Heya. Now that they are n the new tank and collors are coming out nicely how do i get them fatter?? all the ones ive seen online are like little piggies and im jealous. i feed them collard greens and cut up yellow squash every day. they alwayz have a supply amount of food available to them... is there any better fatning food to make them more healthy or r they good for now? and y do they hail ass across the tank and knock all their thermometers over and off the wall by the time i get home lol. ohh and the 160watt power sum 50 dolla uvb came in the mail today!!! its installed and rdy for them to bask under
You have already seen a difference in colour and activity since you put them in new tank. You should see a big improvement in their eating as well, you dont need to "fatten" them up. I would suggest a more varied diet than just collards and squash, this will improve their appetite and they are also more nutritional than just collards. Endives Escarole Dandelion leaves (shop bought NOT wild due to possible pestecides etc) Bok Choy Turnip greens Mustard greens. Just to name a few. Check out Beautiful Dragons nutritional charts, they are for beardies but are equally good for uro's without the insects listed Colour coded for easy reference Green ..staple Black... occassional or rotated Blue ....rarely Yellow...questionable RED.....NEVER Spinnach, Chard, Kale and Broccoli should be avoided mainly as these contain oxylates and other things that can restrict intake of Calcium and other important minerals etc. A varied diet will see them put on weight without "power feeding" them.
I feed a very varied diet and mine always seems to skinny to me. He eats a lot too. Only time he looks fat is when he is basking. If up and moving about he seems a bit thin. Very active and very yellow. Here are my main foods: spring mix (without spinach) mustard greens squash mixed veggies once a week (green beans, peas, corn, and carrots) apple (occasional treat) crushed up beans mazuri tortoise food once a week or so. dandelions (flowers and leaves) He likes the flowers more bok choy A typical day will be: spring mix, squash, mustard greens, bok choy. The other stuff is few times a week or so.
As Bruno suggested - a varied and balanced diet is the best way to put weight on your uros. If you havent yet - having a fecal sample checked is a good idea as well, they came to you in poor health so they may have underlying problems such as parasites.
lol i had the whole harvies looking for bok choy tonight for 30 mintues and they didnt have any! lame lol! well i got em some baby lima beans more squash apples and more greens. that will have to do for now. how do i get dadelion!?
Most places I go have bok choy. Wal mart, target, harris teeter, they all have it. Some will have baby bok choy. I get dandelions from my backyard because I no they are safe. You can often buy dandelion greens at some of the stores that have a good selection of produce. If you have a Whole Foods they generally have a lot of stuff for uros. I go every now and then and get dandelion greens, cactus pad, edible flowers, etc and uros live all of those.
Most grocery stores will sell dandelion greens. Bok choy can be a bit harder to find - my local hannafords sells baby bok choy which my uro really loves. it Endive and escarole are usually available at jut about any grocery store. The endive may be called "curly endive" or "chicory" it should look something like this: http://www.mytinyplot.co.uk/wp-content/endive.jpg
Well, if you want to fat him up I find a good thing to use for my iguana and Uros is winter squash (I use butternut squash because it's the easiest to deal with), peas, parsnips. Any starchy food will fatten your URo up but those three that I've mention are the best possible choice. I know parsnips is really good for iguana since it has less calcium oxalate (the stuff that binds with calcium) than even the dandelion green, which is by far the best green you can possibly get. I use parsnips all the time because it's real starchy and high in protein and it's good for the animals that's eating them.
I read and heard that if you give your uros to much protein that later on in there life they will have kidney failure. Can anyone tell me if this is true or not?
No, this is plant protein not animal protein. Plant protein gets broken down into pyramadine (sp) and animal protein is broken down into purine. Very similar, but it makes all the difference how their body use it. The purine will overwhelm their kidneys and livers trying to rid the body of excess protein, but pyramadine won't. I can't remember why, but that's how it is. I guess the animal protein is richer if I remember correctly and their body is design to handle a little protein like insects and the rest of the bulk is plant stuff--except for the Egyptian o fcourse which are total herbivores.
