# Russian (horsefield) diet (UK)



## buddy_the_tort (Sep 29, 2020)

Hi All,
I have just joined this amazing community as i have ordered my 2020 Horsefield online and it is arriving on Thursday. I am very excited but worried at the same time.

I have a few questions about its diet. I have done a bit of reading on this forum and online etc. I have also downloaded the Tortoise Table app.

As i see it, i have 3 options for food:

1) Supermarket - i keep seeing that's bad and i shouldn't feed salads/greens etc from the supermarket. 
Foods easily available are: Lettuce, green peashoot, baby chard, peppery babyleaf rocket, spinach, watercress, carrot, capsicum/pepper, corn etc.
Please let me know if i can feed these? How often i can feed these. If i am away for a week or 2 and someone else is looking after him i prefer this food as it will make it easy and convenient for my friend or flatmate to feed him.

2) Garden - i have a community garden for my apartment building and all the available plants/flowers look very familiar from the TT app (safe to feed option). I have attached the pictures. I tried using a plant recognition app but there are so many weird names that i got more confused. All of them look similar to each other and i cant confirm if these are safe to feed. I am very excited and hoping you guys can confirm these are ok to feed. Please let me know from the photo numbers which are safe to feed. And again how often i can feed these? Can i feed the flower and the leaves? 

3) The 3rd option is grow my own food. I am happy to grow some plants indoors. I came across this "Tortoise feed growing kit"





Reptile food range | Swell Reptiles


Reptile food range, including food from Arcadia, Exo Terra and Komodo. Lowest price guarantee and free delivery available.




www.reptiles.swelluk.com




Looks promising. Any thoughts on these? I can only grow plants indoors. I have a small balcony but we are going into winter here in the UK and its going to raining a lot. 
Any other easy to grow options? Any options for growing plants inside his table? If I put a small plant inside its table how will he eat that? He wont be able to climb to get access to the plant?
I am going to visit my local garden shop and using the TT app find some pot plants to buy. 

I am happy to mix and match the above options. I want to explore all 3 options to make sure it has a really good diet. 

The other item i want to check is supplement and pallet food. Again i have seen the threads and most places say its ok to feed them once/twice a week as treat. 
Is the komodo tortoise food ok to feed? 

Supplement: I have bought the "habistat Medivet Reptavite". This is a multi vitamin. 
Do i have to sprinkle this every day? 
What about calcium sprinkle? Do i have to sprinkle both everyday? I havent bought any calcium sprinkle.

Any thoughts, suggestions, advice will be much appreciated. 
Apologies if this question has been asked already. Please point me to the thread. I am happy to read that.


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## Zoeclare (Sep 29, 2020)

Hi I am in the UK too! To get variety over winter I have to supplement with grocery store food, I have a redfoot so it's easier for me but for your Russian I would stick to dark, leafy greens like rocket, and fibrous greens like chicory etc, avoid things like carrots and peppers as they are too sugary for your tort, although leafy carrot tops would be fine. Growing your own food is a great idea, the kit in the picture is good but it's quite pricey for what you get, shelled warriors on amazon is pretty good, you can order lots of different seeds. I've had the plantain, sanfoin, tufted vetch, clovers and milk thistle grow really well, dandelions were a waste of time! Pansies and campanula grow well in the UK too in small pots or hanging baskets, and I've grown winter squash on my windowsill and snipped off the leaves and flowers.


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## Jayb73 (Sep 29, 2020)

Hi I'm also from the UK, I'm a new member I've had my tort for about a month I've still got a lot to learn I decided to grow my own food for the winter I got a bag of seeds from Ebay and they are growing well inside . Good luck with yours.


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## buddy_the_tort (Sep 29, 2020)

Jayb73 said:


> Hi I'm also from the UK, I'm a new member I've had my tort for about a month I've still got a lot to learn I decided to grow my own food for the winter I got a bag of seeds from Ebay and they are growing well inside . Good luck with yours.


