What should I do?

[Crush da Baum]

I have two Russian tortoises. I usually just feed them Romain and kale lettuce but I’ve heard that that is bad for them. I have been trying to grow dandelions and other weeds but they grow very slowly and I won’t have enough to sustain them. My yard is treated and has pesticides so I can’t let them eat from there. What should I do.

 

[Yvonne G]

There are quite a few greens you can buy in the produce section of the store. I buy endive, escarole (in my town it's packages as "Santa Barbar Salad Mix"), dandelion greens, turnip greens, collard greens (these last two come in packages in the packaged salad section), romaine, green leaf lettuce, kale,bok choy, opuntia (my store sells packages of it cleaned and chopped), napa cabbage. I'm sure you can find dark leafy things in the produce section to feed them.

 

[Crush da Baum]

There are quite a few greens you can buy in the produce section of the store. I buy endive, escarole (in my town it's packages as "Santa Barbar Salad Mix"), dandelion greens, turnip greens, collard greens (these last two come in packages in the packaged salad section), romaine, green leaf lettuce, kale,bok choy, opuntia (my store sells packages of it cleaned and chopped), napa cabbage. I'm sure you can find dark leafy things in the produce section to feed them.

Is this good for them?

 

[Yvonne G]

Is this good for them?

It's better than starving. The reason you were told romaine and kale were bad for your tortoise is because your diet wasn't diverse enough.

 

[Tom]

I have two Russian tortoises. I usually just feed them Romain and kale lettuce but I’ve heard that that is bad for them. I have been trying to grow dandelions and other weeds but they grow very slowly and I won’t have enough to sustain them. My yard is treated and has pesticides so I can’t let them eat from there. What should I do.

Their primary diet should be broadleaf weeds. Romaine has little nutrition, low ca and low fiber, kale has compounds that are bad for them in excess. Grocery store greens can work, but you need to add stuff to them to make them better. Soaked Zoomed Grassland pellets, blended up soaked grass hay, Mazuri, herbal hay from tortoisessupply.com, and Will @Kapidolo Farms has all kinds of dried leaves that you can mix in with your romaine to make it a better food for your tortoise.

Stop putting toxic chemicals in your yard. This isn't good for you, the animals near your house, or your tortoise. If you do that, you can start using good stuff from your own property next year. Until then, find sources of these things growing locally in safe areas that aren't chemically treated. Looks for signs of insect life. Ants nearby, spider webs, holes chewed in the leaves, etc... Learn to ID your local weeds. Soon the mulberry leaves and grape vine leaves will be back. Find some established sources for those. Get some opuntia pads and plant them in pots if you have no safe areas outside for them.

You can also set up an indoor rack system with LED plant bulbs and trays of soil, and start growing your own stuff from seed.

There are sooooo many things you can do that would be better than buying food at the grocery store. Here is a small starter list of good tortoise foods:
Mulberry leaves
Grape vine leaves
Hibiscus leaves
African hibiscus leaves
Blue hibiscus leaves
Rose of Sharon leaves
Rose leaves
Geraniums
Gazanias
Lavatera
Pansies
Petunias
Hostas
Honeysuckle
Cape honeysuckle
Leaves and blooms from any squash plant, like pumpkin, cucumber, summer squash, etc...
Young spineless opuntia cactus pads

Weeds:
There are soooooooo many...
Dandelion
Mallow
Filaree
Smooth Sow thistle
Prickly Sow thistle
Milk thistle
Goat head weed
Cats ear
Nettles
Trefoil
Wild onion
Wild mustard
Wild Garlic
Clovers
Broadleaf plantain
Narrow leaf plantain
Chick weed
Hawksbit
Hensbit
Hawksbeard

Other good stuff:
"Testudo Seed Mix" from http://www.tortoisesupply.com/SeedMixes
Pasture mixes or other seeds from http://www.groworganic.com/seeds.html
Homegrown alfalfa
Mazuri Tortoise Chow
ZooMed Grassland Tortoise Food

 

[Crush da Baum]

Wish I could. I’m only 13 that so naturally I live with my parents. They won’t budge on this. I wish we didn’t get our lawn treated so he can roam but can’t do much about it.

 

[Crush da Baum]

I am starting to grow dandelions and weeds like clovers and stuff like that I. I got a seed packet of dandelions and a seed packet of tortoise grassland seeds am starting to grow dandelions and weeds like clovers and stuff like that I. They grow pretty slow though and I do not have enough of them to sustain their diet. I am trying to get them to eat zoo med grassland tortoise food by soaking it and wrapping Romain leaves around it to make a little balls and hand feeding it to them so that they will eventually get used to the taste of it and maybe even eat it on their own.

 

[Kapidolo Farms]

I am starting to grow dandelions and weeds like clovers and stuff like that I. I got a seed packet of dandelions and a seed packet of tortoise grassland seeds am starting to grow dandelions and weeds like clovers and stuff like that I. They grow pretty slow though and I do not have enough of them to sustain their diet. I am trying to get them to eat zoo med grassland tortoise food by soaking it and wrapping Romain leaves around it to make a little balls and hand feeding it to them so that they will eventually get used to the taste of it and maybe even eat it on their own.

The attached PDF is an insert I use when I ship tortoise food. The first page (on the right side, cause I fold them) has some indications on how to get a tortoise to try something new. If you end up with a bounty at some point, give a shout-out and I can tell you how to dry your own stuff. It is pretty simple to do.