Organic

[Mochii]

So Marley's dinner consists of organic green leafs from Whole Foods. I was wondering if it was completely necessary to buy organic vegetables. Are there certain vegetables that I can buy that is not organic and Marley could still eat it? I mean.. we eat them too right? But then again, Marley is a tortoise so it could be a different story.

Just wondering! It WOULD be cheaper I don't have a source of grass that I can just pluck from for Marley because I don't know if they are sprayed by the apartment or not. So I always buy organic.

Thanks!

 

[GBtortoises]

I've never purchased organic produce. Not because I don't want to, but because few stores in my area carry a decent selection, if at all and because it is extremely expensive, at least around here.

I've had the majority of my adult tortoises for over 10 years, some more than 20 years. They've been fed non-organic produce that entire time when indoors. I have never seen any problem that I could attribute to feeding them non-organic foods.

Mine are fed local wild growing weeds during the summer months when they're outdoors. But I also live in a very rural area where plants sprayed with insecticides and herbicides is not an issue. if you live in an area where you suspect they may be used I would definitely err on the side of caution and not feed weeds from those areas.

 

[tortoisenerd]

I strongly believe in buying organic for my tort because I don't like to take any risks with my only baby...for me its easy because I only have one tort so even spending $5/week (typically much less), it isn't much money in my opinion. If I can't find something in organic, like turnip greens in my area, I go for the ugliest looking ones because that means they were sprayed less (bug bites and such on the leaves). I agree with you not to feed grass in your complex. In my opinion, if the price of organic was just too much for you (for me it is about 50% more than conventionally grown), then buy conventional but stick to greens that are meant for humans...the flowers and stuff that are meant for looking at buy not consumption are the worst, but things meant for human consumption can't be too bad as any chemicals have to be approved by the dept of agriculture or something. Other options include growing your own produce or finding places to pick safe weeds (like a nature preserve away from a trail where people walk on it and away form car exhaust). Do you have a yard? If not, some people have great luck growing seeds in trays indoors using organic soil. I however had bad luck doing so and actually spent about $20 on the seeds, trays, and soil to barely get more than a few handfuls of sprouts out of them until they died (three times). I have a nature area near my house I get dandelions sometimes, just going away from the road and trail a bit, and then I wash them well. Lots of people feed their tort conventional food, but I make the choice to feed him organic (although we can't afford to do so for ourselves, lol)....the tort eats better than we do.

 

[Tom]

I'm with GB. I've been keeping all sorts of turtles and tortoises for 30 years and if I ever used anything "organic" I didn't know about it or do it on purpose. If food is fit for human consumption, it should be fine for your tortoises too. I usually rinse any produce before I feed it, but that's about it.

 

[martine4161]

Well you can buy anything else for your tortoise but still I recommend you to buy organic for it. It is the best diet for the tortoise and by that the progress of the body also get well.

 

[chadk]

Organic can be a scam. Depends on what and where you are getting it.

Tom, 'fit for human consumption' isn't the best thing to go by. Most of the stuff sold in stores and fast food places hardly resemble 'food' when you look into it. And even the fruits and veggies are genetically engineered, treated with pesticides, fertilizers, chemicals, etc.

Personally, I subscribe to "grow your own". It is the best way to really know what you are getting. Raise your own meat, veggies, fruit, milk, etc. My torts have plenty of greens from my garden and we have grasses, weeds, dandilions, plantian, clover, etc more than I can keep up with.

 

[dmmj]

I grow a majority of my own fruits and vegetables, not for any sinister chemical reason, I just enjoy growing stuff.

 

[chairman]

Couple things... 20 and 30 years ago almost everything was grown 'organic' by today's commercial standard of the word. And genetic engineering happened the good old fashioned way, by planting seed from "good" producers and hoping the next generation did well too. So, if you fed your animals normal produce back in the day, it was probably organic.

For those who grow their own food, you might want to look at the seed packages and see who owns the patent to them. A LOT of seeds commercially available nowadays are from genetically engineered plants; it actually causes a huge problem in big agriculture states because the genetically engineered plants outcompete the non-engineered plants and farmers who used to grow "natural" food find themselves getting sued for patent infringement. The farmers are forced to destroy their entire crops to get rid of the engineered stuff (or pay the equivalent to royalties)... but when they go to get more seed, think they can find anything that isn't patent pending? HOWEVER, I believe that you're probably safe when it comes to dandelions, clover, etc. Growing weeds isn't exactly a billion dollar business, so most of those are probably still natural. Also, at least you know what your plants are feeding on. I'd love to grow my own, but sadly, I have a bit of a black thumb...

Personally, I buy 'organic' spring mix, but that's only because spring mix is one of those products that, by its very nature, is only sold as 'organic' because that's the crowd that usually eats it. Other fruits and veggies are washed before being fed to torts.