Okra and Kale

[Shutterbug]

How much okra and Kale is safe to feed? My Sulcata loves both. I pick up about 5 to 8 okra pieces for her a month usually. This month they had a great deal at the store on Okra - about 4lbs of it for $3 so I picked it up. I'm eating some as well, she won't be getting all 4lbs.

Would it be okay to give her 1 to 3 individual okra per day and just don't pick up okra for a month or two?

Also, family came for a quick visit, and they brought some treats for her...a whole grocery store bag of garden fresh Kale, Brussel sprouts, a squash and Zucchini.

Would it do any harm to feed through the Kale and Brussel sprouts at the same time as the Okra, when her diet is otherwise varied?

Hay/grass would still be added to her food.

Shes very well hydrated, still soaked daily, and since the styrofoam incident, her greens have still been getting misted.

She turned 2 August 10th, so between 2 and 3 years old. Smooth shell growth.

 

[Kapidolo Farms]

Okra is a great food, only controversial for people stymied in old dogmatic tortoise food awareness. A good rule of thumb for all foods that a good/proper foods is to keep the contribution under 10 percent. So yeah, about 10 things per meal, it's not so hard.

Kale the same thing.

 

[RosemaryDW]

As mentioned above, okra is a great food item. Not knowing the size of your tortoise I don’t know if ten is the right number! My little Russian would only get a couple. Four pounds is a LOT of okra; seems like it might go bad before it’s all eaten up so you’d better be eating quite a bit yourself. Since your family is growing it you might ask for some stems/leaves; they are a great food as well.

Also as mentioned above, variety is key. Brussels sprouts and kale are from the same plant family so while it’s fine to feed them together you just don’t want to overdo it over time.

Wow, and squashes too! I’d have to eat a ton of that myself to get it all taken care of. I’d ask for some of those leaves as well, see how that goes.

 

[Cathie G]

My little Russian loves okra. I always take the seeds out but I don't know that I would need to. It has so many benefits much like the prickly pear cactus that it's worth using but in small amounts. Like you would with the cactus. My tortoise won't eat the cactus but he does okra. I think zucchini has the mucilage also but not as much.?