It's flower food Friday PIC HEAVY

[tortadise]

Pardon my French but holy **** balls. Those are awesome.

 

[N2TORTS]

Dat's ok...... I'm French!

 

[tortadise]

Kelly.... Would you mention some the plants that you purchase for tortoise enclosures ( outdoors)?
Thanks!

Hostas, elephant ears, mondo grasses, blue lirope grasses. There's lots of stuff in there. Just wait till you get the catalog

 

[tortdad]

Dang those look awesome


0.0.1 Redfoot (Spike)
0.0.1 Cherryhead Redfoot (Bruce Wayne)
1.0 Sulcata (Hal Jordan)

 

[kathyth]

Hostas, elephant ears, mondo grasses, blue lirope grasses. There's lots of stuff in there. Just wait till you get the catalog

Great! Thanks Kelly!

 

[tortadise]

Here's a nice bloom from yesterday. Should have another one today from the same plant.

 

[AmRoKo]

Ok Mr. Kelly ........*Score* .....I went to a plant auction this am on the Newport/Huntington Coast...Anyhow a super cool place " Tropical Vibe" ....and Woooo ZEEE...check these Hibiscus out!
aka " Spin the Bottle" - flowers name

Well I picked up two of them ........so .........check your PM's~
JD~

*No Flash




*Flash

I have that Hibiscus too! It is very pretty every time I see it flower!

 

[tortadise]

I have that Hibiscus too! It is very pretty every time I see it flower!

Yes it is. Too bad they don't bloom as often as the rose of Sharon. Takes a whole to bloom and seconds to be devoured.

 

[Amanda81]

Hostas, elephant ears, mondo grasses, blue lirope grasses. There's lots of stuff in there. Just wait till you get the catalog

So elephant ears are ok for them to eat? I read they weren't. I have been pinning mine up to keep the Sudans from nibbling them. Please if their ok to eat, let me know, I have gaint/ mammoth size plants and the Sudans love to play hide and seek in them.

 

[tortadise]

Not for sulcatas. But make nice plants for enclosures. Keep safe from them eating elephant ears.

 

[Amanda81]

Not for sulcatas. But make nice plants for enclosures. Keep safe from them eating elephant ears.

Ok. That's what I thought. Lol, they love to play under the huge things but I have to take twine and pin them up so they still hang over but high enough they can't reach them. I guess they think it's their jungle, or that they can't be seen eating all the pansy and petunia flowers I have out this year. lol. Either way, they enjoy them so I will just keep doing what I'm doing and pin them up. Thanks!!

 

[tortadise]

Ok. That's what I thought. Lol, they love to play under the huge things but I have to take twine and pin them up so they still hang over but high enough they can't reach them. I guess they think it's their jungle, or that they can't be seen eating all the pansy and petunia flowers I have out this year. lol. Either way, they enjoy them so I will just keep doing what I'm doing and pin them up. Thanks!!

Your very welcome. One good thing to use is landscape timbers. You Lincoln log them and use 4" screws to secure them together they pretty much can't ram them over. Especially if it's a circle planter around plants like elephant ear that provides good shade in direct sunlight.

 

[Amanda81]

Your very welcome. One good thing to use is landscape timbers. You Lincoln log them and use 4" screws to secure them together they pretty much can't ram them over. Especially if it's a circle planter around plants like elephant ear that provides good shade in direct sunlight.

I have them all over my yard, and when I bought them the lady said "now these are mammoth bulbs" she seriously meant what she said, they are mammoth so I will totally add some to the little enclosure. The Sudans pretty much just stay in my yard (it's completely fenced, previously secured in ground for a digging dog I use to have) from sun up to sun down and They usual only go in the little enclosure at bedtime. (it's a 12'x12' I put the little ones in during the day)(12'x6' if I put leopards out and divide it)They usually go straight to their house and to bed at that time of evening anyways. But I will use your suggestion for some other things I have wanting to put in there. I'm also over ran with the big banana trees and those will provide excellent shade, I will totally do what u said w the timbers and add some to the enclosure. The quads and leopard babies will love to have their own jungle to. Thanks for the advice!!

 

[Maggie Cummings]

I live in zone 8 and I have about 25 Rose of Sharon and 5 mallow bushes. They bloom constantly for about 5 months and I feed handfuls to the tortoises daily. I love them. They live in the freeze and snow, they just lose their leaves and go dormant. Then bloom like h*** in the Spring and Summer...

 

[Maggie Cummings]

hahaha

 

[bouaboua]

This is my "Little Pig" enjoy his flower.

 

[Amanda81]

View attachment 94677 I live in zone 8 and I have about 25 Rose of Sharon and 5 mallow bushes. They bloom constantly for about 5 months and I feed handfuls to the tortoises daily. I love them. They live in the freeze and snow, they just lose their leaves and go dormant. Then bloom like h*** in the Spring and Summer...

I have those exact plants but I been calling hibiscus. I actually dug them up from one spot this spring when I redid the entire landscape and put them in another location, figured moving them would screw with them blooming, nope, they bloomed like crazy. My baby's ate the bloom and leaves for like the first week I had them but now no one is really interested in them. I'm in zone 6 ( the plant guide says 6a) and they do fine every year. I got a cutting off a new plant with gorgeous blooms this year, it's called "turn of the century". I am going to give it a season or two to establish and attempt to proganate it before I give it to the torts tho. All my old ones I started w seed. Just threw them on the ground and the next year I had them all down the front of my house. They have been a real easy to grow plant for me. I M working on an organic garden just for the torts so I plan on throwing some seeds from these in w what I already have planted. I am going to order some seed mixes from tortoise supply as soon as I figure out which would be best for my sulcatas and leopards. Plus if everything works out I plan on getting an Aldabra 1st of year so I need to check and see what is best for him as well. I'm hoping to get lucky and find a bunch of stuff all three species can share so I can just create one big garden and once it's established, turn them loose in it. If course on different days so they don't mingle. Lol.

 

[phebe121]

Can leopard tortoises eat rose of sharon blooms to i kmow they can have the leafs

 

[Amanda81]

Any suggestions for the garden would be appreciated too. Tortoise supply has a lot of seed mixes to choose from, and I have come across sites others have posted on here to order from plus I gather a lot of my weed type stuff from the neighbors that refuse to mow their yards. I got a bunch of nice dandelion plants and the white blooming clover. There is also some real nice purple blooming clover at the neighbors to but I wasn't sure about it so I decided to wait on getting it. And when the nursery starts selling grape vines again I will get a couple of those. I have ordered a mulberry tree but they said it's to hot to plant right now so when temps are right, they will get it in so I'm waiting on that. I am really enjoying the whole "grow their food" experience. Course where I live it's a seasonal thing. I am going to attempt to set up a mini garden in a kiddy pool in my tortoise room over the winter, can't promise that will turn out, but I besides using a little romaine here and there to tempt them I have tried to stay completely away from the store bought stuff and next spring I plan on growing my own lettuce and squash and whatever else is ok for them too. Like I see a lot of people give theirs endive, well I can't even find that stuff, not at a store, farmers market, no where. So I will see if I can grow it myself next year.

 

[Amanda81]

Can leopard tortoises eat rose of sharon blooms to i kmow they can have the leafs

I'm not sure about them, I haven't offered to them. My quads ate them the first week I had them and now the quads and the Sudans just ignore em, maybe time of year or something. Since my eating machines ignored, I never attempted w the leopards.