Reptile & Amphibian Forums

hey i read in a book that you could feed zupreem low fat monkey food to sulcata's. they actually showed a growth chart and the one that was fed the zupreem stuff was bigger and had less pyramiding than the others. anyone have any thoughts on this?? thanks for all the info.

I believe several factors come into play with pyramiding--diet/lighting/natural sunlight/humidity--so to target it just on diet I think would not be accurate. There are many beliefs and studies and theories as to why torts pyramid so it's hard to say exactly what causes it.
I do know a few people that feed Monkey Chow, I know a few that swear by Mazuri, and I know a few that don't believe in any of it at all. There are several commercial pelleted diets targeted towards torts and I do feed Mazuri as a supplement only. A huge portion should be edible grasses/weeds/flowers/hay etc.
So if you decide to supplement with a pelleted diet just make sure that the tort has access to other foods as well...
Slow steady growth is the key. I have a couple of torts outside that eat a variety of foods and I do not supplement at all with any kind of calcium or vitamin powders. The babies that come in during the winter or spend more time inside do get the calcium with D3 and multi vitamins but only 1-2 times a week. They also get Mazuri every day but if I see any signs of them not eating other foods I cut back on the Mazuri.

The monkey chow thing is old news.
I think people were feeding that before tortoise pellets existed.
I'm one of those who doesn't believe in feeding pellet food but if I had to do it, I'd use Mazuri that's made for tortoises.
I especially don't like feeding my shelled pets foods that are made for a mammal.
The proteins, amino acids & vitamin/mineral contents are too iffy imo.
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PHRatz

If you are going to use a prefab food I think sulcata gold is one of the better ones.

>>The monkey chow thing is old news.
>> I think people were feeding that before tortoise pellets existed.
>> I'm one of those who doesn't believe in feeding pellet food but if I had to do it, I'd use Mazuri that's made for tortoises.
>>I especially don't like feeding my shelled pets foods that are made for a mammal.
>>The proteins, amino acids & vitamin/mineral contents are too iffy imo.
>>-----
>>PHRatz
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aquariphiles.com-where I blog about aquarium stuff

>>If you are going to use a prefab food I think sulcata gold is one of the better ones.

Oh yeah I just recently heard about that one.. it's gotten some good reviews.
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PHRatz

I have on Sulcata that LOVES the Sulcata Gold. The ingredients are pretty darn close to be everything they eat in the wild.

The Sulcata Gold sticks like crazy to their mouth--comes off after a few days but it does stick.