Hi, thanks for the response. 
Do you know what type of soil/compost is safe to use?


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## Jayb73 (Sep 29, 2020)

I got this from my local reptile shop about £9,00 a bag ,I started off with top soil it's really not good .I made a few mistakes in the beginning but there are lots of people with good advice here .don't be afraid to ask


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## Blackdog1714 (Sep 29, 2020)

Check out this thread for Grocery greens---https://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/the-tortoise-chef.153728/
As far a growing- get a second Grow tent and go hydro and grow your own seeds like these available on Amazon.UK Shelled Warriors Ribwort Plantain 500 seeds- Grow and feed your tortoise
Brand: Shelled Warriors 4.4 out of 5 stars 120 ratings | 3 answered questions Price: £3.40 (£0.01 / count)
BTW you mentioned a table please check out our Russian thread that shows that closed chambers are much better for babies

Russian tortoises have great personalities, are very hardy, tolerate a wide variety of enclosure parameters, stay small, and are generally a good "starter" tortoise in my opinion. Here is how I like to set them up:

Indoor Enclosure type and size:
Most people want to know the minimum size enclosure that they can keep their tortoise in. Instead, I say figure out the maximum! Russians are a very active species and wild ones cover a lot of ground in very large territories. Any normal tub or tank is going to be too small for an adult. GO BIG! I like a minimum of a 4x8' table for an adult. Babies are fine in 40-100 gallon tanks or tubs. Adults do well in open topped tables. I like a damp, natural substrate that they can dig into. Plain soil with no guano, perlite or other additives, orchid bark, cypress mulch and coco coir all work. These substrates can be bought in bulk at most hardware or garden centers at a tremendous savings over pet store prices. Regular dirt from your yard will work too, if its of a suitable composition. I don't like to use sand in any amount for Russians, or any other tortoise species. It can be a skin and eye irritant and an impaction risk. Damp substrate will help to maintain moderate humidity and allow them to dig in and create their own little microclimate. I also like to offer a humid hide box for them to sleep in and retreat to. This will really help to maintain hydration and good shell growth in an open topped table. For babies I like to use large tubs or tanks and partially cover the top to maintain 50-70% humidity. I also offer a humid hide and my substrate of choice for babies is about 3-4" of damp coco coir/Fine Fir Bark/Cypress. I hand pack it down to reduce the messiness. I don't worry about what the humidity level is for adults, AS LONG AS they have a damp substrate that they can dig into and a humid hide to retreat to. All russians should have water available and I like to use appropriately sized terra cotta plant saucers sunk into the substrate for this purpose. They are shallow, low sided and offer good traction to wet tortoise feet. This type of bowl greatly reduces the chances of your tortoise "high-centering" or tipping over when entering or exiting the water dish. I use 4" saucers for babies and 12-14" ones for adults. 

Outdoor enclosures:
Again the bigger the better. Babies do fine in kiddie pools or 4x8' covered brick pens. Planter boxes with wire lids can work well too. There are a lot of examples of good ways to do this here on the forum. Here are two ways I have done it:
http://tortoiseforum.org/thread-14680.html
http://tortoiseforum.org/thread-30683.html
Outside time is VERY beneficial, but there are some dangers to be aware of:
1. Escape.
Russians are very good climbers, diggers and all around escape artists. Design and build your enclosure accordingly.
2. Heat.
Guess what? The sun is very HOT! Make sure they have adequate shade at all times, or even better, build an underground retreat for them. Dig out a section of dirt and place a flower pot or piece of plywood with 2x4 sides and a back in the hole. Make a nice gently sloping ramp in the dirt for them and then pile lots of dirt on top of the shelter. On hot dry summer days, I will even pour a cup of water down there to give them some evaporative cooling. My dirt covered plywood shelters stay 85-90 degrees, even on 100+ degree days. Laying wood or something opaque on top of the wire cover of your enclosure is usually not going to be adequate. It still gets too hot under it. You need deep over head shade like from a tree, bushes or even an umbrella.
3. Predation.
Small tortoises can be mauled, eaten or stolen by whole host of predators, including your loving family dog. Please take proper precautions for your area and situation. Chicken wire will not stop most predators, but hardware cloth or welded wire will.
4. Dehydration.
If you live in a hot dry area, your enclosure has dry substrate, and you don't have a humid underground retreat of some sort, dehydration is a real danger. Make sure your tortoise has an appropriate shallow water bowl. The bowl must be somewhere shady so it doesn't overheat, and you must be sure that your tortoise is actually drinking from it. There are a wide variety of reasons why a tortoise might choose to not use its water bowl. Because of all these factors, I think it is a good idea to soak them in a warm shallow tub of water once or twice a week for adults, more for babies. If your tortoise is drinking on its own and didn't need to be soaked, it will harm nothing, and it will still give you a good opportunity to look them over and make sure all is good.

