Plants

[Marty333]

Here are a list of some plants and I want to know if they are edible for tortoises.
Wild Lettuce Lactuca graminifolia
Lyre leaved Sage Salvia lyrata
Frog-fruit or Carpetweed Phyla nodiflora
Wild Mustard Brassica kaber
Globe Amaranth Gomphrena serrata L.

 

[Laura]

Wild mustard is something mine eat and I think it was one of those pics you had .. young plant...

 

[Marty333]

I cant tell if this is chickweed or pigweed? help!

 

[Livingstone]

If it were my tortoise I would start by feeding dandelion and clover. I have no idea what the picture is of, nor do I know what the other stuff you posted pics of is. I would strongly recomend to check the world chelonian trust website, look under husbandry, then check for the list of foods that are healthy for tortoises. There is an article published by Darrell Senneke, although its old, nobody has shown me a better guide for what to feed tortoises. More importantly the plants in bold. Let me find the link and ill post it...

http://www.chelonia.org/Articles/nutrientanalysis.htm

 

[Marty333]

can you buy dandelion seeds at home depot or lowes?

 

[coreyc]

can you buy dandelion seeds at home depot or lowes?

I do not think they sell them but you can get them from the Carolina pet supply

 

[Livingstone]

I dont think so. Most of those stores are going to be against dandelion. Try this.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B002TB2OIO/?tag=exoticpetnetw-20

Also, what are you feeding chevy? If you cant get your hands on dandelion or other natural weeds, get some spring mix from the grocery store.
If you have a a grocery store that sells a variety of produce you can also get, endive, collards, kale, and turnip greens.
Those are all great things to feed a tortoise. Dont buy all of those things at once, your tortoise is small so it wont be able to consume all that if you buy it together.

 

[Marty333]

I feed him amaranth, wild mustard, pennywart, alfalfa sprouts, prickley pear, lyre leaved sage and grassland tortoise food.

 

[onarock]

marty, here is what I do. I go to africantortoise.com and go to edible landscaping, look at the color coded key at the top. The key will tell you what you need to know about the plants. * High in Oxalic Acid * Glucosinolates/Goitrogens *Phytic Acid
*purines * Tannins * Protein = Should be fed sparingly
---------------------
~~ Native food source for African species
~~ Native food source for Gopherus agassizi

Try to find a local site that identifies all the plants growing in your area (Florida right). I'll give the address of the site that I use that lists all known plants living in Hawaii so you can check it out and youll see what I do. Its called Plants of Hawaii, of all things and the address is www.hear.org if you go to this site there is a menu on the left thats called "Our Images" and below is "Plants of Hawaii". Click on "plants of Hawaii". O.K. now I open a tab in my browser for africantortoise.com and go back to the edible landscape list and copy a plant then paste it in the search box in the Plants of Hawaii tab. Plants of Hawaii will then search the data base for the plant (I copy the genus names of the plants) and tell you if its in Hawaii and if it is, it will show you a picture of the plant and some places you can find the plants. Repeat process over and over untill you have found in your area as many plants recommended from africantortoise. If I have confused you at all write me and I'll try and help -aloha-

 

[ticothetort2]

I ordered dandelion seeds off Ebay not to long ago. They were pretty cheap and arrived fast. I was also able to find chia and white clover on there as well. Now I just take a walk around the block and look for the little white puff balls and blow them directly into my outdoor enclosure. I've had some luck with this method.