best way to keep plants fresh?

[bigwhitemonster]

i just got my cherry head not long ago and im having an issuse keeping his food as fresh as possible. i like to change it up for him so i got a few different things. i keep them in zip lock bags and in the fridge but it goes bad before its even close to being gone. any ideas??

 

[Itort]

The green produce storage bags help. I also found I ate more greens and fruits after getting my RFs (waste goes against this dutch/scotts grain).

 

[janiedough]

i wouldn't buy a whole lot if your tort isnt big. for instance if you aren't going to eat the strawberries and he is only going to eat one or two a week then ask a friend who eats strawberries if you can have a few.

the drier you can get greens before you put them in the fridge the better so it wont rot

the cactus always rots unless i keep it in a dry sunny place.

 

[K9KidsLove]

Hi...You can also get things that can be frozen, like Zuchini, Summer, and butternut squash & pumpkin. Peel the pumpkin & butternut & remove seeds. Others you don't need to. Then steam them for a couple minutes, & put in baggies in freezer. It will be full of great moisture when you thaw as needed. Also thawed frozen green beans are good. Those new green baggies advertized on TV are good too. In Walmart they are in the fresh produce section. As mentioned, these foods are all very healthy for humans, so just share!!
Good luck
Patsy

 

[Chucky]

Those green produce bags do work and work good. I bought some last year and now my greens stay good twice as long as they did before. You have to make sure that you dry them off first though or it will not work as good. To give you an idea, dandelion greens, escarole, endive will stay 2-3 weeks depending on how fresh they were when you bought them.

 

[Hippiesicle]

where can you get these green bags?

 

[egyptiandan]

Get more tortoises

Danny

 

[Crazy1]

Hi, the bags are called "Debbie Meyer Green Bags". They can be found at Albertsons, or Gottchocks (sp?) here in CA, or on line at https://www.greenbags.com/?cid=381252
or by phone at 1-800-995-1845.
I just recently got some an I love the extended life my greens have. They also have cheese, bread and coldcut bags.
Of course Dannys idea also works.

 

[kevantheman35]

they are now selling the debbie mayer bags at the walgreens by my house, in the as seen on tv section. You might wanna check that out

 

[jobeanator]

well what i do for my tortoises is i vaccum pack my veggies and greens and ive had my stuff last forever

 

[Redfoot NERD]

i just got my cherry head not long ago and im having an issuse keeping his food as fresh as possible. i like to change it up for him so i got a few different things. i keep them in zip lock bags and in the fridge but it goes bad before its even close to being gone. any ideas??

Feed your redfoot all of one item! [ until it's used up? ] They really don't care if you never feed a variety.. as long as what you do feed them is high in calcium and protein. My 'breeders' raised from hatchlings ( 10 years old now ) are living proof!

NERD

 

[Yvonne G]

Feed your redfoot all of one item! [ until it's used up? ] They really don't care if you never feed a variety.. as long as what you do feed them is high in calcium and protein. My 'breeders' raised from hatchlings ( 10 years old now ) are living proof!

NERD

Nerd: Are you saying to buy, for instance, escarole this week and feed it until its gone, then buy endive and feed it until its gone, then buy turnip greens and feed until gone? That way they are getting a variety, but not all in one day?

Yvonne

 

[Redfoot NERD]

Yvonne - You 'spose in the wild they stumble upon a bunch of "groceries".. eat a few and then move-on-down-the-road??? OF COURSE NOT - get the idea? [ they eat what they find until it's gone ]

Imagine them sitting under a fig tree at harvest time! BONK!

NERD

 

[terryo]

I dry all the greens...escarole etc. or whatever, and then flatten them out on paper towels. Then I fold the papaer towels and put them in zip lock bags. They really last a long time this way. No moisture.

 

[BigBiscuit]

Great advice in this post. I was running into the problem of buying a variety that went bad before smiley even ate it. Thanks for the tips.

 

[Yvonne G]

Great advice in this post. I was running into the problem of buying a variety that went bad before smiley even ate it. Thanks for the tips.

I'm going to hi-jack this post to give you another helpful hint. When we talk about "variety" it doesn't have to mean at every meal. Buy a head of something, say, escarole, and feed that until its gone. Then buy a head of endive and feed that until its gone. Then buy a bunch of dandelion greens and feed that until its gone, etc. Terry Kilgore gave that advice a while back on another thread. He said something to the effect: when a tortoise comes upon something to eat in the wild, he doesn't take just one bite then move on to something else, he eats that one item until either its gone or he's full.

