I'd suggest you broaden your resources on turtle and tortoise information. You're pretty well mistaken on a good amount of the advice you are passing along to other tortoise keepers.

If you are prevet you should check out Medicine and surgery of turtles and tortoises compiled by Stuart McArthur.

Your quotations of a certian individual are quite short sighted and very misleading.

>>First of all, avacodos are toxic to ALL tortoises, they should not have condensed fats such as oil of any kind, ANY grains cause pyramiding, and they should not have dairy, or any human food at all except some fruits and veggies. If you are feeding your tortie correctly, you should only very rarely have to add calcium or vitamin supplements at all, their diet should provide what they need. You should make sure you have the correct amount and type of UVB light if they are indoors, and that they are able to get at least 6 in. away from a tube florescent and 12 in. away from a coil, otherwise, it's almost pointless. And make sure you change coils every 12 months and tubes every 6, at least. Vitamin supplements should be designed for the specific species diet, and should very rarely be given, like in times of high stress. Very often they end up having Vit. D3 and VA toxicity. For calcium, the most reliable and safe method is putting a cuttlebone in the habitat with them, they will munch on it when they need it, and it also helps keep their beak trimmed. What you are feeding them sounds about right, as long as there is alot of variation, NO PELLETS, and you don't want to overdo the carrots either. I understand your wanting to ward of pyramiding and MBD because I adopted 2 RFs with moderate pyramiding and MBD. But especially when you're dealing with very young torties, you should always have a reliable and up to date book, then it's alot more likely to be correct. It would be heart breaking to see someone trying to improve an animals life and then end up causing major damage if not death. I hope I helped and didn't upset you by being so blunt. I am pre-vet and have had or cared for many species of tortoises if you have any ?s.
>>Good Luck!


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Ed @ Tortoise Keepers
Trying to keep the fun in Chelonian care

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