I'm only posting this here because the topic came up
WARNING... Intended for mature audiences.
Another WARNING...Long... Get a Pint, Glass of wine or a Pop.
This is another one of those posts I've been meaning to post and just never got around to it. These are observations and results of one tortoise keeper although there is similar results continuing to mount.
I cautiously started using this diet called Mazuri tortoise diet about 6 or maybe 7 years ago. It seemed like a solution to my problems. Before using this I was going through about $50 of produce a week and roughly two hours to chop and prepare it. It was very time consuming and I don't think I was hitting all the marks as far as nutrition goes even though I carefully selected the darkest greens and had a variety of about 20 different items. I also used a supplement (Centrum) and Calcium carbonate(cuttlebone)
This was the result of the weekly routine...
Like many people on this list I heard horror stories about pelleted diets so I researched this particular diet. I got to be pretty well acquainted with the person who developed and researched the diet. I also looked beyond this because I figured he had a stake in the marketing of this product. I talked to zoo keepers and anyone who had used the diet. Before that time it was only available to zoos. It was developed about 15 years prior to me using it for head starting Galapagos tortoise in those islands.
I figured I'll try it out on a limited basis. As time went on I noticed some interesting results... the first of which was that the animals liked it to an extreme. This was odd considering how some of the tortoises I keep were very finicky eaters. They appear to like it so much so that they can seem to smell it near by and there really is no detectable odor that I can detect.
At first I used it as a supplement with the greens. After a time I increased the Mazuri and decreased the greens. The tortoises outside always had access to grass and whatever forage so they were the first that were fed this diet exclusively. Greens were thrown in occasionally but it wasn't prepared as it was and it was fed more as a treat than anything else. The tortoise diet was the primary source of nutrition. The tortoises I was worried about the most got greens as the primary diet and Mazuri as a supplement. Those tortoise were mostly kept in indoor enclosures.
The Aldabras, Leopards and Sulcatas were the first to be fed the Mazuri diet on kind of exclusive basis because they had the run of the yard and they were feeding mostly on the stuff they found in the yard... grass, weeds, hedges and leaves in addition to whatever they could catch(bugs, dead birds, dog crap...)
They started showing some wonderful growth with the Aldabras being the most impressive. This is my first Aldabra and my baby. It was 4 inches SCL when I got it. That was about 2000. This is him today weighing in at about 100lbs (He was 1/2 pound to start).
As time went on I brought in new animals. The Redfoots were the first that got the diet and did not have the run of the yard so they did not have access to natural forage. Their pen was planted but they wiped that out in a week. They were given about 1/3 greens and the rest the Mazuri diet each week. They started showing me the most impressive growth outside of the Aldabras. As with the other tortoises they loved it and still do.
I mean they really love the stuff...
The Redfoots were the first to show me a 'problem' with the diet. It's more of an aesthetic thing than anything else. If the growth is too fast it does not grow symetrical. There is no pyramiding but it is not symmetrical.
The above girl showed me the most rapid growth. Can pretty much see the growth and the seasonal growth rings. The above is at 4 years in my care... maybe a little more.
Here is another Redfoot in that group. All have doubled in size in my care in that 4 years.
This is another favorite of mine... Speedy. This guy has been on the net over about 7 years. At first he was the slowest growing Sulcata. He was about 5lbs after 5 years. In the last 2 years this is where he's doubled in size. He started 50/50 and went to 100% of the diet.
My leopards have always been close to my heart. They have also been the most problematic tortoise I've ever kept from day one... 1978. I have not kept them all that time because before I left NY I got rid of those... 2 females, no male but I quickly got some in TX which I recently lost. Those are the ones I had 23 years... anyway...
This was the only offspring I personally raised to adult. Someone was nice enough to point out that she is grossly pyramided... I think she is... but not grossly. She's taught me a great deal over the years... roughly 17 years. It was the last tortoise that was produced for me in Texas which is why I think I kept her.
This is a shot of what I call my learning curve. You'll notice that the slope gradually decreases and the most recent part is the flattest. That's always made me wonder especially when I'm always saying that diet has little to do with shell shape but you do have to understand that I changed other things like adding outdoor heat and keeping her outdoors 24/7.
I finally get to the final phase of my use of this diet... using it exclusively on the tortoises I keep indoors. Up until now it was about 2/3 of their diet but time constraints took over and the produce section at Walmart here in Georgia is not much different than the best produce section you can find in the UK... not real good. This forced me into a situation which I probably would have fallen into regardless.
There are 2 sets of tortoises I thought I'd try this on... some leopards... the first hatched here in Georgia and some Stars which I've had terrible luck with... until now. I did also tried this with the only Spider I hatched out. In fact it was the Spider that gave me the idea. I'd been feeding her the diet almost exclusively from day one from the start and this is the current result...
Until now the diet was fed moistened. The diet is a pelleted diet and dry so it was impossible for the smaller tortoises to eat so it was moistened which they would readily eat. The problem here is that it was messy and would go bad if left for to long so it had to be removed once the tortoises were finished. Also, the tortoises would sometimes have to be cleaned because they seem to like walking through it as much as they liked eating it. My solution to this was to run it through a grinder and feed it dry ad lib. I fill the dish daily with as much as I thin their little tummies will hold for one day.
I am amazed at the current results. I'm waiting for the other shoe to drop but I'm putting a good deal of trust in that the manufacturers know what they are doing. First is the leopards. I've only been doing this for about 2 months. Also note the tortoises are kept hot. They have basking sites of over 100F which they use. This is the Leopards.
The above girl was growing so slowly. I think she is about 3 years old. The new growth is obvious. She is displaying that abnormality I mentioned earlier but it is starting to show growth.
Here is one of the last Leopards I hatched. One of my Third generation babies...
Finally, the tortoises that have given me the most joy in the last 2 months with what I've been doing. They are also the ones responsible for the most questions... my Stars. I started with 12 confiscated imports and slowly lost them one by one. I lost 2 after the move to Georgia and it really bummed me out. I figured I can't do any worse so what the heck... I am blown away with the results. They were 2 inches when I got them. The largest is now about 3 inches.
This is the largest.
This is the smallest which did not show any growth in almost 2 years. You can see the new growth after 2 months... unreal. These guys weigh a ton also.
There are 2 important points I'd like to note. The first is that the thing that killed most if not all the Stars is dehydration/urates/stones. I'm convinced it was from a green diet. With this diet the salts are minimal and they hardly pass any urates at all.
The other point is that on this diet they are inclined to drink a great deal. This applies to all the tortoises.
I've been wanting to do this post for a while because it might give a little insight into my point of view on this topic which I feel pretty strongly about.
Nutrition is a very controversial topic regardless of animal or people and I'll bet it will be as much in years to come.
This is intended to be a note and nothing more.
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Ed @ Tortoise Keepers
Trying to keep the fun in Chelonian care
