Critique my red foots - and grocery greens

[KrissyLeigh]

So I'm wanting a critique of their diet, but also hoping to put together a handy list of *common grocery store and Wal-Mart foods* that can be fed to a redfoot. I have noticed a lot of people grow their own stuff, or live in / near metropolitan areas where they can get more variety foods, but I don't. Pretty much have Wal-Mart and one chain of grocery stores in the entire town. I imagine a lot of other people have this same issue. I have peeled through untold pages and lists of redfoot diets, and it's REALLY frustrating to only have access to less than one tenth of the foods actually listed.

So here goes - the ones with asterisks are a rotating base diet, others are sulplemented:

Kale
Collard greens*
Turnip greens*
Cactus pads
Bell pepper
Raddichio*
Apple
Strawberry
Dandelion greens*
Spring mix salad*
Endive*
Escarole*
Mushrooms
Pellet tortoise food
Worms
Mustard greens
Tomatoes
Cat food (protein)

And that's it... not a lot of variety where i live.

Follow up question - I have read you can feed them squash, do you have to cook it first? (I bake yellow squash for my bearded dragon)

Thanks y'all!

 

[ZEROPILOT]

That's a good list.
How about fresh dates too.
I don't cook squash. But I slice it if it's huge.

 

[inkling13]

The rotating tort menu in my house is pretty close to that list but there are a few extra items I add. I feed zucchini and yellow squash all the time, just cut it into largish chunks so it doesn't roll right out of their dish. It's firm enough to help wear their beaks a bit but not so firm they can't eat it easily. Some of the other squashes, like acorn or summer squash, are a bit too tough for my torts to sink their beaks in. Raw pumpkin is really tough for them but the cans of pumpkin puree are wonderful to keep for emergency rations or an occasional treat (make sure it's 100% pumpkin no spices). These guys love their fruit so every few days I'll offer bananas (we've always got some in the house and once they're too brown for humans they go to the torts), raspberries, blackberries, watermelon, honeydew, or cantaloupe (although they are more of a summer treat). Sometimes I can find diced up frozen mango in the freezer section of grocery stores or I'll freeze fresh strawberries for a later time. In the summer I can also pick weeds to lighten my grocery bill, mostly dandelions and plantain weeds because they are the easiest to identify- I don't know how well they grow in south Texas though.

 

[Jennifer M]

I'm pretty much in the same situation. We have Walmart and Publix. We also have a farmers market that I'm going to check out next week. My list of rotating foods is very similar to yours.

 

[KrissyLeigh]

Thanks y'all - I'm not a big fruit eater, so that's why they mainly end up with Apple and bell pepper, which they LOVE! I don't know that I've ever seen fresh dates, but I will look. And canned pumpkin is definitely something I can do - I keep squash and canned pumpkin on hand for me and my bearded dragon, so that's a win! They go crazy for tomato too, but I read that the acidity isn't great for their systems.

Another question, while I'm thinking about it - my larger tort Alice doesn't go for worms or cat food. Other protein options??? Or should the pellets cover the protein requirements2, since I know they don't need a lot.

 

[KrissyLeigh]

I'm pretty much in the same situation. We have Walmart and Publix. We also have a farmers market that I'm going to check out next week. My list of rotating foods is very similar to yours.

Sucks, right? We have one 'organic foods' store that's absurdly expensive, but that's where I get a lot of stuff from the list... before I discovered it the list was half that. We do have a farmer's market that's hit or miss... to give you a heads up - this is totally wierd, but I swear it's true - sometimes I get greens from the farmers market that are the same kind as the grocery store, but the reptiles like the grocery store greens and not the farmers market greens. I think maybe because they are locally grown the soil chemistry makes the taste different. Certain times of year greens will be more bitter, unless it's sourced from a different climate like they do at the store. That's my theory anyway. I just bought a huge bunch of collards at the market that my torts and beardie won't even touch, but they ate grocery store collards. But yeah, give it a try, maybe your babies aren't as picky as mine!

 

[lisa127]

It looks good to me! The only thing I would say is try to add papaya and mango. I also feed zucchini and squash. The main greens I use here are turnip greens, escarole, spring mix, dandelion, and occassional kale. Main veggies are zucchini, yellow squash, sweet bell peppers, mushrooms, shredded carrots. Main fruits are papaya and mango, with kiwi, apple, strawberries and pineapple for variety.

 

[Pearly]

Thanks y'all - I'm not a big fruit eater, so that's why they mainly end up with Apple and bell pepper, which they LOVE! I don't know that I've ever seen fresh dates, but I will look. And canned pumpkin is definitely something I can do - I keep squash and canned pumpkin on hand for me and my bearded dragon, so that's a win! They go crazy for tomato too, but I read that the acidity isn't great for their systems.

Another question, while I'm thinking about it - my larger tort Alice doesn't go for worms or cat food. Other protein options??? Or should the pellets cover the protein requirements2, since I know they don't need a lot.

