Weeds

[THEADEMARCO]

I got my tortoise last week and so far he's been fed on store bought food and a couple flowers,but i think i need to start foraging for weeds! Its october so obviously not the bet time of year but I still want to try. I'm just COMPLETELY unsure of where to go and what to look for. Any advice?

 

[SuzanneZ]

Are you north, south, east or west?

 

[THEADEMARCO]

I live in England

 

[SuzanneZ]

That's very much to my east. Across the Atlantic to my east. I asked to see if I knew any tortoise weeds in your climate. I do not. However your climate is almost as humid as mine. You might have wild turnips and mustard most of the year.

A good librarian can help with locating weed references. Be a little wary of Internet info, except on this forum.


I am a novice tortoise keeper, but I've raised other weed-loving animals.

 

[Alex and the Redfoot]

I got my tortoise last week and so far he's been fed on store bought food and a couple flowers,but i think i need to start foraging for weeds! Its october so obviously not the bet time of year but I still want to try. I'm just COMPLETELY unsure of where to go and what to look for. Any advice?

Just some general ideas:
1. Perhaps you can search similar topics in Plant identification section of the forum. There are many members from UK here and they asked similar questions.
2. You can look at TortoiseTable web site or smartphone application, select some weed and flowers which marked safe to eat, then refine the list to get plants native to UK (or at least those you've heard about). Then look around your garden, neighbours garden or just outside if you see something similar. TortoiseTable is an UK website, they might have a list of edible plants available in UK - take a look there, I'm not sure.
3. Just roam around with any plant identification app and take photos. Then check your findings against TortoiseTable and when in doubt - make a post in corresponding forum section.
4. Get tortoise seed mix and grow your own. Some plants require some soil and water and then grow fast on their own - e.g. wheat grass.

 

[THEADEMARCO]

Thanks all, I will go to a park and start looking around with the plant ID app. As for the tortoise seed mix, could anyone recommend a good one and where to get it?

 

[Alex and the Redfoot]

You can try to order some from ShelledWarriors.co.uk (I'm not sure if they still in business, forum section looks abandoned). Tortoisehut.co.uk also have one mix.
Mix contents is more or less similar.

Another option to enrich diet could be using dryied plants and flowers supplements (Arcadia ProEarth as an example). And I wonder if @Kapidolo Farms do international shipping...

 

[RosemaryDW]

You can try to order some from ShelledWarriors.co.uk (I'm not sure if they still in business, forum section looks abandoned). Tortoisehut.co.uk also have one mix.
Mix contents is more or less similar.

Another option to enrich diet could be using dryied plants and flowers supplements (Arcadia ProEarth as an example). And I wonder if @Kapidolo Farms do international shipping...

Adding to the comments above I think for Shelled Warriors the best thing to do is call if you see something interesting.They do change stock on their website from time to time so something is happening! The shop itself is not on theIr man page, it's here: https://www.shelledwarriorsshop.co....flowers-5g-7000-seeds---free-post-3373-p.asp/ You don't have to grow your own food; it is perfectly acceptable to supplement with a pellet food, particularly in cold climates. We often mention Mazuri, which is sold as Natrazu there. You can also purchase a tortoise mix not available to us in the U.S. that always looks good to me: the Pre Alpin brand. The Tortoise Hut sells several types and a pack of dried foods where you can sample several types of pellet foods and dry plants *and* a book on commonly found foods. Dang they even overnight bags of fresh weeds if you really feel that's the best choice; I've never seen that before.

Sometimes new users get stuck on the idea that weeds are the only "good" option and that's not correct. What you should aim for is variety, which may or may not be comprised of weeds. If you take a look at the first page of the Tortoise Table or the book mentioned above it has lists for all kinds of common plants you may find in the gardens around you, not just weeds (although they mention those as well). Being in London I think you also have ethnic markets around you, which usually offer other things you wouldn't find in Aldi's or Tesco; you can search for those plant names on this forum. Even at Tesco you should be able to find a bag of Crispy Florets original recipe, which is entirely comprised of the "better" lettuces we often mention here. Rocket, cress and mache are good leafy plants to try. A slice of courgette or aubergine, a chunk of cucumber, a slice of butternut or other hard squash, the occasional mushroom; a small bit of carrot, a lady finger or two; these are all good foods to sprinkle in. I usually offer one of these things to my Russian once a week; others do it more often.

I find the science on the Tortoise Table a little suspect so like mentioned above I often do a search for the plant name here. If I find comments from a long time owner or a breeder I take them seriously. You never have to feed a food you aren't comfortable with but it's nice to have the feedback.

If you go to a park you want to be sure it isn't sprayed with pesticides. Much of the U.K. is damp and green which means things grow like crazy so you may need to worry less about this than we do here, where manicured areas almost always mean pesticides. Although it's very dry where I'm from, here is a thread that may help you identify areas that don't have any: https://tortoiseforum.org/threads/t...ng-if-your-weeds-are-safe-photo-heavy.153035/.

I have a couple of plant apps and to be honest they aren't that useful, at least where I live. I am now in the habit of using the "info" option available on newer iPhones. When you take a good picture you should see a kind of star icon at the top; click on it and it will ask if you want to look up the plant. It's very accurate for me and I wouldn't be surprised in Android phones have something similar. If you don't see the star either the phone is too old or your picture isn't clear enough. The screen will look like this:



And when I look it up it's entirely accurate in identifying this spiny sow thistle, even though multiple thistles grow commonly in the U.K.

If your tortoise has been only lettuce for a while it may have a hard time adjusting to new foods; keep rotating in bits of different things and eventually he'll take a bite; particularly with pellet food.

Just keep your mind open and you will find plenty of foods around you. Good luck!

 

[Alex and the Redfoot]

@RosemaryDW Wow! I saved this post to bookmarks, even that I'm not in UK Thank you!

Talking about Android phones, yes, many have Google Lens built-in app. But to be honest, sometimes it struggles to tell fir branch from dill bunch...

 

[RosemaryDW]

Talking about Android phones, yes, many have Google Lens built-in app. But to be honest, sometimes it struggles to tell fir branch from dill bunch...

Lol.

The Tortoise Table is very U.K. specific so I don't think you'll be able to match up that many plants from your area. But if you are trying to figure out plants from a Mediterranean climate we'll do okay on this site.

 

[AnnieApple]

I got my tortoise last week and so far he's been fed on store bought food and a couple flowers,but i think i need to start foraging for weeds! Its october so obviously not the bet time of year but I still want to try. I'm just COMPLETELY unsure of where to go and what to look for. Any advice?

Some easy to find weeds that my tortoise likes are dandelions, narrow and broad leaf plantains and clover.
Other plants that I grow in the garden for her are hollyhocks, violets, snapdragons, coleus, geranium, pansies and marigold, she likes the leaves and the flowers.
I live in the north of England and there are still plenty of weeds about

 

[THEADEMARCO]

Thank you. I actually just got back from foraging for weeds for the first time. I found a bunch of plantain and hawkbit. No dandelions but I think that was because I was in a more abandoned area. I am planning on planting some flowers for him now

 

[tortoise Resort]

I got my tortoise last week and so far he's been fed on store bought food and a couple flowers,but i think i need to start foraging for weeds! Its october so obviously not the bet time of year but I still want to try. I'm just COMPLETELY unsure of where to go and what to look for. Any advice?

I have for you a good application (tortoise table) available in play store:
This application gives you information about all plants, whether they are inedible for your tortoise or not