Fiber for Russian

JoeWells

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Get a few seeds, throw them in a jiffy pot, water, keep warm. In a week or so you will have a few leaves sprouting, and not long after that a plant. Free tort food.
That fast? Wow! I’m ashamed to say I’ve never grown anything....ever. No better time to get started then now. This might be a whole new chapter in my life.
 

RosemaryDW

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Now I feel like a dumb dumb. Mustard is the yellow flower plant?! It’s everywhere. I’m going out to get some today. I’m excited about the cucumber. There’s so many little tweaks and tricks to try with torts, it makes everything so fun! I’m sort of hesitant to buy any plants from the hardware store. Last time I was there I asked if a few different plants were grown organically and the girl helping me said she “thinks so” so I didn’t make the purchase. I wonder where I can get squash plants from. I’ll do a bit of research to see if there’s any organic nurseries around. I think my dad has grown all sorts of squash so I’m sure I’ll find it close by

It is everywhere; it’s not native and it’s invasive. Pull all you want, you’re doing native plants a favor! Plus it’s native to Russians in the wild: bonus! The one that catches your eye is black mustard; it can get over six feet high.

As for nursery plants, if it’s safe for you to eat, it’s safe for your tortoise. Hardware store, grocery store, nursery, it’s all fine.
 

RosemaryDW

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That fast? Wow! I’m ashamed to say I’ve never grown anything....ever. No better time to get started then now. This might be a whole new chapter in my life.

Start with radishes; you’ll feel like quite the gardener when they sprout in one day! Turnips are a little slower (three days?) but still grow like weeds! Your tortoise should like both; they are related to that wild mustard but milder.
 

RosemaryDW

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Now I feel like a dumb dumb. Mustard is the yellow flower plant?! It’s everywhere. I’m going out to get some today. I’m excited about the cucumber. There’s so many little tweaks and tricks to try with torts, it makes everything so fun! I’m sort of hesitant to buy any plants from the hardware store. Last time I was there I asked if a few different plants were grown organically and the girl helping me said she “thinks so” so I didn’t make the purchase. I wonder where I can get squash plants from. I’ll do a bit of research to see if there’s any organic nurseries around. I think my dad has grown all sorts of squash so I’m sure I’ll find it close by

Yes, it is everywhere; it’s not native and it’s invasive. Pull all you want, you’re helping native plants. It’s native to wild Russians so complete win.

As for nursery plants, if they are safe for you, they’re safe for your tortoise. Hardware store, grocery store, they’re fine.

You have tons of wild mallow as well; most tortoises like it.

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JoeWells

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Yes, it is everywhere; it’s not native and it’s invasive. Pull all you want, you’re helping native plants. It’s native to wild Russians so complete win.

As for nursery plants, if they are safe for you, they’re safe for your tortoise. Hardware store, grocery store, they’re fine.

You have tons of wild mallow as well; most tortoises like it.

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For some reason in my research I thought mallow wasn’t good for them. Is this mallow? It’s all over my house as well
 

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RosemaryDW

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Thanks for the heads up on the mallow Rosemary, she loves it! Weird question, is there any advantage to feeding a tort new shoots of a plant? Like the baby leaves or are there more nutrients in the older leaves?
Oh, people will have different opinions on this. I think there may be an advantage in a tortoise being more likely to go for young leaves of plants that may develop a bitter or strong taste as they age and thus might not get eaten. This advantage *might* be lost if older shoots/leaves develop more fiber. Ultimately only you can decide what is best for your tortoise. I feed adult leaves but my outside tortoise never gets hungry enough to eat really old stuff, she eats the yard instead. :/. YMMV
 

jsheffield

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A mix of dried plants and flowers I use to top meals for my torts: wakame seaweed, hibiscus flowers, rosebuds, moringa leaves, nettle leaves, and raspberry leaves.

In the summer my torts love mowing fresh foods from my lawn, but in the winter over found it's easier to supplement the greens I use with dried stuff I order online.

Jamie
 

JoeWells

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Oh, people will have different opinions on this. I think there may be an advantage in a tortoise being more likely to go for young leaves of plants that may develop a bitter or strong taste as they age and thus might not get eaten. This advantage *might* be lost if older shoots/leaves develop more fiber. Ultimately only you can decide what is best for your tortoise. I feed adult leaves but my outside tortoise never gets hungry enough to eat really old stuff, she eats the yard instead. :/. YMMV
I guess a good way for me to go is when I introduce something to her I should try the older shoots first. If she doesn’t take to them then try the younger ones and go from there. Your a trove of information, thanks again
 

JoeWells

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View attachment 286663

A mix of dried plants and flowers I use to top meals for my torts: wakame seaweed, hibiscus flowers, rosebuds, moringa leaves, nettle leaves, and raspberry leaves.

