Rainbow chard

[fergusaur]

I have an eastern hermann’s tortoise and was wondering how many times a week can I feed bok choy and rainbow chard? I assume for the rainbow chard only once per week since it contains a high amount of oxalic acid similar to kale, and for the bok choy probably at least twice a week as long as it’s in the rotation of food he gets, but I just wanted to make sure.
The photo attached is his current diet.

Thanks for the help in advance!

 

[wellington]

Sounds like you got it.

 

[Tom]

I have an eastern hermann’s tortoise and was wondering how many times a week can I feed bok choy and rainbow chard? I assume for the rainbow chard only once per week since it contains a high amount of oxalic acid similar to kale, and for the bok choy probably at least twice a week as long as it’s in the rotation of food he gets, but I just wanted to make sure.
The photo attached is his current diet.

Thanks for the help in advance!

Looks good, but try to add much more variety. Mulberry leaves, grape leaves, spineless opuntia cactus pads, bristly ox tongue, prickly lettuce, clover, fresh grown alfalfa, mallow, sow thistle, thistle, cilantro, Italian dandelion (aka: dandelion greens from the store), arugula, etc...

 

[zovick]

I have an eastern hermann’s tortoise and was wondering how many times a week can I feed bok choy and rainbow chard? I assume for the rainbow chard only once per week since it contains a high amount of oxalic acid similar to kale, and for the bok choy probably at least twice a week as long as it’s in the rotation of food he gets, but I just wanted to make sure.
The photo attached is his current diet.

Thanks for the help in advance!

Just a heads up for you. Bok Choy and Chard are both in the Brassica family of vegetables along with Kale, Collard Greens, and many others. I think most of them contain oxalic acid, so you may be doubling up on the oxalic acid by feeding both Chard and Bok Choy to your tortoise.

 

[fergusaur]

Just a heads up for you. Bok Choy and Chard are both in the Brassica family of vegetables along with Kale, Collard Greens, and many others. I think most of them contain oxalic acid, so you may be doubling up on the oxalic acid by feeding both Chard and Bok Choy to your tortoise.

So only feed one of them a week? How frequently should I be feeding foods with oxalic acid like collard greens for example?

 

[zovick]

So only feed one of them a week? How frequently should I be feeding foods with oxalic acid like collard greens for example?

I think you can feed one of those items every few days, so perhaps 2-3 times a week is all right. Just keep the tortoise well-hydrated and add a lot of other food items which do not have high oxalic acid content like some of the ones Tom listed above. Note that the arugula he mentioned is also a Brassica family member, though.