Header banner
Revain logoHome Page
Donna Lawson photo
1 Level
558 Review
0 Karma

Review on Zoo Med Natural Tortoise Food: Premium 60-Ounce Blend for Healthy Grassland Tortoises by Donna Lawson

Revainrating 5 out of 5

Great food for pancake turtles

I have two pancake turtles (Merry and Pippin). For the first few years I fed her a mixture of thick leafy greens like kale, collard greens, dandelions, etc. However, I noticed that her droppings weren't always hard or frequent. The container for this food classifies pancake turtles as grassland turtles, which is why I chose this food from Zoo Med's line of turtle foods. At first I just mixed this food with her greens because I wasn't sure I could get her to move. Stop eating leaves. I also sprinkled on a calcium supplement. Almost immediately, I could tell that her poop quality had improved. However, after a few years I noticed that one of my turtles (Pippin) had a pyramid shape. Noticing this I decided to switch her to this food entirely as it is particularly well balanced to her nutritional needs. Container recommends gradually mixing more and more of this food with veggies to switch between them. Since I had mixed it up with their greens for a while, I just went ahead and switched. To my surprise, they devour it as greedily as vegetables. I also add a calcium supplement (Zoo Med) and a multivitamin (Rep-Cal Herptivite). I changed them earlier this year and Pippin's bowl is looking a little better. She's still quite small, so I'm hoping that if she keeps eating this mix, she'll outgrow the pyramid. In general, it is quite easy to prepare. I usually make a 1:1 ratio of water to pellets and leave it on for 5-10 minutes while I get ready in the morning. At first I put the food in a plastic reptile plate. Because this mix has a slightly higher water content, it sometimes formed flaky mold if left in the aviary for more than a day. I replaced my plate with a regular terracotta flower pot plate and it works much better. It's still best to change the food every day (because it dries out over time), but now it doesn't get moldy since the terracotta dishes absorb some of the water.

Pros
  • Quality construction
Cons
  • So-so