What's your torts fav..

[manetteaplin]

Looking for ideas on what's your torts favorite food/plants/flower. I have a new out door enclosure with lots of grass and weeds but I'm looking for some more plants and flowers to plant! I would like to plant things he will enjoy eating to expand his diet.

 

[nate.mann]

what species of tortoise do you have? every tortoise loves dandelion greens, cant go wrong with that.


0.1.0 Sonoran Desert tortoise
0.0.1 Leopard tortoise
1.0.0 Bluenose Pit/American Bulldog

 

[nsmancino]

My sulcata tort LOVES kale and hibiscus flowers. He enjoys endive/escarole also. Doesn't care for dandelion greens actually. Not a fan of collard greens either.

 

[nate.mann]

my Sonoran doesnt care for collards either, but the Russian i just traded would go nuts over it.

 

[manetteaplin]

I have a sulcata, I have lots of dandelions that he loves and hibiscus, just trying to find more things to plant that everyone's torts love to munch on! Here is his new summer home (still have to put up gates)

 

[RuthJanice]

that's a really nice outdoor space My sully loves the bermuta grass as well as chicory - favs are the dandelion flowers.

 

[danielle]

mine love carnations. I got a mini carnation plant at home depot maybe 3 years ago. I have split the plant 4 times now so I know have 5 pots with them. just yesterday speedy learned that if he looks up there is food all over the place!!!

 

[Dizisdalife]

One of the best plants that I got started for tortoise food is a grape vine. Next spring I am going to add another because my tort loves the leaves. My neighbors all have mulberry trees, which is good because I don't have the space in my yard for one. He also loves cactus pads. They are also easy to grow. I started 4 plants from pads about 2 years ago and now have all the cactus that my tortoise needs. Seed mixes are also good to plant. I get some from Peaceful Valley Farms. Their premium pasture mix has orchard grass, rye grasses, and clovers. Great stuff. The testudo mix from tortoise supply is another good seed mix. It has a lots of broad leaf plants and some, what I would call, non-typicall plants that add nutritional balance to the diet. Like cilantro, for instance. I think that Plantain (plantago major) is a good broadleaf weed to have in your tortoise yard. My sulcata prefers it to dandelion or chickory. Variety is the key because what they won't eat this month may be their favorite food next month.

 

[knight_visionn]

Keyser just really, really likes red; I know that sounds like an oversimplification, but I swear, it's his favorite.

There are some foods in general that he favors over others, but anything red will always be his top selection, regardless of actual taste. It's the oddest thing. Watermelon, cherry tomatoes, strawberries (all served extremely sparingly, don't worry), red bell peppers, the redder pieces of radicchio, the red lanyard that often hangs out of my pocket, my girlfriend's toes when equipped with red nail polish - he'll be there, snapping like a shelled glutton.

I actually have trouble getting him to try new, non-red things (cactus pads, pumpkin, etc). He'd much prefer to trample anything new instead, hoping it'll earn him some red.

 

[LisaTurtle]

Petunia flowers

 

[lighthiker2]

In my back yard (to the chagrin of neighbors) is a virtual endless salad bar for Sully. Besides multiple types of grasses, we have clover leaves, dandelion, plantain, honeysuckle, wild violets, and SOMEHOW were blessed (most people would be calling the lawn guy, I know) to find the yard is growing wild strawberries. He gets occasional roses and also hibiscus for treats. One of my Aloe plants and several prickly pear cacti are outside, and he just started to find them before Fall arrived. The kids take turns gathering a quart sized cup of a variety of deli-bar items for Sully from the yard each morning. That, plus a few carrot/squash shavings, an occasional big strawberry flower end, and a bit of kale seem to keep him happy.

Like us, they have basic needs and instincts but some have quirky tastebuds ( like the sulfate who does not like dandelion…that is new to me)

He has gone from 232-332 gm in 3 months and put on over an inch in that time, his energy is high and he is getting used to his oversized caretakers keeping tabs on his enclosed tortoise table, so it seems to be working.

 

[Tom]

I do what Joe does.

And great selections from light hiker too.

A couple of years ago my friend from Senegal sent me some "African Hibiscus" seeds. Apparently it is one of their favorite foods over there. Mine go crazy for it. They love it above all else. It's very easy to grow outside for me here, but it will not tolerate frost at all, so every spring I plant the seeds that I collected from last years crop and I feed it out all summer long to all of my tortoises. I am just feeding out the last bits now before our first frost hits in November usually.

 

[Saleama]

My babies will knock you over for dandelion, clover (the real kind, not the shamrock) and this little plant I found that has tiny leaves all lined up on the stem, not sure what it is called but it has been approved on this forum. I love the look on their faces when I mix these in with thei orchard hay. They look at me like I'm crazy for mixing them and then they go to work trying to seperate the bits. I chop the grasses fine enough to where they can't seperate the two very easily and they have to eat their grass. I have crimson clover and about 10 other broad leaf seeds planted now and can not wait to see how well the do with it.

 

[ILoveTortoises2]

I see everyone always talking about dandelions and other things. Where can I get these? I don't know is I can buy a plant that is already starting to grow or something. I want to get some other things for my little torts but don't know where to get these. I don't want to start growing these from the beginning that will take forever. Anyone know where I can get these that don't have to start from the beginning OR have any pesticides in them?

 

[Tom]

Cactus can be grown from pads that you buy over the Internet. Grape vines can be bought, but I let mine mature a year before feeding the torts from them just to be safe. Same with any hibiscus or any other store bought plant or flower. Most of my other stuff I grow from seed.

 

[Dizisdalife]

I see everyone always talking about dandelions and other things. Where can I get these? I don't know is I can buy a plant that is already starting to grow or something. I want to get some other things for my little torts but don't know where to get these. I don't want to start growing these from the beginning that will take forever. Anyone know where I can get these that don't have to start from the beginning OR have any pesticides in them?

Some plants you can buy and transplant into your outdoor encloure. Hibiscus for instance, or grape vine, or a mulberry tree are a few that come to mind. Most of the weeds and grasses that I have in my yard were started from seed. Many of the seeds I purchased online and others I harvested from plants near my home. I bought seed mixes that had a variety of grasses and clovers and some broad leaf plants for my tortoise to eat. They sprout in a few weeks and a month later they are being consumed by Chuck (my sulcata). Here is one site that has seeds for dandelion, chickory, plaintain, grass, and clovers.
http://www.carolinapetsupply.com/catalog/index.php?cPath=41
Another site I like to buy seeds from is:
http://www.groworganic.com/seeds/pasture-seed.html

It just takes a little time to get things started. After that you will have more than enough food for your tortoise.