]

Hi folks and thanks for your replies.

Suze is right that Pre Alpin is low in nutrients but this goes along with it being like the wild tortoises would mostly be getting. Because Pre Alpin is very low in protein we don't need to worry about them eating too much of it.

It's not a 'complete food' since it's not been designed by pet food scientists and doesn't have additives. We can always offer cuttelfish and bowls of limestone flour if we want to. I don't worry about the Vit D side of it because I think my tortoises are getting enough UVB indoors and out.

Maybe it's a bit different with hatchlings but I think even for them they could have Baby Pre Alpin several days per week with no chance of missing out on anything.

[Pussygalore]

I'd always feed it alongside weeds ect never as a food by itself that way its just extra roughage and I doubt they'd get fat on it.

[zx4g]

It's great to add to supermarket foods or pellets when needed especially with non hibernating torts

[geordie mark]

Ah I've been looking at this stuff thanks Jonathan, is it fibre you use ? Or herb ?

[Ozric Jonathan]

Hi Mark


The loose one which is suitable for Mediterraneans is the Fibre, The same product but in Cob form is the Herb.

So for Med species we can use Fibre or Herb.

The Testudo one, which is a Cob is mainly mixed grasses and is suitable for Sulcatas and Leopards.

I had to read this several times to make sure I was getting it right. The way the products have been labelled by the people that make it is bonkers in my opinion. The product they call Testudo (and has lots of grasses in it) is aimed at tortoises that are not testudos!!

And Herb and Fibre are basically the same stuff but in a different form!! Both of them are herbs and both of them are fibre. Go figure.

The shelled warriors shop sells a bag of loose Herb for £8.99 and for that you get quite a lot.

http://www.shelledwarriorsshop.co.uk...ost-7595-p.asp

You get also get Pre Alpin products here: http://www.tortoiselady.co.uk/page7.htm

I've tried different ones and I would say that they work out very good value except for Baby which seems crazily expensive. Especially when we're told that it's the same stuff ground up smaller. Why charge so much for a bit of grinding?

[geordie mark]

I think I'll be investing in this now then to make sure they like it for winter

[ONielsen]

Good post Jonathan ! once you get them to eat it theres nothing better imho.

[Suze65]

Thanks Jonathan, very useful post.

[Hanako]

My tortoises will rather starve than eat Pre Alpin. None of them like it. Some of them will eat it if mixed with some other food (e.g. with Mazuri) but others won't eat it at all, even when mixed with favourite food. They will rather starve. They remind me myself when I was a child - I wouldn't eat soup to save my life, so I did not get lunch and sometimes had the same soup served for dinner so I didn't have the dinner either. My parents are stubborn but so am I. I would rather survive only on breakfast than eating the soup. Yes, I was hungry but I wouldn't back off. My parents gave up on the idea that I would eat soup when I started weighing myself, saying that if I can't get lunch/dinner, at least I will lose some weight. (Emotional blackmail of course). Interesting, watching now my tortoises doing similar behaviour to me and now I am the sucker who will rather back off because I don't have the stomach to watch them starving. That's called karma.