Discussion
I have a new friend! Shelldon the Hermann tortoise.
Totally new to anything reptile so I am doing my best to read up on them but seems like what they eat is a national secret! Feeding him on mostly salad leaves at the moment and plan to grow things like Dandelions soon also. He is very entertaining, I put half a plant pot in his table top for him as a hide but he mostly uses it as a slide!
Anyone else have any tortoises, love to hear more about what people feed them as see pics!
facebook_217896257 by sj-stephenson, on Flickr
1526294_10153704092605123_2102812995_n by sj-stephenson, on Flickr
1510787_10153704092990123_487374044_n by sj-stephenson, on Flickr
Totally new to anything reptile so I am doing my best to read up on them but seems like what they eat is a national secret! Feeding him on mostly salad leaves at the moment and plan to grow things like Dandelions soon also. He is very entertaining, I put half a plant pot in his table top for him as a hide but he mostly uses it as a slide!
Anyone else have any tortoises, love to hear more about what people feed them as see pics!
facebook_217896257 by sj-stephenson, on Flickr
1526294_10153704092605123_2102812995_n by sj-stephenson, on Flickr
1510787_10153704092990123_487374044_n by sj-stephenson, on Flickr
Good question, well hopefully it will outlive me, my son is 14 so it may well outlive him too. They say about 80 years for Hermanns but could well live longer. Hopefully my sons kids! Very sweet!
remember that salad leaves are pretty much just water, so not ideal.
And contrary to popular belief a dandelion only diet is also not good as they are quite high in oxalic acid - which the hermanns can process in their urates - but it's not good to have too much as they could start to form stones.
The other recommendation I'd have right now is, certainly with the salad, but supplement the diet with a pinch of Nutrobal - it just helps provides the additional vitamins and minerals that the salad just wont be providing
remember that salad leaves are pretty much just water, so not ideal.
And contrary to popular belief a dandelion only diet is also not good as they are quite high in oxalic acid - which the hermanns can process in their urates - but it's not good to have too much as they could start to form stones.
The other recommendation I'd have right now is, certainly with the salad, but supplement the diet with a pinch of Nutrobal - it just helps provides the additional vitamins and minerals that the salad just wont be providing
sadly lost mine last year,we found him in a field near my grand parents house.that was 46 years ago when I was 2 or 3 and he was fully grown then approx. 10inches long so I have no idea how old he was.
if you can get it used to hibernating you can keep it outside once the last frosts have subsided in spring all the way to late September early October and a good bolthole filled with straw is a good idea as they do need shelter,from the sun as well as the cold even though they have a thick shell.
used to feed him most fruit and veg but nothing too citric like oranges or lemons.
he loved raspberries,strawberries and peaches,nectarines in fact most summer fruits.
I think you just have to try a wide variety of foods.
got some old pictures somewhere taken in the parents garden and he is in a lot of them,even as my sister and I grew up he seemed to stay the same.
enjoy(even though they don't seem to do much apart from eat and sleep).
if you can get it used to hibernating you can keep it outside once the last frosts have subsided in spring all the way to late September early October and a good bolthole filled with straw is a good idea as they do need shelter,from the sun as well as the cold even though they have a thick shell.
used to feed him most fruit and veg but nothing too citric like oranges or lemons.
he loved raspberries,strawberries and peaches,nectarines in fact most summer fruits.
I think you just have to try a wide variety of foods.
got some old pictures somewhere taken in the parents garden and he is in a lot of them,even as my sister and I grew up he seemed to stay the same.
enjoy(even though they don't seem to do much apart from eat and sleep).
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