Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Just wondering to what extent some of you go to to try to find food items that the animals would encounter in their natural habitat, and if you think its needed?

I wouldn't say I try to replicate it, because that would be pretty much impossible, but I do try to provide some of what they would be eating naturally--weeds, in other words. I'm lucky in that I live in an area where the weeds grow year round, so collection isn't that difficult. I provide maybe 7 different varieties of weeds/plants/flowers from their "natural" diet, but in the wild they probably eat dozens of different plants.
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Sohni
Northern California

0.1 Baja de L.A. Rosy Boa
0.1 Okeetee Corn Snake
1.1 Rubber Boas
1.0 Leopard Gecko
0.0.1 Hermann's Tortoise
0.0.1 Marginated Tortoise
plus my kids' herps:
0.1 California King Snake
1.0 Mexican Rosy Boa
0.1 Leopard Gecko

I try to replicate the diet in the general sense. For example, russians are generally described as consumers of weeds and some grasses and little or no fruit. So I try to provide them with a variety of weeds from my yard. They nibble on the grasses in their pen. And on rare occassions I throw in a chunk of apple or pear. I top it off with a little carrot (which they love) or squash/zucchini.

In addition I use some grocery greens. I tend to use more endive than anything. If I understand it correctly, endive is similar to the weed known as chicory. I also use a little collards or mustard greens.

I use very little of the canned diets. They usually consist of soy, corn, wheat, oats, etc. I have not seen these items listed as naturally consumed by tortoises, although I guess wheat and oats may bear some resemblance to grasses. Mainly I use the pellets as a vehicle for adding more calcium. My torts like the pellets, so I can use the moistened pellets rolled in calcium powder as a big "mineral tablet." As time goes on, I use these pellets less and less.

For my leopards I use more of the pellets, but mostly mixed in with a large amount of timothy hay. During good weather they get more yard grass and weeds, although they are pickier than the russians about weeds. And they get greens. Again, I am reducing the pellet intake. For the leopards, the pellets are used to get more fiber into them. Their stools get very runny on greens and broad-leafed weeds, and they refuse to eat dry timothy hay or much yard grass. But mixed with pellets, they'll eat lots of hay and grass.