The Tortoise Chef

jsheffield

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What purpose does the pumpkin powder serve? Also are you really telling me your Russians eat seaweed?!!
Pumpkin seed powder is an anti-parasitic that I add occasionally.

I feed a tiny bit of wakame once in a while with the idea of adding some micronutrients, notably iodine.

I feed for variety....

J
 

RosemaryDW

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I need to get in the habit of hanging on to all the food I buy; sometimes I dispose of half of the huge bundles we get of the farmers market when we get home but I realize now she’ll usually eat most of it. This week I saved it all.

We were late to the market so it was one of those times when you couldn’t take a leasurely stroll to see what was available; we made purchases of whatever was available at several markets, only to find out the last one we could have purchased many of the same things at once. Oh well. At any rate we brought home a big bag: sourleaf, moringa, ong choy, beautiful sow thistle ($6 per organic pound, hilarious), jute mallow. One vendor gave us a tiny lemon cucumber which indeed looks like a lemon when you cut it and smells slightly of citrus; took her a minute but she got into it pretty fast after that. One green bean for protein. Not pictured is a piece of a green onion top, not okay on the Tortoise Table blah blah blah. She LOVED it and ate it before anything else, weird. She likes her occasional bit of chives or green onions but not like this.

E5B6D703-CA16-4169-B4D2-AAC14A945871.jpeg
 

Yvonne G

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I need to get in the habit of hanging on to all the food I buy; sometimes I dispose of half of the huge bundles we get of the farmers market when we get home but I realize now she’ll usually eat most of it. This week I saved it all.

We were late to the market so it was one of those times when you couldn’t take a leasurely stroll to see what was available; we made purchases of whatever was available at several markets, only to find out the last one we could have purchased many of the same things at once. Oh well. At any rate we brought home a big bag: sourleaf, moringa, ong choy, beautiful sow thistle ($6 per organic pound, hilarious), jute mallow. One vendor gave us a tiny lemon cucumber which indeed looks like a lemon when you cut it and smells slightly of citrus; took her a minute but she got into it pretty fast after that. One green bean for protein. Not pictured is a piece of a green onion top, not okay on the Tortoise Table blah blah blah. She LOVED it and ate it before anything else, weird. She likes her occasional bit of chives or green onions but not like this.

View attachment 329060
You're so lucky to have a market close by that sells these sort of food items.
 

RosemaryDW

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You're so lucky to have a market close by that sells these sort of food items.
One hundred percent. I’ve had to learn to ask questions and look things up to figure out some plant names in different languages but that’s it.

At this point if someone asks me how to use something in a human recipe I know the answer!
 

ArmadilloPup

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Fresh Repashy muffins. Mmmmm

Is it just the powder or do you mix it? This reminds me of "herbivore biscuits" for my guinea pig using Emeraid/Critical Care and pumpkin (he has a form of osteoperosis so his teeth are always falling out and I have to get creative making soft foods)
 

Tim Carlisle

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Is it just the powder or do you mix it? This reminds me of "herbivore biscuits" for my guinea pig using Emeraid/Critical Care and pumpkin (he has a form of osteoperosis so his teeth are always falling out and I have to get creative making soft foods)
Just mix with hot water and refrigerate.
 

jsheffield

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Mixed greens for all of the torts today... I chop the greens and dust them with opuntia flour and powdered hibiscus blooms and wakame seaweed to enhance the vitamin and mineral content.

The crunching in my office right now is nearly deafening....

Jamie
 

RosemaryDW

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I am more or less able to contain myself at the market now. Sourleaf; sow thistle; methi which she will occasionally deign to eat; what I think is jute mallow; one green bean; a tiny lemon cucumber a vendor gave me. Not pictured: wild island snapdragon; some yellow bells (tacoma stans) leaves and tons of its fallen flowers.

I just learned this snapdragon is in the plantain family! I’ve always been a little bummed we don’t have any common mallow around here but it turns out she’s had a fancier variety all this time. :)

Jute mallow was of no interest once she found the sourleaf; it’s interesting how she was not interested in this plant for years and now she’ll eat it even if it’s dried up in the heat. Particularly as she normally loves the other mallow.

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RosemaryDW

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Finally! Spring is here, or close enough. Addy came out of her fridge last night and is currently resting after a long soak.

I was traveling for a month and came home to a yard with no weeds! Drought and climate change. :/ So I can't take a risk of her self feeding so soon without also losing "real" plants.

There are some weeds at least in our open area so there is the usual black mustard, mallow, and bristly ox-tongue. I didn't get a lot of anything, as I doubt she'll have much appetite right away.

I ended up getting called into the physical office this week so won't get to watch her wake up. Boo.
 

RosemaryDW

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It was an odd week for feeding. I came home from a work trip without much time to get to the farmers market; just ran in and out. I was excited to buy the squash shown below, thinking they were some kind of weird varietal as they had pointy ends. After exhaustively searching the internet for heirloom summer squashes I finally had to accept they were simply misshapen ones that somehow didn't start off right. The skins were very thick and while I didn't think they were bitter she was not particularly interested: a first for summer squash. I ate the majority of it myself and didn't find it bitter at all. That's a tortoise for you.

I noticed her creeping about the yard in a yarrow patch without eating the yarrow itself, which is one of her favorites. She kept pushing her face through the plant and down to the ground, which was odd. At first I thought she had found some kind of snail (she loves snails) but eventually realized she was eating berries that had dropped off our Toyon bush; a treelike plant that we planted to feed local birds years ago. We don't have enough birds of the right kind to eat every berry and so a ton drop on the ground every year. I was initially worried about the sugar but noticed she is very particular about the ripeness of the ones she chooses so it's not overkill. Yet another plant in the yard that she got interested in much later than we found her: six years!

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I believe she got mostly endive from Trader Joe's until we had our next chance to go the market.
 
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jsheffield

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Breakfast for the omnivorous tortoises:

Fresh greens
Zucchini blossoms
Rosehips
Cucumber
Carrots
2 types of Mazuri (tort & croc)

I picked a bunch more of the greens from the raised bed, and gave some to each of the Russians, as well as another handful to the two omnivores.

Jamie
 

Tim Carlisle

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View attachment 347309
Breakfast for the omnivorous tortoises:

Fresh greens
Zucchini blossoms
Rosehips
Cucumber
Carrots
2 types of Mazuri (tort & croc)

I picked a bunch more of the greens from the raised bed, and gave some to each of the Russians, as well as another handful to the two omnivores.

Jamie
Nice! I've not seen a post made here in quite a while. I'd love to post another delectable dish, but the best yall will get from me this time of year is a tasty yard full of weeds. lol
 

Maggie3fan

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Bell pepper100_0189.JPGRose of Sharon 100_0170.JPGand grape leafs100_0177.JPG
and the easiest tort to feed ever...100_0168.JPG
lol...my way to feed...
 

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