Over feeding of Rose of Sharon flowers

[Warren]

Is there a limit of flowers that you should alow you Tortoise to eat per day? My Sammy will eat all that you give him, plus eat all his regular food also. Is to many harmful to my Tortoise. He will eat 2 or 3 piles of food in about an hour, he eats like a pig and sleeps like a big baby. 52 lbs. 3 ozs. Yesterday.

 

[Tom]

Is there a limit of flowers that you should alow you Tortoise to eat per day? My Sammy will eat all that you give him, plus eat all his regular food also. Is to many harmful to my Tortoise. He will eat 2 or 3 piles of food in about an hour, he eats like a pig and sleeps like a big baby. 52 lbs. 3 ozs. Yesterday.

I wouldn't want those flowers to make up more than about 5% of the total diet.

 

[Warren]

I wouldn't want those flowers to make up more than about 5% of the total diet.

Thank you, I will have to compare weights of different foods to check his intake. He eats alot off other foods, just use the flowers as whipped cream on top of his greens.

 

[Tom]

Thank you, I will have to compare weights of different foods to check his intake. He eats alot off other foods, just use the flowers as whipped cream on top of his greens.

I do that with lavatera flowers.

 

[Len B]

Thank you, I will have to compare weights of different foods to check his intake. He eats alot off other foods, just use the flowers as whipped cream on top of his greens.

I'd let Sammy eat as many as he wants as long as he's eating all of his other food items. These blooms are seasonal and are only available for a few months. I've seen pictures of Sammy and he is a beautiful sulcata so what you've been doing is working. If you are going to weigh the blooms make sure you remove the green bud cap before weighing. In my experience with Sulcatas (26 years) they will not indulge in over eating a specific seasonal healthy food item enough to harm themselves. The first things my sulcatas eat in the morning are the blooms that fell to the ground in their pens from yesterday's blooms. And there is usually a few already on the ground as they put themselves to bed for the night ready to be eaten first thing in the morning.

 

[Maro2Bear]

I think the saying is “Carpe diem” - like Len says, it’s so seasonal that i think many animals do this - take advantage of an abundance of new food when it’s available. Making Hay while the sun is out. Soon, the abundance will fade away, very few blossoms, then none.

Rose of Sharon blossoms & their calyx (the green protective covering at the base) sure must taste good though, all of our TFO torts love them.

 

[Maggie3fan]

Mary K eats all she can of 4 different colors of ROS thanks to Len...she eats the flowers, the leafs, grape leafs and dandelions this time of year. Because she was stunted in the beginning I feed her as much as she will eat twice a day...
thanks to Turtulas-Len I have 14 ROS trees...free tort food...

 

[Warren]

I live near a park where there are a lot of Rose of Sharon plants and Mulberry trees growing wild. They are growing so thick around the waters edge of the "Lake or Quarry" the county will just cut them all down to the ground. I have taken walks and cleared a few plants and tagged them to transplant in my yard. I have 5 Rose of Sharons, 3 perennial Hibiscus plants. Don't want any Mulberry trees in my yard, don't need the berries all over. Will pick Mulberry leaves from the park, the park is right out back of my house.

 

[wellington]

I live near a park where there are a lot of Rose of Sharon plants and Mulberry trees growing wild. They are growing so thick around the waters edge of the "Lake or Quarry" the county will just cut them all down to the ground. I have taken walks and cleared a few plants and tagged them to transplant in my yard. I have 5 Rose of Sharons, 3 perennial Hibiscus plants. Don't want any Mulberry trees in my yard, don't need the berries all over. Will pick Mulberry leaves from the park, the park is right out back of my house.

In case you would like mulberry trees, there are fruitless ones. Mine only get about 10 feet tall, they are dwarf fruitless mulberry. I have 3 of them. I didn't want the mess of the fruit either.

 

[Maggie3fan]

My sister has a giant Mulberry tree and she just cuts off a branch and feeds
it to her tortoises