I do NOT recommend letting your russian tortoise outside to run around without a proper enclosure. Many have been lost that way.

Heating and lighting:
If your tortoise gets regular sunshine for most of the year, you do not need any artificial indoor UV. An hour outside a couple of times a week is enough to meet their UV needs, but more is better. If your tortoise must live inside all the time, then I recommend long tube style florescent UV lights or mercury vapor bulbs. No reason you can't use both. Since my Russians do get sunshine all year, I just use 65 watt incandescent flood bulbs from the hardware store to meet my heating needs. I hang my fixture over one end of the enclosure and raise or lower it to get a basking spot of around 100. I hang my lights over a flat piece of slate or sandstone, which spreads the heat out a bit and allows them to get some safe belly heat while they bask. This can be used in conjunction with a long florescent UV tube, if needed. I don't use any other heat for Russians, and I let the temperature of the rest of the enclosure fade to room temp away from the single heat source. In most cases night heat for Russians is not necessary. Night temps in the 60s are fine as long as they can warm up the next day. If your Russian is trying to hibernate as fall approaches and you don't want it to, upping your temps (including the night temps), lengthening the days on your light timer and brightening the enclosure with more lights, are all ways to help convince them to stay up. For most Russian tortoises of any age, its really that simple. Put a 95-100 degree basking spot on one end for 12-14 hours a day and that's it.

Soaking:
Some tortoises need it. Some don't. None of them are harmed by it. I recommend babies be soaked several times a week. I like to taper it off as they gain size. Some people choose not to soak their Russian tortoises. This is fine IF you have an established adult tortoise who is comfortable in its environment, your enclosure is very well designed with many microclimates available, your humidity is adequate in your area, and a suitable water source is available and obviously used regularly. Are YOU sure you meet all those criterion? If you are not 100% sure, then there is no harm in soaking your tortoise once or twice a week. I live in a very dry area. We have hot temps and single digit humidity most of the year. Most of my tortoises have humid underground retreats, but I still soak them once or twice a week depending on the weather. I like to use opaque tubs and warm water about a third of the way up the shell for 20-30 minutes. Here is soaking time at my place:

Diet:
Russian tortoises need broadleaf weeds. You will need to learn about the weeds near you and which ones are okay to feed or not. Pics can be posted here on the forum in the "Plant ID" section, or you can take samples to a local nursery. Look for dandelion, sow thistle, mallow, filaree, hawksbit, and many more. If you are not 100% sure that your source is free of pesticides and other chemicals, don't feed anything from there.
You can grow your own food too. Here is one of my favorites: http://www.tortoisesupply.com/TestudoMix
I also get lots of seeds here: http://www.groworganic.com
If you must use grocery store foods I like to favor spring mix, endive and escarole heavily. Also add in carrot tops, cilantro, mustard, turnip and collard greens, and lots of other leafy greens.
It is a good idea to add a product called "Salad Style" to grocery store greens to add some fiber: http://www.tortoisesupply.com/salad-style-food-topper/
This is a new food topper and I like it a lot so far: http://www.tortoisesupply.com/HerbalHay
You can also feed them grape, mulberry and hibiscus leaves, tender young spineless opuntia cactus pads, Mazuri tortoise chow and ZooMed Grassland tortoise food. Alternating and mixing up any of these foods will give your russian a good diet and meet its nutritional needs.

