Diet for Indian Star Tortoise

[romesh]

hi i have a 6" Indian star tortoise...

i need help with his diet as there are different things i read everyday and i am confused..

i am giving hibiscus petals and sweet potato...

what greens do i give him which i can get from super market..??

TY

 

[dmmj]

Greens can include mustard greens, which I use in the wintertime. they can can also include radish tops, turnip tops and the like there should be quite a few choices in your country.

 

[romesh]

okay...
i dont think we get spring mix here..
but other things i will search for...
what about grass?? which variety is healthy??

 

[dmmj]

Any grass should work honestly just make sure it is pesticide free.

 

[romesh]

okay so i will get grass seeds n plant it at my place and give it to him...

thank you very much

 

[dmmj]

You can also try others seeds. Lots of people use plain old bird seed.

 

[romesh]

is aloe vera succulent okay cause i have lots of it planted..

 

[SILVERSTAR]

ive given aloe on occasion but not more than a day at a time cuz itc will cause soft poop.

 

[romesh]

okay thanks alot..

and about plain bird seed u give it directly for him to eat or u sow it and let it grow and then give the grass ??

 

[dmmj]

No you plant it and let them eat the seedlings.

 

[romesh]

ok thanks alot....
i got thins green basket consisting of green and red oak leave, Romana.

is green butterhead and rocola salad is good to give the tortoise ??

 

[River14]

Hey asparagus is high in fibre. It is recommended such that I have read that supermarket greens must be only a very small % of diet. They ultimately love grass grass and grass. They eat this mostly. Unfortunately cutting fresh green grass is a bit dangerous cause it moulds and ferments very fast. But as far as I can tell if it eats grass all day it is perfectly happy. Think of a little cow.

I observed some adult stars in the Malaysian bird park in KL at feeding time. They were very nice Stars nice carapace, shell, mostly smooth with just slight bumps. In their large grass covered enclosure were also a whole flock of many rainbow coloured fruit eating parakeets.

The keeper came in with loads of melon papaya greens and chopped veg carrots etc.

The torts made a mad dash to the pile and each took huge mouthfuls of water-melon. Honestly they were there by the time the guy had put the food down and it was a huge enclosure.

After they had done this they immediately left!!! I thought thats odd why not tuck intot the rest. However they immediately went back to grazing the grass and took no further interest all in the piles of food. The birds popped down to grab some too but the tortoises ignored them.

So to me it seems that if they can graze they are happiest of all, just with the odd bite of fresh fruit after a long day in the sun. Rather sweet isn't?

 

[romesh]

yeah... i shall try grass out....
thank you