African spurred tortoise husbandry — calcium-fortified fibrous plant diet; large outdoor enclosures
The text below is reproduced verbatim from the first-hand source (Merck Veterinary Manual).
> African spurred tortoises are commonly kept as pets; however, they require calcium-fortified, fibrous plant-based diets and broad-spectrum lighting. They can grow from 5-cm (2-inch) hatchlings to more than 100 kg as adults. Consequently, they need large, preferably outdoor, enclosures, which makes their management challenging, especially in cooler northern latitudes.
Source: pdf-raw/exotic-b3/reptile_husbandry.txt (first-hand professional veterinary reference, tag-stripped).
Claims (verified C1 substrings of source_file)
African spurred tortoises are commonly kept as pets; however, they require calcium-fortified, fibrous plant-based diets and broad-spectrum lighting. They can grow from 5-cm (2-inch) hatchlings to more than 100 kg as adults. Consequently, they need large, preferably outdoor, enclosures, which makes their management challenging, especially in cooler northern latitudes.