Russians (and all tortoises) need a variety of greens, including weeds, in their diet to be healthy. There are lots of grocery store greens you can add in to reduce the lettuce consumption and they'll really help your tortoise's overall health. Try adding dandelion, arugula, radicchio, and endive. You can also add in some tortoise pellets (like mazuri). There are great threads on the forum that focus on dietary needs and they'll be full of ideas for how to increase variety.
www.tortoisesupply.com
Well it's winter here so it's hard to find weeds right now. But I tried to grow some grass in there enclosure but it was a fail attempt. So now I'm trying to find a better way to grow them. They go outside in spring but there inside during winter timeIf you have a yard or area of your yard where you don't have to worry about pesticides, you could gather weeds for him.
Or you could try growing weeds for him.
My Russian has been devouring the young weeds I've finally started looking for and pulling up out of my yard. Just planted some weed seeds for him. I have a brown thumb, but ... they're weeds! They've got to grow, right?!
Seed Mix: Broadleaf Testudo Mix
This is our custom-made seed mix designed specifically for Russian, Greek, Marginated and Hermanns tortoises. It has no grass and over 2 dozen different seeds in it for maximum variety in the diet of these tortoises.
I think chicory being labeled as dandelion in stores depends on your location. Stores in my area sell both dandelion and chicory greens and they (generally) label them differently + you can visually see the difference in the leaves (though they can be hard to tell apart).
I got one of those hydroponic countertop growers and it's been amazing. It doesn't grow all seed types well, but it's been great for a lot of different types.
