Mario Herz Winter sees
Mario Herz Winter sees them being fed mainly with hay (“Fibre” or “Bergwiese” by Agrobs). Carrots, chicory or various types of lettuce are given mixed with hay. If the weather permits, they are supplied with meadows herbs and cuts. Willow and beech leaf litter are a favourite food and added particularly often in early autumn. In summer, the tortoises have the option of helping themselves to the grass growing in their outdoor pen. Illumination and heating indoors make use of high-quality lamps with a high output of UV radiation (HQI flooders of 70–150 W, and Zoo Med Power Sun lamps of 100–160 W). They are furthermore irradiated with an Ultra-Vitalux lamp (Osram) for 30 minutes each at a distance of 90–100 cm several times a week. The photoperiod was originally set to 12 hours of daylight daily, but was reduced to 10 hours following my visit to the native habitats of these tortoises. Even though it will be daylight for twelve hours every day in the Tropics, it will not be constantly warm all this time. The illumination intervals are therefore set as to create fluctuations in temperature. The required high level of relative humidity is generated by liberally spraying water in the indoor installation every morning and evening. If the tortoises are kept in a terrarium the size of a room or open-top tanks, using a fogger for creating the necessary degree of humidity might be sensible. Spraying the tortoises directly with water is entirely possible and will cause them to rise on their legs and extend the neck forward. Right from the beginning of my keeping them, I took the two giant tortoises outside on sunny and warm days to let them graze and expose them to unfiltered sunlight at the same time. Like their indoor terraria, their outdoor pen “grew” with them. Their first outdoor enclosure was a hotbed made from 16-mm hollow-chamber sheet polycarbonate that offered a floor space of 1 m² and had a run of the same size attached. It was later replaced with a larger pen that was outfitted with a thermo-hotbed built from 16-mm, UV-permeable hollow-chamber sheet polycarbonate (Alltop) that offered a space of more than Fig. 23. Seychelles GiantTtortoise grazing on meadow herbs. 14 RADIATA 22 (4), 2013
Aldabra Giant Tortoise, Aldabrachelys gigantea gigantea Fig. 24. Indoors, feeding greedily on dandelion, which is a favourite feeder plant. Figs. 25. A young giant tortoise in an outdoor enclosure. RADIATA 22 (4), 2013 15