I use frozen cooked shrimp (just thaw it out and chop the meat... oh, they love it!!!!), mushrooms, commercial tortoise food, eggs (whites and yolks) any kind of fresh meet/fish: when cooking I'll scrape lengthwise along the meet fibers which you end up with fesh meet "paste" on the blade of your knife. I do this every time I have exceptionally good looking cut of meet, my RFs are definitely more than omnivorous! Especially Tucker. He LOVES his protein! Shellie on the other hand is bigger fruit enthusiast. One thing I REFUSE to do it the pinkies.... I will not do it! But lucky for me my RF's can have very wide variety of protein sources others than the pinkies

 

[KrissyLeigh]

I use frozen cooked shrimp (just thaw it out and chop the meat... oh, they love it!!!!), mushrooms, commercial tortoise food, eggs (whites and yolks) any kind of fresh meet/fish: when cooking I'll scrape lengthwise along the meet fibers which you end up with fesh meet "paste" on the blade of your knife. I do this every time I have exceptionally good looking cut of meet, my RFs are definitely more than omnivorous! Especially Tucker. He LOVES his protein! Shellie on the other hand is bigger fruit enthusiast. One thing I REFUSE to do it the pinkies.... I will not do it! But lucky for me my RF's can have very wide variety of protein sources others than the pinkies

Oh... I am actually vegetarian- not that I'm going to make them vegetarian, but I never have meat at the house... I have thought about pinkies, especially since I get them for my snake, but I haven't offered any to the torts. It kind of freaks me out - I don't know why, since I'm ok with my snake eating pinkies but the thought of seeing my torts chow down on them makes me squeamish.

 

[ZEROPILOT]

I also avoid feeding pinkies.
I'm sure it's a meal that mimics nature. But it's a little too gruesome to me.
I use high quality dog food. Since I already have it on hand for my dog. Whole boiled eggs with shells, smashed and meal worms mixed in with Mazuri.

 

[Oldbattleaxe]

Krissy, I have surplus Dubia roaches you're welcome to. They're flightless and can't climb sheer surfaces like the monster roaches here in the valley. They're soft-bodied, too. I keep them around for orphaned house sparrows, starlings, grackles, etc.

 

[KrissyLeigh]

Krissy, I have surplus Dubia roaches you're welcome to. They're flightless and can't climb sheer surfaces like the monster roaches here in the valley. They're soft-bodied, too. I keep them around for orphaned house sparrows, starlings, grackles, etc.

That's so sweet! I actually have a dubia colony, I didn't think about trying to feed them to the torts - figured they would be too quick for them. But I suppose I could try! My dubia feeds my bearded dragon, leopard gecko, and crested gecko... I have a zoo here, hahaha!

Did you end up getting your sulcata???

 

[Oldbattleaxe]

1. I got a hatchling for my daughter Jordan, but decided to wait on one for myself. There are plenty of torts in need of rehoming, so I'm just gonna wait until one comes along. In the meantime, were planning a 17' x 20' redfoot yard. We don't have any yet, but when we do,the yard will be built and planted.

 

[Jeremiah briggs]

You can also check out an app called The Tortoise Table. It list foods safe for a tortoise including weeds. I was able to pick out plants for my outside enclosure based on that app

 

[JoesMum]

You can also check out an app called The Tortoise Table. It list foods safe for a tortoise including weeds. I was able to pick out plants for my outside enclosure based on that app

Website here
http://www.thetortoisetable.org.uk/

 

[Wherethetortiroam]

That's a good website but my problem is they say "feed sparingly" when other sites ive seen say that yellow/red foots diet should consist of 70% fruit

 

[JoesMum]

That's a good website but my problem is they say "feed sparingly" when other sites ive seen say that yellow/red foots diet should consist of 70% fruit

That site is skewed towards the grassland torts like Testudo, Leopard and Sulcata.

It's a good guide as to what's safe, but won't recommend the sugary. So fruit will always be sparingly on it.

It tells you the reasons why a particular plant is to be fed sparingly. If it's for oxalates or goitrogens then it applies to RFs too

The RF experts on here, people like @Anyfoot and @ZEROPILOT, can give you proportions.

Have you read this guide from TortoiseLibrary
http://www.tortoiselibrary.com/species-information-2/chelonoidis/

 

[Anyfoot]

That's a good website but my problem is they say "feed sparingly" when other sites ive seen say that yellow/red foots diet should consist of 70% fruit

They can eat high amounts of fruit compared to other species, however our human fruits are very high in sugar, some of the fruit they eat in the wild is what we would consider more like seeds. I often wonder if we can and should feed things like rose hips. There is fruit in the wild like figs and passion fruits, also fruits are seasonal, so they spend weeks gorging on fallen fruits then go without fruit for periods of time. So that 70% may be correct in the wild, but if you feed 70% of let's say bananas, strawberries and plums to your pet it will have a constant runny poop. I'd feed fruit 3 times a wk, and make each portion about the size of the head, make the rest of that days food up with greens/weeds.

@cdmay, your opinion please on fruit intake in captivity
Also can I feed rose hips?, If not it's not a worry I'll just make more rose hip wine.

 

[JoesMum]

Have you considered sloes when in season @Anyfoot. Or do you make sloe gin too?

 

[JoesMum]

Have you considered sloes when in season @Anyfoot. Or do you make sloe gin too?

Also Joe was quite fond of windfall Bramley Apple when he got the opportunity. They're sour and he ate them long before they were ripe if I wasn't quick to clear them.

Other less sweet fruits that are edible are crab apples and hawthorn berries.