Supplements:
I like to have cuttle bone available for them to munch on at will. I also sprinkle some "MinerAll" on the babies food a couple of times a week and a reptile vitamin supplement once a week. I don't think adult males need any supplementation if they are getting a good varied diet, but I like to supplement egg laying females and babies with a pinch of calcium carbonate powder once or twice a week. I usually use either the ZooMed or RepCal brands.

Hibernation:
This is a controversial subject that deserves its own thread. Some people choose to do it, and some don't. If you do it, spend some time learning all about it first, and try to find a "mentor" who has experience successfully hibernating Russian tortoises themselves. If you don't do it, make sure your temps and lighting are all set up and adjusted appropriately for the season. Different people will have to make adjustments depending on where in the country they live and how the weather is at any given time, whether hibernating or not.

What about "friends"?:
Russian tortoise are a very scrappy, combative, territorial species. They do not generally want or need any cage mates and they do not get "lonely". They do best alone. Pairs almost never work for very long, regardless of sexes or ages. Groups can sometimes be maintained with careful observation and caution. Usually males are the bullies, but females will often get into the fray too with this species. Babies will usually get a long in groups, and adults will usually be okay with one male and several females. Very large outdoor enclosures with lots of sight barriers and hiding places usually help, but do not guarantee success. There are many forum members that will tell you how they've had to separate individuals out of their groups, both male and female, that refused to get along with others. It happens. Basically, if you decide to keep more than one russian, have a plan to separate them at any time. Don't wanna maintain two or three enclosures? Then don't buy more than one russian. 

This care sheet is intended to offer helpful guidelines and share my experiences with Russians over the years. They are a very adaptable species and will tolerate all sorts of care regimes. Every enclosure and every area is different and each enclosure will require some "fine tuning" to get things just right. It is my hope that typing all of this out will help someone successfully set up their first russian enclosure or improve their existing one, and better the life of russian tortoises in general.

_Knowledge_ is learning from your own mistakes. _Wisdom _is learning from the mistakes of others...


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## buddy_the_tort (Sep 29, 2020)

Hi guys, thank you for your help.
I am bit more clearer on growing my own food/weeds. However that wont be ready for 1-2 weeks.

In the meantime i am freaking out. Someone please comment. 
The foods readily available in the supermarket are salad/green mixes are: Romaine, curly kale, Frisee, lambs lettuce, raicchio, Baby red leaf, spinach, wild rocket, mizuna, red chard, green babyleaf, red babyleaf.
Am i ok to feed this as its main diet. I can add some grass from the garden?
Is this ok?
Please help

I forgot to mention i live in the city. So i only have access to small supermarkets (e.g. tesco express)


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## Zoeclare (Sep 29, 2020)

Don't freak out! ? The foods you have listed are ok as part of a varied diet but shouldn't be the main diet for a long period of time, this is because things like romaine don't have much nutritional value, and things like spinach are quite high in oxalate so should be fed in moderation. @Kapidolo Farms has some great threads explaining the nutritional values of foodstuffs and why variety is needed. 
Back to your question, yes these will be OK for a week or two, could you do a scavenger hunt for some pesticide free weeds to add variety? Also, you will need to supplement some additional fibre, I use tortoise life pellets as they are easier to get hold of than zoomed in the uk.
Just a thought, as you are in London, is there any Hispanic markets/shops nearby as you will be able to buy opuntia cactus pads there which are great tortoise food.
You also mentioned soil, for the enclosure thats a definite no, for growing edibles just a good quality compost will be fine, westland does a veggie one which has no additives, perlite or peat and is mixed with coco coir. I recycle old plastic containers for growing in as a lot of weeds have a deep tap roots and trays are a bit shallow.


