What is this plant?

[3bdulla]

Is it safe to feed tortoises ?
It grows a lot, very short and In the second picture there are small flowers or something like that....

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Btw I live in Abu dhabi, which I very hot. This is a desert plant and that's all I know.

 

[wellington]

Idk, but see if you can find it on the tortoisetable.org.

 

[oknursedana]

I don't know either but it looks like something we have in Oklahoma. Ours has yellow flowers. Let me know if you find out what it is. I will look too.

 

[3bdulla]

We also have the yellow flowers one's in our front yard!

 

[Kapidolo Farms]

It's purslane or portulaca, a native food item for some African species of tortoise.

https://www.google.com/searchhl=en&...84.683.9.9.0....0.0..1ac.1.20.img.cbk8nIkwsHY

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portulaca_oleracea

Some forms are used in landscaping with nice flowers that tortoises like to eat.

Will

 

[3bdulla]

@will
Can I feed it to Greek tortoises?

 

[oknursedana]

Thanks Will

 

[3bdulla]

Thanks!

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I looked the plant up in the UAE wild flowers book and it remarked that in dry conditions the plant becomes reddish , explaining the red flowers! Thanks for all your help! I didn't use the book because it has more than 500+ flowers

 

[Kapidolo Farms]

@will
Can I feed it to Greek tortoises?

Yeah, but what I would suggest blind of your exact situation, is let the tortoise eat at it as the tortoise wants. Like if it's in an outdoor pen, then let the tortoise eat it as it sees fit. If in a salad put it as a side dish, if the tortoise want to it will.

I have a couple Egyptian tortoises that seem to be some sort of sedum critics. They will eat some types of sedum like kids with candy, and other types they won't touch. They have tried them all, but stick with certain types.

I'm figuring they do so based on some kind of internal feedback? Who knows?

All my various torts though eat all the edible flowers.

Will

 

[MikeCow1]

Interesting that Tortoise Table has it listed as do not feed

 

[Cowboy_Ken]

Interesting that Tortoise Table has it listed as do not feed

The tortoise table tends to error on the side of extreme caution. Not bad if someone to focus on feeding a specific weed that has some mild toxicity, but often I think some ok plant material is passed up that would be fine in a balanced diet.

 

[Kapidolo Farms]

Interesting that Tortoise Table has it listed as do not feed

and this webpage suggest it is a good food. . .

http://africantortoise.com/edible_landscaping.htm

and this one showing it as a wild type food for African species. . .

http://www.carecentre.org.za/ use the pull down for the link "Diet in the wild"

That darn internet, anyone can publish anything. I sorta like scientific mumbo jumbo primary literature - Or pages that reference it.

Will