Yvonne

 

[Madkins007]

I've tried a few things to extend my greens, and here are the two that worked the best for me.

1. I made my own 'greens bag' by sewing two cheap kitchen towels together on three sides. Tear up the greens and discard inedible portions. Wash/soak the rest in cold water- adding a dash of vinegar and letting them soak a bit if they are limp. Drain a little and dump into the bag. The bag should get nice and damp without being dripping. If it dries out, remoisten it- but always start with it clean and dry. My greens are still in pretty good condition two weeks later.

2. Tear up and wash/soak as above. Drain and spin or pat dry. Layer on paper towels, roll the towels up, and store in zippered bags. This technique takes a little longer but also results in 2 weeks of greens.

I used to do #2, now I either buy smaller amounts more often or use my greens bag.

 

[Madkins007]

Yvonne - You 'spose in the wild they stumble upon a bunch of "groceries".. eat a few and then move-on-down-the-road??? OF COURSE NOT - get the idea? [ they eat what they find until it's gone ]

Imagine them sitting under a fig tree at harvest time! BONK!

NERD

Just as an interesting aside, people who have tracked them in the wild describe several feeding behaviors.

One is 'stop, gorge, and sleep'. They find a food (often things like fallen fruit, cacti, etc.) They find a food and stay and eat until they are sated. They may sleep and return to the food, or gorge and sleep for days, even weeks. (Terry's 'bonk' comment is funny- one observer said he thought that some Red-foots really were waiting at the base of a tree for more figs to fall from it!)

Another is a sort of 'moving graze', walking along and taking a bite here and there, occasionally pausing at favored foods like flowers and mushrooms. This is a common behavior of 'generalized herbivores'- eating as they move on the lookout for something they can stop and gorge on.

And, of course, there are many other behaviors as well from hunting bugs to seeking out nutrient-rich soils. Specific behaviors are driven by lots of things- what is fruiting or blooming in the area, seasons, general climates of the range, age of the tortoise, etc., etc., etc.

A couple of other interesting points:
- Captive Red-foots, even in large outdoor farms in the wild range, feed differently than wild Red-foots do, such as- more gorging, less grazing, reduced tendency to eat rinds and seeds, and more likely to tear food apart rather than eating it whole.
- Wild diets are both more and less nutritious than captive diets. Generally, they have better Calciumhosphorous ratios than most grocery store foods do, but are less nutrient rich per ounce.
- Wild tortoises show no real tendency to eat a balanced diet in every meal or in every day, but do generally seem to try to do so over a week or two.

Bottom line? It really does not seem to matter much if each meal is carefully balanced, or if we aim for a balance over about a week. It does not really matter if there is a lot of variety in each meal, as long as there is over time. The thing I find about the 'balanced salad' idea many people recommend is that it takes more prep time and I find that it is so easy to over-feed that way. Terry's way works easier.

 

[Kristina]

I have to say that I agree. Having kept torts in outdoor, planted gardens and allowing them to graze free choice as they wish, I too have seen the tendancy to stop and gorge on one item. Once it is gone or the tort has had enough, they move on to another item, whether that takes a day or a week.

It is kind of the same concept as offering free choice cuttlebone... They may ignore it for a month, and then suddenly eat the whole thing. Instinct kicks in and tells the tort what particular nutrient it's body is lacking, and they crave foods that are rich in that nutrient. Like a pregnant woman craving foods that contain nutrients her body needs.

While I feel it is essential to offer a variety, that does not mean you have to prepare a special salad every day. Just make sure that the scope of the diet is balanced.

Kristina

 

[terryo]

I had to laugh when I read about the fig tree. I have a fig tree in my old boxie pen. My Ornate would ignore the food that I put out if there were fallen figs. She would ONLY eat the figs. Otherwise she would be always digging in the compost heap for worms and other bugs. After a while I stopped putting food in her pen and let her find her own because there was plenty of things for her to eat in the yard.
This summer I had my Cherry Head outside in a small planted Christmas Tree storage bin. He would come out every day and eat the pansies. He did this until all the pansies were gone, ignoring all the other plants that were there for him. When the pansies were gone he started on the Spring Mix.