Are these edible?

Joined
May 25, 2021
Messages
59
Location (City and/or State)
London
Hi all.
I want to widen my tortoises diet and i have a bunch of stuff that grows in my garden but have no clue as to what they are and if they're safe.
Any help will be greatly appreciated. Xx
P.s, i live in the UK and i own a Russian

#1
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#2
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#3 (the purple flowers). Is the wheat looking grass edible too?
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#4 (this thorny thing, i was thinking it is some sort of bramble)
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I also have a lot of buttercups but the views on feeding them to tortoises seem to be very mixed.
 

RosemaryDW

Well-Known Member
5 Year Member
Joined
Feb 17, 2016
Messages
4,144
Location (City and/or State)
Newport Coast, CA
Number three is a wild geranium: safe.

Number four might be a bramble (some kind of berry) or a wild rose but you’ll need to wait for flowers to be sure. If it’s one of these it’s safe.

Russians don’t eat grass.

Buttercups are FINE. Russians eat a ton of them in the wild. I get super grumpy at the advice that says don’t feed them; it’s entirely wrong; I don’t care what the Tortoise Table says. :mad: I can’t grow them in my climate but the one time I tried they were eaten to the ground almost overnight by my wild caught Russian.
 
Joined
May 25, 2021
Messages
59
Location (City and/or State)
London
Number three is a wild geranium: safe.

Number four might be a bramble (some kind of berry) or a wild rose but you’ll need to wait for flowers to be sure. If it’s one of these it’s safe.

Russians don’t eat grass.

Buttercups are FINE. Russians eat a ton of them in the wild. I get super grumpy at the advice that says don’t feed them; it’s entirely wrong; I don’t care what the Tortoise Table says. :mad: I can’t grow them in my climate but the one time I tried they were eaten to the ground almost overnight by my wild caught Russian.
Ahhh thank you so much. I have a ton of the geranium and buttercups so I'm glad to know he can eat these. I'm always looking forward to varying his diet? xx
 

TisMary

Active Member
Joined
Mar 1, 2021
Messages
160
Location (City and/or State)
New York
Hi all.
I want to widen my tortoises diet and i have a bunch of stuff that grows in my garden but have no clue as to what they are and if they're safe.
Any help will be greatly appreciated. Xx
P.s, i live in the UK and i own a Russian

#1
View attachment 327765
I think #1 is Glechoma hederacea (Common names "Ground Ivy", "Creeping Charlie" or "Gill-over-the-Ground"). Check to see if it has a square stem (a distinguishing marker of the Mint (Lamiaceae) Family. If not, it's something else. If the stem is square, I'd still check out some pictures or descriptions of other features (especially the flowers) until you're convinced it is (or is not) G. hereacea. I choose not to feed it to my little ones based on Tortoise Table's warnings. Apparently, it has a lot of volatile oils and terpenoids (it's really "stinky") and most critters won't eat it anyway!
 
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