Safe vines

[mini_max]

There is a spot in my outdoor enclosure begging for a climbing vine. Do any avid tortoise gardeners know of a safe variety?

 

[Yvonne G]

grape vine!!!!!

 

[Len B]

Boston Ivy does good in cold regions, and it is beautiful in the fall with it's bright red leaves.

 

[Tom]

I like the grape vines too. The leaves are great tortoise food.

 

[Tidgy's Dad]

Grape vines sound good to me.
Healthy food for torts.
Grapes or vino for you.

 

[ShellyII]

I thought Boston ivy was not edible for torts

 

[Tidgy's Dad]

No experience, but http://www.thetortoisetable.org.uk/site/plants_19.asp?st=true&mode=main&catID=343
says no. High in oxalates and may cause dermatitis.

 

[mini_max]

Is honeysuckle ok? I'm reading some conflicting info on them. Much as I'd like them, grape vines aren't going to like living in zone 3

 

[Cowboy_Ken]

Trumpet vine? No to seeds I think.

 

[kathyth]

Grape vine
Snail vine.

 

[Len B]

Is honeysuckle ok? I'm reading some conflicting info on them. Much as I'd like them, grape vines aren't going to like living in zone 3

We are talking about an enclosure for a Russian tortoise arn't we ? I have a group of wild caught imports that I have accumulated over the last 3+ years. I offer them wild (MD and VA) honeysuckle, they eat the leaves and the blooms, they also eat some wild grape leaves, Virginia Creeper and the "Don't Feed" Boston Ivy. If this was all they were offered to eat it would not be good or safe for them. They do not always eat any or all of the vines, I do not mix their food offerings together so they can pick what they want, and I can see what they prefer. Another plant they like is buttercup, and I believe that is also on the do not feed list. These are seasonal and only offered in an outside enclosure with other foods available at all times. I would expect that tortoises come across plants that are not the best for them throughout their lives, and a russians diet in the wild is still not completely known. There have been quite a few plants offered that they wanted no parts of. The favorites are sedums, opuntia, just about any type of bloom, and original formula mazuri. From my experience russian tortoises, like the manouria, eat things other tortoises shouldn't, and we are just not completely sure what is good for them.

 

[Cowboy_Ken]

I agree with what Turtulas-Len has to say here. In my outdoor enclosure for my Russians I've got a wide variety of plants that grow wild. From dandelion and plantains and clover, to wild buttercup and wild daisy. The last two are known to contain toxins that should not be feed deliberately to tortoises yet my Russians will sometimes munch on both. I believe it was Tom that presented a paper indicating that in the real world, wild Russian tortoises do indeed consume daisy and it was postulated that this may have been as a possible self induced wormer as it were.