Leopard Tortoise eating flowers

[AHough]

Hi! I am new here, taking care of two Leopard Tortoises. Not too sure how old they are; one is 148g and the smaller one is 109g. Picking up between 5 and 7g a month. I am reasonably educated in their care. They are healthy and seem content in my garden. However l noticed one eating a flower that fell to the ground and I tried to find out if they are ok for Leopards or not. Here is what I found on the flower: (I am from Cape Town, South Africa).

See fotos attached. "Dietes grandiflora, the large wild iris, African iris or fairy iris, is a rhizomatous perennial plant of the family Iridaceae with long, rigid, sword-like green leaves."

Thank you!

 

[Yvonne G]

Here's what my friend Google says about it: Iris spp. Burning sensation in mouth. The flowers are mildly toxic as compared to their highly poisonous root bulbs.

 

[TheLastGreen]

Welkom! I'm also from SA, The Toroise Table is a good place to look up plants

Search The Tortoise Table Database

Search the Tortoise Table Database

www.thetortoisetable.org.uk

If you have any questions just ask, be careful, I've seen some... sub-par car info around SA about leopards, so if you have any questions just ask
If you want to read some material here

The Best Way To Raise A Sulcata, Leopard, Or Star Tortoise

I chose the title of this care sheet very carefully. Are there other ways to raise babies? Yes. Yes there are, but those ways are not as good. What follows is the BEST way, according to 30 years of research and experimentation with hundreds of babies of many species. Babies hatch during the...

www.tortoiseforum.org

Closed "Chambers"

Been meaning to do this one for a while now... Over the years I have kept a lot of reptiles in a lot of different ways. I've learned a lot of stuff about a lot of species. Since finding and joining this forum almost two years ago, I've learned a TON more. Now I'm not just stumbling around...

www.tortoiseforum.org

Our leopard tort expert is @Tom , he'd love to help
(The specific leopard torts you have seem to be S paradalis paradalis, do you keep the buggers together? (They are so cute!))

 

[Tom]

Hi! I am new here, taking care of two Leopard Tortoises. Not too sure how old they are; one is 148g and the smaller one is 109g. Picking up between 5 and 7g a month. I am reasonably educated in their care. They are healthy and seem content in my garden. However l noticed one eating a flower that fell to the ground and I tried to find out if they are ok for Leopards or not. Here is what I found on the flower: (I am from Cape Town, South Africa).

See fotos attached. "Dietes grandiflora, the large wild iris, African iris or fairy iris, is a rhizomatous perennial plant of the family Iridaceae with long, rigid, sword-like green leaves."

Thank you!

Hello and welcome. Other posters gave you great info. More questions are welcome.

 

[RosemaryDW]

Welcome!

The only rhizome/bulb plant injuries I've ever seen posted here came from tortoises eating the bulb itself and even those are barely reported. I wouldn't worry about a flower—my Russian treats them like crack—but if the plants themselves are growing someplace your tortoises can get at regularly you might not want to keep them. You'd have to dig up every bit of them and keep an eye out another year or two; they grow out of bits of rhizome very easily.