What could I feed my tortoise?

Joshualee67

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What store bought vegetables could I feed my tortoise? I feed him lettuce and I take him outside everyday to eat grass and dandelions. I just want to feed him a bigger variety of food. Can someone help me out?
 

SPILL

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Don't take any options off the table. Homegrown, wild picked, prepared diets, dried herbs, and grocery greens can be combined to make a wildly varied diet. Some grocery options I use are escarole, leafy endive, arugula, radicchio, spring mix, carrot tops, and greens such as collard, mustard, and turnip. I do use romain, red leaf and green leaf lettuces a few times a year for variety's sake. If you are limited to grocery greens then you might want to look into the variety of dried leaves, flowers and grasses that can be sprinkled on. Kapidolo Farms has some good deals and variety pack options and Tortoise Supply has a pre-mixed bag with about 20 different herbs that they call "herbal hay".
 

Joshualee67

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Don't take any options off the table. Homegrown, wild picked, prepared diets, dried herbs, and grocery greens can be combined to make a wildly varied diet. Some grocery options I use are escarole, leafy endive, arugula, radicchio, spring mix, carrot tops, and greens such as collard, mustard, and turnip. I do use romain, red leaf and green leaf lettuces a few times a year for variety's sake. If you are limited to grocery greens then you might want to look into the variety of dried leaves, flowers and grasses that can be sprinkled on. Kapidolo Farms has some good deals and variety pack options and Tortoise Supply has a pre-mixed bag with about 20 different herbs that they call "herbal hay".

Awesome thanks for that!
 

Tom

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Is this good for everyday diet? Also is this good for testudo?
Nothing is good for every day, except grass for grass eating species.

Everything listed in post #7 by @SPILL is good stuff for all the Testudo and every other species too. Vareity is key.
 

LeoTheWaywardTortoise

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My sully loves endive, escarole, and radicchio. He’s finally also grazing on the grasses and weeds I planted for him back spring and summer as his primary food… but I still give him the aforementioned grocery greens to supplement his diet. Oh, and radish greens. He gets them every other week and demolishes them. I’m trying to work in orchard grass, but he hasn’t taken to it just yet… and he won’t eat Mazuri, either, no matter what.
 

wellington

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My sully loves endive, escarole, and radicchio. He’s finally also grazing on the grasses and weeds I planted for him back spring and summer as his primary food… but I still give him the aforementioned grocery greens to supplement his diet. Oh, and radish greens. He gets them every other week and demolishes them. I’m trying to work in orchard grass, but he hasn’t taken to it just yet… and he won’t eat Mazuri, either, no matter what.
Do you soak the orchard hay? Be sure to soak it first.
As for mazuri, is it the newer version, the LS? Most seem to not like it. The older version most love. Be sure to soak the mazuri also.
 

Tom

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My sully loves endive, escarole, and radicchio. He’s finally also grazing on the grasses and weeds I planted for him back spring and summer as his primary food… but I still give him the aforementioned grocery greens to supplement his diet. Oh, and radish greens. He gets them every other week and demolishes them. I’m trying to work in orchard grass, but he hasn’t taken to it just yet… and he won’t eat Mazuri, either, no matter what.
What size is your little baby now? Length or weight in grams? They usually won't take to hay until they are at least 12 inches, and some of them wait even longer.

Like Barb, I was also wondering what type of Mazuri you are using. I find that I have to take some time to slowly introduce the LS type, but most take to the original 5M21 type pretty quickly. I have had a few sulcatas that didn't much care for the Mazuri, but most of them devour it. It is a good supplemental food, but it is certainly not "necessary", so don't worry too much if your tortoise just doesn't like it.
 

LeoTheWaywardTortoise

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Do you soak the orchard hay? Be sure to soak it first.
As for mazuri, is it the newer version, the LS? Most seem to not like it. The older version most love. Be sure to soak the mazuri also.
I hadn't soaked it in the past, just cut it up into small pieces and mixed it with other greens. Since I just received a new batch of orchard grass, I cut some up, soaked it, and mixed it with the other stuff... I'm hoping he'll have eaten some when I check on him after work.

I've tried both LS and regular Mazuri. I've soaked it, tried mixing it with chopped radicchio (his favorite), tried smearing some of the soaked pellets onto other greens... he's really good at eating around it.

I'll keep trying with both, but especially the hay/orchard grass.
 

LeoTheWaywardTortoise

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What size is your little baby now? Length or weight in grams? They usually won't take to hay until they are at least 12 inches, and some of them wait even longer.

Like Barb, I was also wondering what type of Mazuri you are using. I find that I have to take some time to slowly introduce the LS type, but most take to the original 5M21 type pretty quickly. I have had a few sulcatas that didn't much care for the Mazuri, but most of them devour it. It is a good supplemental food, but it is certainly not "necessary", so don't worry too much if your tortoise just doesn't like it.
He's about 13" - possibly longer. He's growing like crazy. I don't know his weight, but he's pretty solid. I'll keep trying with the orchard grass; I've been putting the greens I feed him on a bed of orchard grass, but today I decided to soak it as recommended. He'll get there, I have faith! I wish he'd take to the Mazuri, just for convenience's sake... but if he still hasn't taken to it by the time I run out of my current bag, I'll make no further attempts. :)
 

Tom

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He's about 13" - possibly longer. He's growing like crazy. I don't know his weight, but he's pretty solid. I'll keep trying with the orchard grass; I've been putting the greens I feed him on a bed of orchard grass, but today I decided to soak it as recommended. He'll get there, I have faith! I wish he'd take to the Mazuri, just for convenience's sake... but if he still hasn't taken to it by the time I run out of my current bag, I'll make no further attempts. :)
Most tortoises ignore the grass hay for weeks or months, and then one day, they just start eating it. I think chopping, soaking, and mixing it with other things is a great way to go, in addition to feeding everything on a bed of hay.
 

LeoTheWaywardTortoise

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Most tortoises ignore the grass hay for weeks or months, and then one day, they just start eating it. I think chopping, soaking, and mixing it with other things is a great way to go, in addition to feeding everything on a bed of hay.
I'm employing the techniques that I've read in your posts, so I have great faith that he'll eventually start eating it. I should've started with soaked hay from the beginning, but I was too lazy and had hoped that he'd get used to it from the pieces that would stick to the produce... nope. He's a little finicky, but he'll get there!
 

Tom

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I'm employing the techniques that I've read in your posts, so I have great faith that he'll eventually start eating it. I should've started with soaked hay from the beginning, but I was too lazy and had hoped that he'd get used to it from the pieces that would stick to the produce... nope. He's a little finicky, but he'll get there!
Eventually he will start eating it no matter what you do. It is just good for them and convenient for us keepers when we can get them eating hay at an earlier age. As you know, a 13 inch sulcata is a seemingly bottomless pit. Grass hay is a great way to fill that pit! :)
 

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