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Calcium
Posted: 11 Nov 2019, 16:17
by Misty666tortoise
Re: Calcium
Posted: 11 Nov 2019, 17:28
by lin
Hiya.
Fussy, arenβt they
Have you tried leaving the cuttlefish bone you get for birds, in the garden to go wet and manky looking. Most tortoises like it when itβs wet and lost itβs smell. Also A tiny pinch is all you need, per kilo of tortoise weight with the supplements so if you offer a teeny piece of thin cucumber with the supplement sprinkled on it and folded in half, it could work.
What methods are you trying Misty?
Lin
Re: Calcium
Posted: 11 Nov 2019, 18:00
by Misty666tortoise
I'm just trying it shaken in a tub to cover the food lightly, but they really just turn their nose up at it, I feed them a handful of wild grown plants so when they don't eat it it's like 50% of their diet so it's to much for them to miss out on, I like the cucumber trick I might give that ago.
Cheers
Re: Calcium
Posted: 11 Nov 2019, 21:36
by lin
Hi Misty.
Good luck and let us know how it goes.
Lin
Re: Calcium
Posted: 12 Nov 2019, 08:24
by Nina
Which supplement are you using? Nutrobal is the best but it also has a smell that tortoises don't like. For some reason i find that if I wet one side of a leaf and sprinkle a bit of nutrobal on it and then turn that upside down and offer it to the tortoise, they will often eat it -- but not if the nutrobal is on the top. Some people say that keeping it in the fridge helps, but if after trying lots of things they still won't eat it then we could recommend another product (Rep-Cal for example). See our list of supplements here:
https://www.thetortoisetable.org.uk/tor ... cpr_tXgq9s
Nina
Re: Calcium
Posted: 12 Nov 2019, 12:16
by Misty666tortoise
Re: Calcium
Posted: 12 Nov 2019, 14:09
by lin
Aww, thank you Misty, thatβs so nice of you and itβs also good for us to have you here caring so much for your tortoises. It makes our job much easier - lol.
Let us know about the cucumber of folded leaf, if it works or not and I am sure your babies health checks will pass with flying colours.
Lin
Re: Calcium
Posted: 12 Nov 2019, 22:40
by Nina
If you wet his leaves, you can scrape a thin layer of powder off the cuttlefish with your fingernail, and it will stick to it. Just trying to think of how to get more calcium in them!
Nina
Re: Calcium
Posted: 14 Nov 2019, 10:04
by Misty666tortoise
Re: Calcium
Posted: 14 Nov 2019, 10:41
by Nina
Hi Misty,
It sounds to me like you are providing a really good diet, and you are going to have very happy and healthy tortoises!
Re the grape -- that was fine to do, but in general we don't advise feeding grapes because of the sugar content (theirdigestive systems don't cope well with the natural sugars in fruit).
We have two entries for grapes -- one for the vine (leaves)
https://www.thetortoisetable.org.uk/pla ... c0tq9Xgq9s and one for the fruit
https://www.thetortoisetable.org.uk/pla ... c0uMdXgq9s , so you shouldn't really feed grapes to non-fruit-eating species, but in the wild tortoises do encounter fallen fruit on the ground (and of course they love it -- think babies and chocolate), so there is no harm done with the occasional lapse
especially if you are trying to get some medication or supplement into them.
Cheers,
Nina