A few food and general q's :)

[EJ]

The only reason they need a wide variety on a plant based diet because you really don't know what you are feeding them and you are using a shotgun mentality to make sure they are having all their nutritional needs met.

With a pelleted diet there is no worry so variety is only a treat and not a necessity.

Originally Posted by Bindi

I've been told that torts can get quite addicted to the foods that they like, but it's important that they get as wide a variety as possible.
Keep bathing him everyday, if it were me i'd cut out the cucumber altogether. If you're worried about doing this you could rub some over the rest of his weeds so he gets the scent of the cucumber.

It may be benficial to add a little extra light to keep him going. Some people use an old UV strip, or you could use a desklamp to up the light levels
I'm afraid I can't comment on his weight as I'm not familiar with Horsfields...and I can only work in grammes!!

[Norty Torty]

Calednia - Yep, he is a Horsfield and what you say has reassured me - Thanks. He didn't eat any thing when I got him so I guess I'm lucky he is eating the little he is at the mo!

[Norty Torty]

Originally Posted by Bindi

I've been told that torts can get quite addicted to the foods that they like, but it's important that they get as wide a variety as possible.
Keep bathing him everyday, if it were me i'd cut out the cucumber altogether. If you're worried about doing this you could rub some over the rest of his weeds so he gets the scent of the cucumber.

It may be benficial to add a little extra light to keep him going. Some people use an old UV strip, or you could use a desklamp to up the light levels
I'm afraid I can't comment on his weight as I'm not familiar with Horsfields...and I can only work in grammes!!

Thanks Bindi - I'll try that with the cucumber tonight - He certainly is a little addicted to them!!

Re - the lamp - do you mean a general light?

[Norty Torty]

EJ - Is a pelleted diet (sorry to sound stupid here ha ha) just pellets? They were feeding him on that I think (Komodo) when I got him and he just looked at them in disgust!

[Alan1]

just an ordinary light she means

did you soak the pellets first

[EJ]

That's one of the many.

I've heard some tortoises do this but once they get started there is no stopping them... you and the tortoise are better for it.

Check out some of the threads that I've posted on pelleted diets.

Originally Posted by Norty Torty

EJ - Is a pelleted diet (sorry to sound stupid here ha ha) just pellets? They were feeding him on that I think (Komodo) when I got him and he just looked at them in disgust!

[EJ]

I soak the pellets I feed but you do know that this is not a requirement. If you can find a pellet small enough or cruch the large pellets it can be fed dry. The advantage is that you don't have to worry about it going bad and you can keep a constant supply of food available. As it turns out... when the food is dry the tortoises do not eat as much. You can leave the food and they pick on it as needed.

Originally Posted by caledonia

just an ordinary light she means

did you soak the pellets first

[Norty Torty]

Re: Soaking the pellets...

I did - however - I must say that he was probably settling in so I wonder whether that was the reason that he wasn't liking it along with any other food. I'll add some tonight and see waht happens!

Thanks all so much for all the advice..very much appreciated!!

So - ideally at his length (15cm) what do you think his ideal weight should be?

x

[Alan1]

just wondered if maybe the previous owner soaked pellets and you didn't or vice versa so the tort might not have realised it was getting the same thing

[EJ]

I doubt that because the tortoises key onto the odor.

Originally Posted by caledonia

just wondered if maybe the previous owner soaked pellets and you didn't or vice versa so the tort might not have realised it was getting the same thing