Beginner

Post your pictures and any questions here of European tortoises e.g. Ibera Spur Thigh, Ibera Graeca, Marginated, Hermanns, Kleinmanni and we include the Horsfield tortoise. Also, do add pictures of Mediterranean tortoises you have seen in the wild.
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Megan98
Posts: 2
Joined: 15 Apr 2020, 18:25

Beginner

Post by Megan98 » 15 Apr 2020, 18:31

Hi,

I’ve just ordered my ‘complete setup’ for a Mediterranean tortoise, however this doesn’t include food.
I’ve done my research, searched various websites and forums from this site to the RVC to pets at home and I cant seem to find definite answers on what to be feeding this type of tortoise.
I’m also very conscious of our current state of the country on how to source the needed exotic food.

Any advice would be very appreciated! Thanks :)

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Nina
Posts: 2003
Joined: 16 Mar 2017, 11:22

Re: Beginner

Post by Nina » 15 Apr 2020, 19:55

Hi Megan and welcome to The Tortoise Table! And congratulations on your tortoise -- can you tell us what species it is? It's just that there are at least four or five different species that fall under the term 'Mediterranean' tortoises, and they do have slightly different care needs. And if you tell us the species we can send you a care sheet for it.

Regarding the complete set-up -- can you confirm that the enclosure is an open tortoise table-type set-up and not an enclosed glass and wood vivarium? This is really, really important as many pet shops try to sell new owners a vivarium and they are actually very bad environments for tortoises. Did your set-up include a good UVB light (this is also important). Just to avoid any problems if you want to tell us what you've ordered or give us a link, we can let you know if it will be suitable for your tortoise

Re the diet -- they don't need any exotic food at all (which I hope comes as good news)! The best diet for tortoises consists of suitable weeds, flowers and leaves of many plants that will be growing in your garden or in the wild (dandelions, plantain, sowthistle, campanula, pansies and many, many more). You should avoid most of the commercial food as much of it is far too high in protein (tortoises need a high fibre/low protein diet), although there are a few that are OK. You can use our website to filter our database (which contains over 1,000 plants) to find the ones that are best suited for your tortoise. Just go to our website https://www.thetortoisetable.org.uk/ and then:
1. Go into the Plant Database.
2. Go into the Categories section and then into any of the Categories (for example, Wild Flowers).
3. Towards the top of the page you will see a dark green bar that says ‘Filter Results by Safety’, followed by a row of coloured boxes with ticks in them (Green, Amber-Green, Amber-Red, and Red). These are our ‘traffic light’ codings: Green for safe to feed; Amber-green for feed in moderation; Amber-red for feed sparingly; and Red for do not feed.
4. Remove the ticks from the Amber-Red and Red boxes (just click on a tick remove it), leaving only the Green and Amber-Green boxes ticked (or for the safest plants, leave only the Green box ticked).
5. Thereafter, as long as you are in the current session on our website, all of the Categories will only display plants that are safe for your tortoise to eat. If you exit the website and then return, you will have to do this again. And of course you can also filter on the Red coding to produce a list of plants that you should not feed, etc.
6. If you want to print off the new list that you have made, there is a print icon underneath the full menu that will enable you to do this. But please note that the list you are printing off is the shortened version of the plant entries, and you should always consult the full version of an entry to see all the details, more photos, and the icons that tell you which parts of the plant are edible.

That's a bit long-winded but it's actually very easy!
I'm sure you are going to provide a really excellent home for this tortoise, and please don't hesitate to contact us if you have any more questions or problems.

Warmest wishes,
Nina

Megan98
Posts: 2
Joined: 15 Apr 2020, 18:25

Re: Beginner

Post by Megan98 » 15 Apr 2020, 21:26

Hi Nina,

Thank you for your quick reply!
The type of tortoise is a Marginated tortoise born July 2019 - the set up include a tortoise table with private space , thermostat, combination light for both basking and the UV rays if I’m not mistaken and the other important requirements, as well as a month or so of supplies such as a bedding, calcium dust etc. I did look around and found a place called ‘The Tortoise Shop’ who in-fact recommended you as a go to page for everything tortoise related.

I shall definitely create a food sheet in which I can refer to using your data base which was and is a massive help!


Again, thank you for all your advice!
Megan

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Nina
Posts: 2003
Joined: 16 Mar 2017, 11:22

Re: Beginner

Post by Nina » 15 Apr 2020, 22:27

Hi Megan,

Whew -- I can't tell you how many people get sold the wrong equipment and are given the wrong advice right at the beginning and then encounter huge problems as they go along. That isn't happening to you, and it sounds to me like you are getting off to an excellent start, so well done!

Marginated tortoises are lovely -- especially the wonderful flared scutes of the adult males, but the females are beautiful too. They are a reasonably large tortoise (weighing around 5 kg as adults), so you will need a much larger indoor enclosure eventually, but they will also adore being outdoors in the warm weather.
Here's a good care sheet:
https://www.tortoise-protection-group.o ... 014New.pdf
and here is a source with lots of very interesting information, including care that comes from a highly respected tortoise keeper based in the USA: https://www.hermannihaven.com/t-margina ... statistics

Just a final tip -- I don't know what kind of thermometer you got, but it's important that you do not have one that sticks on the wall of the tortoise table, as that won't give you a good idea of what the temperature is directly under the light. The best one to get is one of those digital fridge thermometers -- something like this https://tinyurl.com/w3xsehw .. That was just one I cut and pasted and you don't have to pay that much -- you can get them much cheaper, but try to get one that has a Max/Min function, so that you can see the warmest and coolest it got since you last set the function. You then position the display unit outside the table and hang the probe in so that it is directly under the heat source, at the height of your tortoise's shell. It might sound like a bit of overkill, but temperature is really important to tortoises. Because they don't make their own body heat like we do, and are dependent on outside sources of heat, you really need to get the right range of temperatures -- preferably around 30C directly under the lamp, which is at one end, and around 20C at the other end (and you don't need any heat at night). So in cool weather you might want to lower the lamp to get it a bit warmer and in warm weather you might want to raise it to keep it from getting too hot.

Would you like one of our Tortoise Observation Records booklets to keep good records of your little one? If so, just send me your address to nina@thetortoisetable.org.uk and I'll pop one in the post to you. It will be a nice way to start off your life with your new tortoise.

Cheers,
Nina

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