There has been a lot of supplements and foods brought to the market over the years. Pellet food arrived some years ago, and eventually was developed into many varieties and flavours – and in many circles regarded with suspicion nowadays. In more modern times a flurry of natural based products have now been offered to tortoise keepers, for supplementation and foods.
One of the first products to take our attention was when Komodo launched their range of leaf and petal mixes designed just for tortoises. ProRep soon followed with their own range, and it was even expanded to cover Bearded Dragons. Both ranges span many differing dried leaves and petals that can include plantain, echinacea, mulberry, dandelion leaf, red clover flowers, hibiscus petals and marigold flowers. All of these products have the ability to confuse a keeper – they are not intended for use by themselves. They are complementary and must be sprinkled on top of fresh leaves
and produce. Do not offer to the tortoise by itself, the tortoise will likely ignore it.
A more recent product introduced to those tortoise keepers that like to spoil their tortoises was initially brought out by Komodo. This was again followed by ProRep. This was a product loosely related to the complementary leaf mixes in some ways – this time it was an edible bedding for tortoises. Both manufacturers claim their products are great for encouraging natural behaviour – foraging. The bedding must be kept dry. Whatever is eaten consists of natural botanical mixes of dried leaves and flowers and is nutritional. Again, this is not intended as a sole diet.
The last recent product that we thought deserves mention was from ProRep. This is their Tortoise Botanical Calci Dust made up of twelve botanical herbs and flowers. This is a truly fantastic supplement for tortoises. A new way of thinking; it includes magnesium to help with the uptake of calcium and it also includes bee pollen for its powerful antioxidant properties. It’s perfect for general day to day use, probably the best calcium supplement for tortoises, and also to aid recovering tortoises. Great to build up tortoises before and after their winter sleep.
It truly is a great time to be a reptile keeper, with more and more new radical products arriving all the time!