Introduction
The Cherry Head tortoise, a captivating reptile native to South America, requires a carefully curated diet to ensure its health and longevity. Understanding the nutritional needs of these tortoises is crucial for any owner. This article provides a detailed guide to feeding your Cherry Head tortoise, covering everything from essential food groups to proper supplementation.
Dietary Essentials for Cherry Head Tortoises
A well-balanced diet for a Cherry Head tortoise consists primarily of plant matter, with a smaller portion of fruits, vegetables, and a minimal amount of protein. Variety is key to maintaining the health of your animal. Aim to provide a diet of around 70% fruit, 25% greens, and 5% protein-based foods.
Plant Materials: The Foundation of the Diet
The bulk of a Cherry Head tortoise's diet should be composed of various greens and plant matter. Excellent options include most lettuces, edible flowers, and leaves of edible plants.
- Lettuces and Greens: While Iceberg and Round Lettuce should be avoided due to their low nutritional content, “Mixed Lettuce” varieties, such as Chinese Lettuce and Raddico, can be offered. Spring mix, a blend of various greens and lettuces, is a convenient option. Avoid romaine or any "head" shaped lettuces as they have very little nutritional value. Dandelion greens are another nutritious option, often available at supermarkets or produce markets.
- Flowers: Leaves or flowers of edible plants like hibiscus are nutritious. Roselle hibiscus flowers are also beneficial.
- Other Plant Matter: Mushrooms, hays, grasses, and leaves of fruit trees such as mulberry can supplement the diet. Timothy hay can be offered as well.
Vegetables and Fruits: Important Supplements
Vegetables and fruits add essential vitamins and minerals to the Cherry Head tortoise's diet.
- Vegetables: Shredded carrot, squash, pumpkin, and bell pepper are good choices.
- Fruits: Apples and kiwifruit can be offered. Figs and papaya are particularly beneficial. However, bananas, grapes, and citrus should be kept to a minimum. Berries, melons, and mangoes are also tortoise-safe fruits that make excellent treats. Fruits should be finely chopped into bite-size pieces. Due to their high carbohydrate content, excess fruit can lead to unhealthy weight gain and gastrointestinal upset.
Protein: A Limited Addition
Meats should constitute no more than 10% of the diet. As red foot tortoises are omnivorous, they need a higher protein level than most species of tortoise once they are larger. Adult Red Foot tortoises are often fed protein including hard boiled eggs, even pinkie mice, as they do need a higher protein level then most species of tortoise once they are larger. In the wild, redfoot tortoises readily eat animal and plant material, including carrion.
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Feeding Schedule and Practices
- Frequency: Feed your Cherry Head tortoise daily. Remove any uneaten food when it spoils.
- Water: Fresh water should always be available in a shallow dish, deep enough for the tortoise to submerge its nose and mouth to drink.
- Soaking: Every morning, soak your baby cherry head tortoise in a dish, clean new cat litter tray, or shallow bowl with warm water. Avoid cold tap water, as it can shock them.
Supplementation: Ensuring Nutritional Completeness
Supplementing your Cherry Head tortoise's diet with calcium and vitamins is crucial, especially in captivity.
- Calcium: Supplement the diet with calcium supplements such as Calcium powder with Vitamins for Herbivores. Sprinkle this over the top of the food you provide your tortoise. Before feeding, sprinkle a small amount of a powdered calcium supplement without vitamin D on their tortoise’s food.
- Multivitamins: A multivitamin supplement designed for reptiles should only be given once a week.
- Probiotics: Probiotics (good bacteria that live in the intestines) are beneficial for gut function.
- Other Supplements: Hibiscus flowers (Roselle) and cactus powder (Opuntia) can also be of use.
Foods to Avoid
Certain foods should be avoided altogether due to their potential harm to the tortoise's health.
- Iceberg Lettuce and Head Lettuces: These contain very little vitamins and minerals.
- Grains: Grain-based diets are not recommended. Avoid foods high in wheat and/or rice, which can have a negative effect on health. Grains have an acidifying effect which causes a leaching of bone. They are also high in phytate, which binds calcium and other minerals, negatively impacting calcium metabolism and altering Vit D metabolism.
- Oxalates: Foods high in oxalates, such as spinach, rhubarb, parsley, beet greens, chives, kale, mustard greens, and collard greens, can bind calcium, minimizing its absorption and imparting a bitter taste in greens such as mustard greens.
- Purines: High-purine foods like peas, beans, and cereals should be avoided, as they can be a factor in gout.
- Goitrogenic Foods: Foods that interfere with iodine absorption, such as broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower, and turnips, should be avoided due to their potential impact on the thyroid glands (Goiters).
Habitat and Environmental Considerations
Maintaining the correct environment is crucial for your Cherry Head tortoise's health and well-being.
- Temperature: Baby cherry head Tortoises for sale can be kept in a heated habitat with a temperature range of 82F to 85F with a hot spot at 90F and a 10-15F temperature drop at night. The recommended temperature for the warm end of an indoor tropical tortoise habitat is 85-95 degrees F, while the cooler end should be kept around 75-80 degrees F.
- UVB Lighting: Whilst the tortoise is maintained in a Vivarium, it is vital that it receives the correct UVB lighting to aid vitamin D3 production and utilisation. In their native habitat little light reaches the forest floor so 5% UVB should be used. Tortoises can absorb natural UV exposure by spending time outside in an escape-proof, predator-proof outdoor enclosure whenever weather permits.
- Humidity: Being a rainforest species, cherry head require a rather high humidity and so humidity levels in the vivarium should be maintained at around 70% - 90%. Tropical tortoises need humidity in their environment to stay hydrated and maintain their respiratory tract health. Pet parents can keep moisture in their tortoise’s habitat by misting it daily.
- Habitat Size: Baby cherry head Tortoises for sale can be kept in a heated habitat with a a temperature range of 82F to 85F with a hot spot at 90F and a 10-15F temperature drop at night. A single juvenile tropical tortoise requires a habitat that’s at least 36 inches L x 18 inches W x 16 inches H. Adult tropical tortoises need plenty of space to roam freely, so indoor enclosures should be at least 36 inches L x 72 inches W x 16 inches H once the tortoise matures. Outdoor habitats should be enclosed with a sturdy mesh lid to keep predators out while still allowing in sunlight. Outdoor habitats should be buried at least 12 inches into the ground to prevent the tortoise from digging under the enclosure’s walls and escaping. Each adult tortoise needs at least 18 square feet of floor space in their enclosure.
- Substrate: Tropical tortoises need a substrate that holds moisture to maintain proper humidity levels in their enclosure. Paper-based bedding, cypress mulch, coconut husk, and untreated peat moss are all suitable substrate choices for indoor enclosures. Coarse substrates (like sand or gravel) are not recommended, as they are indigestible and can cause life-threatening gastrointestinal obstruction if ingested. If the tortoise is kept on any indigestible substrate, such as soil, mulch, or coconut fiber, then it should be fed off the ground in a separate enclosure.
General Care Tips
- Habitat Maintenance: Check the cherry head tortoise habitat a few times a week for poop, and spot clean by removing. Also, always rinse the food and water dishes out at least every other day, if not daily. Indoor habitats should be cleaned thoroughly at least once a week. Outdoor habitats should be cleaned thoroughly at least once a month.
- Veterinary Care: Tropical tortoises should be seen by a veterinarian once annually.
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