Strawberry tops?

[mommybeegs]

Can I give (occasionally) my tortoise the leaves from the tops of strawberries? None of the fruit obviously, just the leaves?

 

[Tom]

Yep. Russians usually love that.

 

[Jacqui]

The leaves are fine and the little bit of strawberry fruit itself would be of no harm, as long as this is just a small part of their diet variety not the entire diet. I love this part of my relationship with mytortoises (not just the Russians I have, but all of them). I can use them as the excuse as to why I buy so many strawberries and then I can sample a lot of the berries eating more of the best ones down closer to the stem/leaves and sharing all the "leftovers" with the various tortoises. No waste in this house.

My kids are the same way I have noticed. They will grab a berry, eat the best part and give the rest to whichever tortose is their current "favorite" or the just the one closest to them at the time.

 

[mommybeegs]

Love this!!! Thank you! My kids love their new friend

 

[biochemnerd808]

If you grew the strawberries yourself, or they are organic, it would be fine to give them the tops... however, if they are store-bought, and NOT organic, strawberries actually sprayed with a ton of stuff, and it wouldn't be safe. Some of the pesticides and slug-killer chemicals can directly harm the tortoise's system.
If you have strawberry plants in your own garden, then you can feed the whole plant, minus the berry.

Love this!!! Thank you! My kids love their new friend

 

[mommybeegs]

My 8 month old is fascinated!

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They are organic we buy organic to avoid pesticides for our children too so it should be fine then? We eat a LOT of strawberries so occasionally we can give him some leaves