I finally got her to eat some Kale... Lettuce... Dandelion Greens... What else can i feed her thats good for her? Ive read that russians cant absorb sugars in fruits... is that true??
Best Diet for my Russian
- Thread starter 'nelope
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Your Russian's diet needs to be mostly broad leaved greens... and there are plenty to be had ouside classified as weeds by gardeners.
They cannot digest sugar properly - it makes them sick - so fruit should be avoided, including tomato and bell pepper. Carrots are also high in sugar, so have to count as fruit for your tort.
The best leafy diet grows outside in your garden. Dandelions, plantain, sow thistle, clover are all common in Britain.
You can supplement this with stuff you can buy in the garden centre or grocery store. Trays of living lettuce, spring mix, bok choy, arugula, hibiscus leaves, rose leaves... can all be used as part of the diet.
Avoid cucumber, iceberg and standard lettuce which have a high water content and no fibre... they can give your tort diarrhoea!
Having said "don't feed fruit"... I can recommend strawberry hulls as an occasional treat. If you have them, you eat the red fruit and give the green tops to your tort. There'll be just enough sugary yum attached to them for your tort to gulp them down... they're good for fibre Your tort would prefer the red fruit, but that's tough!
When you go shopping, write down every leafy plant you see and look it up in The Tortoise Table Plant Database to see if it's suitable. As long as it doesn't say "Do not feed", you can use it.
Change things around. Buy arugula and when it's used up by some sping mix, when that's gone, use bok choy... you get the idea!
You can also look food plants up in this Plant Booklet
Few of us manage through the winter without using pellets like Mazuri a couple of times a week.
They cannot digest sugar properly - it makes them sick - so fruit should be avoided, including tomato and bell pepper. Carrots are also high in sugar, so have to count as fruit for your tort.
The best leafy diet grows outside in your garden. Dandelions, plantain, sow thistle, clover are all common in Britain.
You can supplement this with stuff you can buy in the garden centre or grocery store. Trays of living lettuce, spring mix, bok choy, arugula, hibiscus leaves, rose leaves... can all be used as part of the diet.
Avoid cucumber, iceberg and standard lettuce which have a high water content and no fibre... they can give your tort diarrhoea!
Having said "don't feed fruit"... I can recommend strawberry hulls as an occasional treat. If you have them, you eat the red fruit and give the green tops to your tort. There'll be just enough sugary yum attached to them for your tort to gulp them down... they're good for fibre Your tort would prefer the red fruit, but that's tough!
When you go shopping, write down every leafy plant you see and look it up in The Tortoise Table Plant Database to see if it's suitable. As long as it doesn't say "Do not feed", you can use it.
Change things around. Buy arugula and when it's used up by some sping mix, when that's gone, use bok choy... you get the idea!
You can also look food plants up in this Plant Booklet
Few of us manage through the winter without using pellets like Mazuri a couple of times a week.
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