# Wild strawberries



## 7oasty23 (May 23, 2013)

I have a patch of wild strawberries in my yard, and wondered if I could give my tort a few as a snack. I assumed it would be okay, but I wanted to be sure before I did.


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## JoesMum (May 23, 2013)

Yes, they can be fed to your tort. Don't bother removing the husk... the green bits are good for them too as fiber!

If you have a species of tort that is on a low sugar diet such as a Med species (Russians, Greeks, Marginated...) then it should only be an occasional treat as they cannot digest the sugars properly and too much or too often could lead to digestive problems.


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## Spn785 (May 23, 2013)

Actually, no probably not. Strawberries have too much sugar, especially for a Russian which are prone to parasite blooms. Definitely stay away from sugary foods. If you want to give a treat, I would suggest a hibiscus flower, rose flower, or other flower from an edible plant. Another would be a dandelion flower.


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## 7oasty23 (May 23, 2013)

Spn785 said:


> Actually, no probably not. Strawberries have too much sugar, especially for a Russian which are prone to parasite blooms. Definitely stay away from sugary foods. If you want to give a treat, I would suggest a hibiscus flower, rose flower, or other flower from an edible plant. Another would be a dandelion flower.



So just one every once in a while wouldn't be okay? He eats dandelions all the time already, should I limit the amount of flowers he eats?


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## JoesMum (May 23, 2013)

*Re: RE: Wild strawberries*



7oasty23 said:


> Spn785 said:
> 
> 
> > Actually, no probably not. Strawberries have too much sugar, especially for a Russian which are prone to parasite blooms. Definitely stay away from sugary foods. If you want to give a treat, I would suggest a hibiscus flower, rose flower, or other flower from an edible plant. Another would be a dandelion flower.
> ...



Once in a while is definitely OK. If it formed a large or regular part of the diet, you would have cause for concern.

In the wild, they would take their chances and nothing would stop them if they found a wild strawberry. Joe would have died long ago if occasional wild strawberries that he finds in our garden caused any harm... my problem with him is in the cherry season. Cherries are too sweet too and I spend a lot of time pickking up the windfalls. I can tell from the cherry stones in his poop that he still finds them though!


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## Yvonne G (May 23, 2013)

If you've ever tasted the fruit off a wild strawberry plant, you would know that it is more than likely quite ok for a tortoise, any species of tortoise, to eat as much of the fruit right along with the plant, as he wants. They are not sweet and I doubt they contain much sugar at all.


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## Spn785 (May 23, 2013)

I've never had a wild strawberry (my mom always old me they were poisonous, which I now know isn't true), so I thought they would be just as sweet as cultivated strawberries.


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## JoesMum (May 23, 2013)

Spn785 said:


> I've never had a wild strawberry (my mom always old me they were poisonous, which I now know isn't true), so I thought they would be just as sweet as cultivated strawberries.



They are nowhere near as sweet and, because they are so small, they are largely pips... quite dry really.

With supermarket strawberries, we eat the fruit and feed the green hulls to Joe. He loves them.. there's just enough red, sweet smell to them to make them attractive, but actually he's eating the green fibrous bit!


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