Is this a reliable list?

[Elsa_the_Hermanns]

Hey, gang! I came across this list while researching what plants are safe for my girl. It's a pretty long list and clearly shows which plants are safe vs. not safe. Just curious if some of the more experienced and knowledgeable members could take a look and see if they agree? Thanks!

https://www.thetortoisetable.org.uk/plant-database/viewplants/a-z/?l=al#.XWq8EChKjIX

 

[Blackdog1714]

It is very good although some of the forum members also advocate that foods high in oxalates are allowable in a vaired diet. IE Kale, spinach and such. Enjoy summer for all the weeds and flowers. Tortoise Supply has awesome seed mixes if you want to grow and most Asian and Mexican markets sell opuntia cactus year round.

 

[RosemaryDW]

It’s a good place to start. It’s useful to note that this database was built and maintained in the UK and thus will not always have information on things growing in North America.

It is also extremely conservative. Some owners—myself included—find that the concerns can be based on data that isn’t tortoise specific. This is often because there just isn’t much tortoise research out there. So some of what they are warning about are foods that aren’t good for mammals but we don’t absolutely know for tortoises.

As Blackdog mentioned, some of us feed foods that are strong “No’s” or “Rarely” on the lists. I don’t worry about much of anything because I am able to provide my tortoise with an extremely varied diet, on top of some of my questions about the science. I’m not going to overfeed anything that’s “bad.”

At the end of the day, only you can decide what you’re comfortable feeding. There is no need to feed anything you’re not sure of and there is no reason for a new owner to think they need to figure out all of this in a month. If you want to stick to this database, your tortoise will be just fine.

 

[SPILL]

I agree with the others about not always being correct about the "Do not feed", but at the same time I can't recall ever seeing a plant listed as "Safe" that wasn't.