In the summer my torts love mowing fresh foods from my lawn, but in the winter over found it's easier to supplement the greens I use with dried stuff I order online.

Jamie
That looks like fiber wonderland Jamie! Here in central CA we fortunately have plants year around so I’m going to see if I can rustle up a few of those options. Does your tort like the dry stuff?
 

Randy Micheals

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Whoops sorry didnt mean to hijack the thread ?, meant to say that not all seed mixes come as advertised, some are mystery mixes, just to be aware. Just got plant snap, this is going to be fun! Thanks!
 

RosemaryDW

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I agree with rosemary, you’ll get a lot more info from people starting a new thread. But while I have you here, I downloaded an app on my phone called plant snap. You take a picture of the plant and it gives you a few options of what they could be. I then cross reference them with the tortoise table to see if they’re ok for my tort. It’s really fun. HOWEVER, it can sometimes be wrong, so don’t take every suggestion as what it shows. Be a 100% sure before feeding as to not poison your little friend. It keeps me busy and my torts diet is expanding. 99% of the time someone on here will be able to identify if you can’t figure it out, so good luck and have fun!
Lots of Plant Snap users on the forum!
 

JoeWells

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Hey @JoeWells how's your new Tort doing?
Shellvis is doing absolutely amazing Todd. Thanks for asking. Such a personality on this little tort. It’s super funny, when I reach into the inclosure and touch the food she rushes over and stands on top of the pile of greens to protect it. Such a sassy little thing. When I put my finger in out in front of her face she immediately tries to bite it. Not sure if it’s because she thinks it’s food or just being territorial. She loves her soaks. Picky about food with calcium powder on it. I have to dip a piece of escarole in the powder (escarole is her favorite) a couple times a week in order for her to eat any. Again, I think she’s territorial about her food and she’s more prone to eat out of my hand cause she doesn’t like me controlling anything in her world. She’s bringing such joy to my daughter and myself, especially during these bazaar times. I’ll never forget our chats back and forth about initial care. You helped me out TONS in the beginning and just want to thank you again for all the great advice. The whole community has been absolutely amazing. Hope everyone is doing as good as can be expected and staying safe

Oh! And I started growing a bunch of my own tort food in the back yard. Never thought I’d be a botanist but it’s all coming in great!
 

Toddrickfl1

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Shellvis is doing absolutely amazing Todd. Thanks for asking. Such a personality on this little tort. It’s super funny, when I reach into the inclosure and touch the food she rushes over and stands on top of the pile of greens to protect it. Such a sassy little thing. When I put my finger in out in front of her face she immediately tries to bite it. Not sure if it’s because she thinks it’s food or just being territorial. She loves her soaks. Picky about food with calcium powder on it. I have to dip a piece of escarole in the powder (escarole is her favorite) a couple times a week in order for her to eat any. Again, I think she’s territorial about her food and she’s more prone to eat out of my hand cause she doesn’t like me controlling anything in her world. She’s bringing such joy to my daughter and myself, especially during these bazaar times. I’ll never forget our chats back and forth about initial care. You helped me out TONS in the beginning and just want to thank you again for all the great advice. The whole community has been absolutely amazing. Hope everyone is doing as good as can be expected and staying safe

Oh! And I started growing a bunch of my own tort food in the back yard. Never thought I’d be a botanist but it’s all coming in great!
Awesome, that's good to hear. I'm glad I could help and that you and your daughter are enjoying her. They all do have their own little personalities. It can be funny sometimes.

Thanks for the compliment on the pond. It's still a work in progress. It was something I planned with my dad but lost him back in 2018. So it's kind of like a memorial pond. A lot of the plants and decor I used came from his place.
 

JoeWells

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Awesome, that's good to hear. I'm glad I could help and that you and your daughter are enjoying her. They all do have their own little personalities. It can be funny sometimes.

Thanks for the compliment on the pond. It's still a work in progress. It was something I planned with my dad but lost him back in 2018. So it's kind of like a memorial pond. A lot of the plants and decor I used came from his place.
That’s awesome man. I’m sure he would be super proud of the way it came out. It must have took so much work and planning. It’s really good to see a great vision come to life. It’s a great way to honor his life. I hope I can start a project of that magnitude some day down the road......way down the road haha
 

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