Daily Diets

mase01

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5 Year Member
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Sep 9, 2018
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46
Location (City and/or State)
Redcar
Hello,

Just want to know what everyone feeds their Hermann on a daily basis?

Just want to get an idea of different peoples diets.

Cheers
 

Tom

The Dog Trainer
10 Year Member!
Platinum Tortoise Club
Joined
Jan 9, 2010
Messages
63,264
Location (City and/or State)
Southern California
Hello,

Just want to know what everyone feeds their Hermann on a daily basis?

Just want to get an idea of different peoples diets.

Cheers
A wide variety of natural type foods is best. A wide assortment of weeds, leaves, flowers, succulents, supplemental type tortoise pellets, some grocery store produce, and lots of other mix-in stuff. Feed as many different things as you can practically get your hands on. Seasonal variation is good. Here is a starter list:
Mulberry leaves
Grape vine leaves
Hibiscus leaves
African hibiscus leaves
Blue hibiscus leaves
Rose of Sharon leaves
Rose leaves
Geraniums
Gazanias
Lavatera
Pansies
Petunias
Hostas
Honeysuckle
Cape honeysuckle
Leaves and blooms from any squash plant, like pumpkin, cucumber, summer squash, etc...
Young spineless opuntia cactus pads

Weeds:
There are soooooooo many...
Dandelion
Mallow
Filaree
Smooth Sow thistle
Prickly Sow thistle
Milk thistle
Goat head weed
Cats ear
Nettles
Trefoil
Wild onion
Wild mustard
Wild Garlic
Clovers
Broadleaf plantain
Narrow leaf plantain
Chick weed
Hawksbit
Hensbit
Hawksbeard

Other good stuff:
"Testudo Seed Mix" from http://www.tortoisesupply.com/SeedMixes
Pasture mixes or other seeds from http://www.groworganic.com/seeds.html
Homegrown alfalfa
Mazuri Tortoise Chow
ZooMed Grassland Tortoise Food
 

Tom

The Dog Trainer
10 Year Member!
Platinum Tortoise Club
Joined
Jan 9, 2010
Messages
63,264
Location (City and/or State)
Southern California
Hello,

Just want to know what everyone feeds their Hermann on a daily basis?

Just want to get an idea of different peoples diets.

Cheers
More diet info here too:
 

JoFisch

Member
Platinum Tortoise Club
Joined
Dec 26, 2020
Messages
71
Location (City and/or State)
Washington
I try to follow the advice on here about feeding. My tortoise will be 2y in July. When available I feed stuff from my yard; mallow, deadnettle, dandelions, strawberry leaves, raspberry leaves, nasturtium, carrot tops.
I don’t live somewhere that has a lot of choices for winter greens. I use spring mix, beet or radish tops occasionally, and this year I have been able to get dandelion at the store. To these I add herbal hay or dried moringa, plantain or red clover from Kaapidolo farms. I feed mazuri mixed with dried stuff 2x weekly. For the first time since I’ve had the tort, s/he is eating nopale cactus pads. I’ve offered it for a long time with no luck. I gave up over the winter and 2 weeks ago found a really small pad at the store. I put it on the opposite side of the enclosure from the rest of the food and the stubborn little dinosaur went right after it.
 
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mase01

Member
5 Year Member
Joined
Sep 9, 2018
Messages
46
Location (City and/or State)
Redcar
A wide variety of natural type foods is best. A wide assortment of weeds, leaves, flowers, succulents, supplemental type tortoise pellets, some grocery store produce, and lots of other mix-in stuff. Feed as many different things as you can practically get your hands on. Seasonal variation is good. Here is a starter list:
Mulberry leaves
Grape vine leaves
Hibiscus leaves
African hibiscus leaves
Blue hibiscus leaves
Rose of Sharon leaves
Rose leaves
Geraniums
Gazanias
Lavatera
Pansies
Petunias
Hostas
Honeysuckle
Cape honeysuckle
Leaves and blooms from any squash plant, like pumpkin, cucumber, summer squash, etc...
Young spineless opuntia cactus pads

Weeds:
There are soooooooo many...
Dandelion
Mallow
Filaree
Smooth Sow thistle
Prickly Sow thistle
Milk thistle
Goat head weed
Cats ear
Nettles
Trefoil
Wild onion
Wild mustard
Wild Garlic
Clovers
Broadleaf plantain
Narrow leaf plantain
Chick weed
Hawksbit
Hensbit
Hawksbeard

Other good stuff:
"Testudo Seed Mix" from http://www.tortoisesupply.com/SeedMixes
Pasture mixes or other seeds from http://www.groworganic.com/seeds.html
Homegrown alfalfa
Mazuri Tortoise Chow
ZooMed Grassland Tortoise Food
nice, thank you very much for this.

There is a bag from tesco that a lot of people say is good it has;
Iceberg, Frisée, Radicchio, Lollo Rosso, Green Cos, Apollo, Red Batavia

would you say this is a good ratio for a diet? among other things?

 

Tom

The Dog Trainer
10 Year Member!
Platinum Tortoise Club
Joined
Jan 9, 2010
Messages
63,264
Location (City and/or State)
Southern California
would you say this is a good ratio for a diet? among other things?
No. I would say that is a poor diet for any tortoise.

This is from the thread I linked for you:
10. Grocery store produce: In short, avoid grocery store produce when possible. Grocery store greens are not the best tortoise foods. They tend to lack fiber, calcium, and some of them have deleterious compounds in them. If you must use foods from the grocery store, favor endive and escarole as the main staples. Add in cilantro, arugula, collards, turnip and mustard greens, lettuces and many others for variety. You will also need to add some sort of amendment to improve the quality as tortoise food. Calcium is good to add a couple of times per week and soaked horse hay pellets are a good way to add fiber for any species. Soaked ZooMed tortoise pellets of any type are good to add, as is Purina Organic Lay Crumbles for chickens, oddly enough. When possible skip the expensive grocery store greens and use a wide variety of weeds, leaves, flowers, and succulents, that are all free.
 
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