TortoiseForum.org

Hi, I wanted to start a thread for newbies like my self, to get an idea of exactly what's on your tort's shopping list. What are you currently feeding your tortoises? This would be a wealth of information to me.

Thanks
Milly

Milly, this would completely depend on what type of tortoise that you have. If you could let us know species and age, people will chime in and give specifics. Welcome to the forum!

I have a sulcata and all I feed him right now is clover, hibiscus leaves and blooms and whatever other weed I find that he can eat. I also give him calcium.

I am still unsure if I should give him some turnip greens or not - I think as long as his poop stays NOT hard as a rock I will keep him on grass, etc. - which is free for me!

I have two russian torts. Not sure of the age yet. The female (Rosie) is about 6 inches long and the male (Elmo) is about 4 inches long.

Hi there Milly,
I have 3 rt's and I go by this list,
GREENS
Most grocery stores have a decent selection of greens that Russians readily eat. Ideally the greens should be organic and pesticide free. However this is the real world and not all tortoise keepers have access to "ideal" food. So, I have this section as a starting point for a varied diet. The following greens are easily found in my local stores:
Romaine lettuce
Red and green leaf lettuce
Endive
Escarole
Radicchio
Turnip greens
Mustard greens
Kale
Collards
Spring Mix (mixed salad greens)
cabbage (on occasion)




With the above veggies one can develop a good diet. Once again (and I can't stress this enough) variety is the key!
Don't feed the same food day in and day out. Mix varieties and choose a different green as the basis every few days.

OTHER GOOD CHOICES
Some other favorites of my tortoises that are available:
Hibiscus (flowers and leaves)
Hosta
Sedum
Mulberry leaves
Hen and Chicks
Ice Plants
Prickly pear flowers, fruit and pads (burn the spines off)
Dandelion
Plantain (not the banana type fruit....the weed plantago major)
Mallow (flowers and leaves)
Henbit
Rose (flowers and leaves....make sure no systemic pesticides were used)
Chrysanthemum flowers
Cornflowers Plagiobothrys ssp
Forsythia (flowers and leaves)
Dayflower Commelina diffusa (flowers and leaves)
Californian Poppy escholzia

Make sure all are pesticide and herbicide free.
Heres were I get my info from,
http://www.russiantortoise.org/russiantortoisediet.htm
http://www.russiantortoise.org/edible_plants.htm

I have 2 Hermann's tortoises.

I feed them on a 80/20 diet (80 veg/20 fruit)

Vegetables:
-Spinach
-Rocket
-Sprouts
-Dandelion
and other leaves (no lettuce though.

Fruit:
-Tomato
-Grapes
-Strawberries

Hi Milly:

I purchased a seed mixture from Carolinapetsupply.com/ and another mixture from turtlestuff.com/

Both mixtures are advertised for mediterranean type tortoises. If you can't sow the seeds outside, you can plant them in a kitty-litter pan.

Yvonne

Top thing on my list for the torts are earth worms. Not what most tort owners have at the top (or anywhere) for their's. I have several Hingebacks and they love their worms.

Just to show differences in torts, my black burmese mountain torts eat & love elephant ears (Colocasia & Alocasia). I don't suggest these for any other tortoise besides Manouria emys. Oh also, my redfoots haven't met an earthworm they didn't like.

SSHHHHHH!!! Keep that quiet. I don't want my five Redfoots to hear about the earthworms. I have to buy way too many dozens of those crawlers every week as it is.