Yeah I live near St Louis Missouri which is big but it doesn't have much of this sort of stuff. But it's not terrible to feeds normal grocery store food to my tortoise right? I'll give it calcium and D3 supplements and also pellets maybe three times a week and weeds when I can find them.
Grocery store greens are fine. Just steer clear of lettuces, except escarole and endive, which are both very good. I also feed kale (sometimes, but not a lot), bok choy, dandelions greens (this may not be in your grocery store). I avoid spinach. If you buy the mixed greens in the plastic tubs or bags just make sure there isn’t a majority of spinach.
They are very different. The Mazuri pellets are good food, healthy and balanced. Personally my tortoises don’t like it very much unless they are going crazy eating and I slip some softened pellets into the food I am feeding them by hand.
I am not an expert, but would like to add something. We adopted our leopard tortoise when he was a "teenager" about 14 years old. We don't know what he ate prior, but he was and is very pyramided so probably was given a poor diet in early years. Anyway, for the next 15 years he ate only grass, as we lived in CA. Then we moved to TN. So now, in winter I have to fix him plates of food. He refuses to touch pellets or hay or anything I pick from the yard. If he can't graze the grass himself, he won't touch it. He'll eat finely shredded kale and romaine, and I put carrot shavings on top. My point is, to strategize long term and perhaps get your guy accustomed to a broad diet while young.
They are kind of like kids, if you don’t make them eat a variety early in life they will never eat alot of stuff when they grow up. Same thing.
