mini_max
Well-Known Member
There is a spot in my outdoor enclosure begging for a climbing vine. Do any avid tortoise gardeners know of a safe variety?
We are talking about an enclosure for a Russian tortoise arn't we ? I have a group of wild caught imports that I have accumulated over the last 3+ years. I offer them wild (MD and VA) honeysuckle, they eat the leaves and the blooms, they also eat some wild grape leaves, Virginia Creeper and the "Don't Feed" Boston Ivy. If this was all they were offered to eat it would not be good or safe for them. They do not always eat any or all of the vines, I do not mix their food offerings together so they can pick what they want, and I can see what they prefer. Another plant they like is buttercup, and I believe that is also on the do not feed list. These are seasonal and only offered in an outside enclosure with other foods available at all times. I would expect that tortoises come across plants that are not the best for them throughout their lives, and a russians diet in the wild is still not completely known. There have been quite a few plants offered that they wanted no parts of. The favorites are sedums, opuntia, just about any type of bloom, and original formula mazuri. From my experience russian tortoises, like the manouria, eat things other tortoises shouldn't, and we are just not completely sure what is good for them.Is honeysuckle ok? I'm reading some conflicting info on them. Much as I'd like them, grape vines aren't going to like living in zone 3