Turtle has some questions!

[Clementine_3]

Now that he is settled in and doing much better he was wondering:
How often should I offer him food? Right now I give him breakfast and dinner, he usually seems more inclined to eat breakfast (after he wakes up and warms up) but he's not so interested in a dinner. Is a once a day meal OK or should be having more? How much, in general, should a 5" Greek be eating?
He sleeps most of the day, under his lights. From what I've been reading that seems to be about normal. When he is awake he is very active and will come over when he sees me, but he does enjoy a good nap! I'm guessing that really is normal tort behavior?
If I buy plants at the store to grow/have on hand (spider, jade, pansy, marigold, geranium etc.) how long should I let them stay in plain dirt before offering them to him? How long does it take for the fertilizers/plant foods to dissipate?
I've been reading about pumpkin too...would it be OK to offer a little wedge every now and again as a treat since Halloween pumpkins are everywhere now? Outer skin and all (no seeds obviously) or should it be peeled?
He still prefers romaine but will eat some of the other stuff I've offered, mostly spring mix. He won't go for the collard, kale or dandelion yet but I think we are getting closer!
Any pointers or advice is appreciated! Turtle thanks you. I'll get some pics of him soon and post them.

 

[egyptiandan]

It would be the pesticides and herbicides on the plants that I'd worry about. The fertilizer, no matter whether natural or man made is really the same thing. As long as it's not in the soil any more it's fine.
I would make sure to wash of the plants a few times and pinch off any flowers that that plant came with that were open.
I'd say a couple of weeks before I'd let him have any plants from a store or nursery.
Pumpkin is just fine to feed him, as well as butternut squash. I feed butternut squash weekly and have never had any trouble with any of my Greeks in over 5 years of doing this. I also don't have any more worm problems.
So yes take out the seeds and the best way to give it is to grate it or cook it till it's al dente.

Danny

 

[Clementine_3]

Thanks. I picked some clover, marigolds and lilac leaves for him yesterday (untreated lawn!) and he LOVES the clover. Too bad we just had a killing frost, he won't be getting too much more of it for a bit. I'll go in search of more today. He wasn't thrilled with lilac leaves and wasn't sure if he liked the marigold flower...he kept trying it and making a face. lol. He's funny
I'll try the pumpkin and will try to get some other plants to have on hand during the winter but I don't have a green thumb at all so we'll see how that goes.

 

[egyptiandan]

Marigold and lilac leaves aren't good for him, missed the marigold in your list.
You should be able to search the diet section and find lists of the plants that are fine for him to eat.
Feeding him once a day in the morning is just fine.

Danny

 

[Clementine_3]

Thanks again.
I did see them listed on edible lists but now find them on non-edible lists too. So much conflicting info out there. He only had like two bites of the marigold and lilac, it won't hurt him will it?

 

[Yvonne G]

There is a lilac tree in Dudley's pen and he has NEVER tried to eat any of the leaves either from the tree or from the ground around the tree. That tells me that lilac should not be offered to tortoises. They use marigold to keep bugs out of a garden, so I would assume marigold is not good to offer to tortoises either.

There is a very big difference between a tortoise being allowed to choose what he eats because its planted in his habitat, or having it served up to him on a plate. If he has "free choice" chances are pretty good he won't eat a toxic plant. But if you pick the leaves and put them on his food dish, he just might eat them. So you have to be very careful to go over the toxic plants list and use only plants that are not suspect. If it appears on both lists (good and bad) then err on the safe side and don't feed it.

Yvonne