Eastern Hermanns and Spur-thighed Diets

[marks]

Hi,

I have an eastern hermanns and a spur-thighed tortoise, and I need some help with their diets.
I'm going to start growing my own dandelions and other wild flowers to make up the main part of my tortoises' diets; however, can someone clarify the best supermarket vegetables to feed them in the interim? I mainly use lettuce and cucumber, but I've read that some people disagree with feeding lettuce. Any help is much appreciated.

Thanks

Mark

 

[JoesMum]

Their diet is weedy leafy greens.

They cannot digest sugars properly - it causes digestive and kidney problems - so fruit, pepper, carrot and tomato should only be fed very sparingly and very occasionally if at all.

The best thing to do is to write a list of the plants that grow around you and those that you can buy and look them up on The Tortoise Table Plant Database (TTT) for suitability to feed (everyone has different availability in their locality)

TTT is a search facility on this website http://www.thetortoisetable.org.uk/

I am not sure where you are in London, but ethnic grocers frequently sell less common greens that turn out to be great tortoise food

 

[Shaif]

Hi Marc,

Welcome!

I have both Testuso (Hermanni and Ibera) also. I feed turnip greens, endive, escarole, collard greens, arugula, opunta cactus, dandelion, and Mazuri pellets. When the weather allows, weeds from outside are best.

Occasionally squash and pumpkin can be given.

Best,
Shaifali

 

[marks]

Their diet is weedy leafy greens.

They cannot digest sugars properly - it causes digestive and kidney problems - so fruit, pepper, carrot and tomato should only be fed very sparingly and very occasionally if at all.

The best thing to do is to write a list of the plants that grow around you and those that you can buy and look them up on The Tortoise Table Plant Database (TTT) for suitability to feed (everyone has different availability in their locality)

TTT is a search facility on this website http://www.thetortoisetable.org.uk/

I am not sure where you are in London, but ethnic grocers frequently sell less common greens that turn out to be great tortoise food

Thank you, what an excellent website. The only thing that I don't really understand is why you can't filter by what type of tortoise you own. For instance, I own a Spur-thighed, which obviously has a different diet to a tropical tortoise. The website just lists food and says whether it is good or bad, but surely what is good for one tortoise is bad for another, and vice versa?
Don't worry, I don't feed either of mine anything sugary at all.

 

[JoesMum]

It's setup for the grasslands tortoises like the Testudo (Greeks, Russians, Hermann's, etc), Sulcatas and Leopard Torts. I guess that's the interest of the site owners... also the Testudo are far and away the most common UK species.

Owners of the more omnivorous species like Redfoots need to read the detail for the recommendations. If it's due to high oxalates, goitrogens and poisons for example then owners of all species need to beware. If it's due to sugars the RF owners can use their own judgment.

 

[marks]

It's setup for the grasslands tortoises like the Testudo (Greeks, Russians, Hermann's, etc), Sulcatas and Leopard Torts. I guess that's the interest of the site owners... also the Testudo are far and away the most common UK species.

Owners of the more omnivorous species like Redfoots need to read the detail for the recommendations. If it's due to high oxalates, goitrogens and poisons for example then owners of all species need to beware. If it's due to sugars the RF owners can use their own judgment.

Thanks for your response. The website is brilliant - I've got a lot of reading to do.

 

[marks]

Hi Marc,

Welcome!

I have both Testuso (Hermanni and Ibera) also. I feed turnip greens, endive, escarole, collard greens, arugula, opunta cactus, dandelion, and Mazuri pellets. When the weather allows, weeds from outside are best.

Occasionally squash and pumpkin can be given.

Best,
Shaifali

Thank you, Shaifali.