what greens are avalible in uk super markets for tortoises?

[tortlover5m]

hi,
I'm finding it really hard to find greens and lettuces that are suitable for tortoises in the supermarkets. all I can seem to to find red chard and kale and some times romaine. I also give him weeds likes dandelions from the garden, but I like to give him a good variety and I cant seem to find much. I know things like turnip greens, collard greens and mustard greens are good for them, but they are not available in uk supermarkets. can anyone suggest any greens that are good for tortoises that are available in uk supermarkets?

 

[Yvonne G]

http://www.mysupermarket.co.uk/tesc...Cut_Vegetables/Florette_Mixed_Salad_200g.html

 

[Lyn W]

Hi there it is difficult isn't it? When I first joined, a long time leopard tort keeper recommended Florette Classic Crispy salad packs to me just to bulk out the weeds especially over winter when the dandelions and plantains weren't available. These have a mix of 3 salad leaves - lambs lettuce, radicchio and frisee which are grown naturally so no additives etc. which is important. You can buy them in Tesco, Asda, Sainsbury etc. but they aren't cheap at £1.74 a pack but sometimes on offer at £1 a pack. Lidls sells the smaller packs which are cheaper but works out about the same pence per weight. I haven't found out what collard greens are but Spring greens are available in Tesco. I have tried watercress (not salad cress) but my leopard wasn't too keen on this. Pak/Bok choy leaves were ok in small doses but again not a great favourite. I have found that I have had to throw out a lot of stuff.

My tort will only eat grass if he grazes on it himself, so to keep the fibre intake up over winter I followed advice from the forums and blended dried grass (I used Readigrass) to almost a powder, then after soaking the salad leaves with water I sprinkled it on, sprayed it all again and mixed well in.
Thankfully the weeds are coming back and I am able to go back to mainly dandies and plantains and I hope I'll be amore confident in identifying other suitable weeds and flowers as well. When its warmer he'll be out grazing on grass too so the salad stuff won't be such a big part of his diet.

I've also asked people in work who have allotments for things like beetroot and radish greens and vine leaves but have made sure I've checked that they haven't been sprayed or treated with anything.

Anyway hope that helps and happy hunting

 

[FLINTUS]

We have pretty much everything that they in the US use, just under different names. As above, Florette Crispy is good for variety, also rocket, radicchio, endive, kale, and collard greens-which are usually marketed as spring greens in the UK, basically the same thing.

 

[tortlover5m]

thanks,I'm going off to Tesco now .​

 

[Lyn W]

Apparently Florette Classic Crispy is only £1 a bag in ASDA at the mo if you can get there instead but check on their website first - could save yourself 75p!
Oh and Morrisons also sell it - missed that off my list.

Hi Flintus I've not seen endive anywhere on my supermarket tours yet do you know where they sell it?

 

[Lyn W]

I've just googled endive and seems that the frisee in the Classic Crispy is same family, just never seen anything in shops called 'endive'

 

[FLINTUS]

I've just googled endive and seems that the frisee in the Classic Crispy is same family, just never seen anything in shops called 'endive'

You can often find it in some of the nicer mixed salad bags around here, even Morrisons here sometimes have salads with it in.
I don't know about ASDA, but Iceland if there is one near you do bags of Florette Crispy for £1 from what I remember

 

[Lyn W]

Thanks Flintus I'll pop into Iceland next time I'm near one