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## Zoeclare (Sep 29, 2020)

The pellets I use and some clover growing in an old grape container


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## buddy_the_tort (Sep 30, 2020)

Zoeclare said:


> Don't freak out! ? The foods you have listed are ok as part of a varied diet but shouldn't be the main diet for a long period of time, this is because things like romaine don't have much nutritional value, and things like spinach are quite high in oxalate so should be fed in moderation. @Kapidolo Farms has some great threads explaining the nutritional values of foodstuffs and why variety is needed.
> Back to your question, yes these will be OK for a week or two, could you do a scavenger hunt for some pesticide free weeds to add variety? Also, you will need to supplement some additional fibre, I use tortoise life pellets as they are easier to get hold of than zoomed in the uk.
> Just a thought, as you are in London, is there any Hispanic markets/shops nearby as you will be able to buy opuntia cactus pads there which are great tortoise food.
> You also mentioned soil, for the enclosure thats a definite no, for growing edibles just a good quality compost will be fine, westland does a veggie one which has no additives, perlite or peat and is mixed with coco coir. I recycle old plastic containers for growing in as a lot of weeds have a deep tap roots and trays are a bit shallow.


Thank you for the response. I will feed it supermarket food for now until my plants start growing. 
Also there's a lot of plants in our building garden. I might use some of those.
Thanks again


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## Jayb73 (Sep 30, 2020)

Use the tortoise table app to see what safe to feed


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## buddy_the_tort (Sep 30, 2020)

Jayb73 said:


> Use the tortoise table app to see what safe to feed


Honestly i think that app is useless. Even in the "safe to feed" category it says things like ok to feed in moderation or ok to snack on. 
I havent found any item that just says "safe to feed" without the 10 different caveats. 

all the pictures i added on the original post seem like safe to feed. However i cant 100% confirm these are the exact plants. 
Lots of varieties and look very similar to other plants. 

May be i am just getting frustrated with the limited options.


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## Blackdog1714 (Sep 30, 2020)

buddy_the_tort said:


> Honestly i think that app is useless. Even in the "safe to feed" category it says things like ok to feed in moderation or ok to snack on.
> I havent found any item that just says "safe to feed" without the 10 different caveats.
> 
> all the pictures i added on the original post seem like safe to feed. However i cant 100% confirm these are the exact plants.
> ...


It leans toward the overly safe side so it can be. This is for other types of torts but the food guidelines are good for most. Also gives a good picture them.


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## buddy_the_tort (Sep 30, 2020)

Blackdog1714 said:


> It leans toward the overly safe side so it can be. This is for other types of torts but the food guidelines are good for most. Also gives a good picture them.
> View attachment 307699


hey, this is great. Can you please attach this file to the post. Its hard to see the detail. 
Thanks again. Much appreciated


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## Sarah2020 (Sep 30, 2020)

Hello and welcome I am in the UK. I walk and pick dandelion flowers which are a great favourite and have frozen some for winter I also buy radicchio from a small green grocer. I bought a bare root hibiscus in January and have had lots of hibiscus flowers and also grow geraniums as they like the flowers and leaves. Pansie flowers are also popular. As we head to winter this selection will be not be available but you can plan for next year. I sprinkle a dusting of calcium on wet washed leaves. Enjoy your new charge when it arrives give it a soak on warm shallow water to rehydrate and then plan to do that daily or 3 times a week this ensures hydration. This is a great forum to get help and ask questions.


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## Blackdog1714 (Sep 30, 2020)

buddy_the_tort said:


> hey, this is great. Can you please attach this file to the post. Its hard to see the detail.
> Thanks again. Much appreciated


It was originally posted here https://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/suggested-guide.173139/


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## Jayb73 (Sep 30, 2020)

Blackdog1714 said:


> It leans toward the overly safe side so it can be. This is for other types of torts but the food guidelines are good for most. Also gives a good picture them.
> View attachment 307699


Thank you that's really helpful.


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