turtlebean
Well-Known Member
Hi all!
Little update on my little bean.
When I first got Tortillini I was feeding him a diet of mostly grocery store greens. The occasional tortoise pellets soaked and mixed in. Mostly escarole, chicory, some spring mix, small amount of red and green lettuce maybe some spinach, some turnip or collard greens... basically whatever I read on these forums that was okay to serve.
Now that most of my seed mixes and plants have started to grow in TORTILLINI HAS EVOLVED into the next stage of his life.
First we started with the broadleaf and testudo mixes. He kinda shunned them at first, so I would mix them in with escarole or chicory (his fave) and he would slightly nibble on the homemade stuff. It was super frustrating though because he mostly only seemed to wanna eat the grocery store stuff.
Then I introduced hostas to him. The ones I started growing are tiny and inferior to the ones my mom has growing in her garden, so I opted for those. They were HUGE compared to mine. He was slow to them but now LOVES them.
Exhibit A-
Seeing him eat these was super inspiring to me because I feel like this was his first big step transcending to the world of non grocery store greens.
I read on here mulberry leaves and the spineless cactus pads are also super good for russians so I scoured all the markets around me for the cactus pads but no luck rip. Also I can’t find a mulberry tree??? anywhere in my yard. So I ordered these cactus pads off etsy, 200+ 5 star reviews and pictures of other little torts enjoying these pads, so I bough them.
Safe to say, he’s loVING THEM.
Exhibit B-
When I bring him his food in the morning I usually hand feed him whatever new piece I have with me or his favorite green. It’s cool cause now he starts seeing me as the food bearer and will walk over to me every morning. It’s really the only time in the day I get to spend with him because I leave for work and he’s usually asleep when I come home at the end of the night. After I hand feed him one or two things, I set his food pile down and he’ll go to eat that.
Okay last thing. I have no idea what the heck or where the heck mulberry trees are. Research still pending. In the meantime I bought some off ebay and let me tell you... this little guy LOVES THEM.
Exhibit C-
I’m just really excited because i’ve gone from about 100% of his diet being grocery store greens to about 25%. He now eats a healthy portion of weeds and leaves, and now cactus pads too! I’m hoping to find a more sustainable place to get cactus pads from as well as the mulberry leaves. Perhaps I’ll trying growing the pads but we’ll see.
-Julia R (Happy tort mom who feels like one of those moms who gets their kids to eat brocolli for the first time)
Little update on my little bean.
When I first got Tortillini I was feeding him a diet of mostly grocery store greens. The occasional tortoise pellets soaked and mixed in. Mostly escarole, chicory, some spring mix, small amount of red and green lettuce maybe some spinach, some turnip or collard greens... basically whatever I read on these forums that was okay to serve.
Now that most of my seed mixes and plants have started to grow in TORTILLINI HAS EVOLVED into the next stage of his life.
First we started with the broadleaf and testudo mixes. He kinda shunned them at first, so I would mix them in with escarole or chicory (his fave) and he would slightly nibble on the homemade stuff. It was super frustrating though because he mostly only seemed to wanna eat the grocery store stuff.
Then I introduced hostas to him. The ones I started growing are tiny and inferior to the ones my mom has growing in her garden, so I opted for those. They were HUGE compared to mine. He was slow to them but now LOVES them.
Exhibit A-
Seeing him eat these was super inspiring to me because I feel like this was his first big step transcending to the world of non grocery store greens.
I read on here mulberry leaves and the spineless cactus pads are also super good for russians so I scoured all the markets around me for the cactus pads but no luck rip. Also I can’t find a mulberry tree??? anywhere in my yard. So I ordered these cactus pads off etsy, 200+ 5 star reviews and pictures of other little torts enjoying these pads, so I bough them.
Safe to say, he’s loVING THEM.
Exhibit B-
When I bring him his food in the morning I usually hand feed him whatever new piece I have with me or his favorite green. It’s cool cause now he starts seeing me as the food bearer and will walk over to me every morning. It’s really the only time in the day I get to spend with him because I leave for work and he’s usually asleep when I come home at the end of the night. After I hand feed him one or two things, I set his food pile down and he’ll go to eat that.
Okay last thing. I have no idea what the heck or where the heck mulberry trees are. Research still pending. In the meantime I bought some off ebay and let me tell you... this little guy LOVES THEM.
Exhibit C-
I’m just really excited because i’ve gone from about 100% of his diet being grocery store greens to about 25%. He now eats a healthy portion of weeds and leaves, and now cactus pads too! I’m hoping to find a more sustainable place to get cactus pads from as well as the mulberry leaves. Perhaps I’ll trying growing the pads but we’ll see.
-Julia R (Happy tort mom who feels like one of those moms who gets their kids to eat brocolli for the first time)