What I Fed My Tortoise Today...

[Tom]

I thought it would be fun to have a thread where people can post what their tortoise(s) get fed each day. So many members ask for feeding advice and ideas that I thought we could link this thread as an example of what to feed. I've gotten new ideas and inspiration from so many other tortoise keepers, so I'd like to share what I've learned over the years and also get some new ideas for myself.

Most days I just feed one item, like mulberry leaves or opuntia pads. Today I mixed up all kinds of different stuff. I use a 5 gallon bucket, pile everything in there and mix it all up. I started with a head of endive and two bunches of cilantro. Then I mixed in some freshly sprouted grass collected from my pots. Got some hollyhock leaves, thistle, marigold leaves and flowers, a couple of handfuls of dried moringa leaves from @Kapidolo Farms , some soaked Timothy hay horse pellets, some fresh cut Bermuda grass, and then I topped it all off with a garnish of lavatera and hollyhock flowers.


This food was fed to my stars, radiata, chersina and all the babies in the reptile room:


It would take 3 full buckets like that to feed the sulcatas and leopards, so they got three buckets of opuntia pads instead. Here is the pile next to one of the sulcata houses. The big sulcatas and SA leopards always have grass hay available too..


Here is Gargantua looking huge and eating from his pile:



The leopards are on the other side of the ranch. I didn't get a picture of their cactus pad pile, but you get the idea.

What did YOU feed your tortoise(s) today?

 

[Skip K]

Redfoots and leopard....spring mix, collard and mashed Zoomed mixed together with hibiscus flowers on top...with the leopard grazing on grass as well.
Baby Sulcatas...pretty much the same.
I rarely feed only one item

 

[KarenSoCal]

I always mix at least 5 or 6 items together for Sulafat, my Burmese Star. Today he got his staples, endive/escarole, and radicchio, which he gets every day. Added in was dandelion, cilantro, mulberry leaves, opuntia, and a mushy Mazuri pellet.

 

[Toddrickfl1]

This morning I fed hibiscus flowers and leaves, mushrooms, dried mulberry, moringa, raspberry, and mashed Mazuri.

 

[turtlesteve]

Wild lettuce, romaine lettuce from the garden, hibiscus, zucchini leaves, grass, and mulberry (not shown).

 

[Chubbs the tegu]

Grass, plantain, wild violets, dandelion greens and flowers and a lil kale today

 

[Chubbs the tegu]

Then he just nibbles around outside all day

 

[Lokkje]

I do a mix of various dried plants and shove a few hibiscus flowers in it once a week. I get the plants from Will and the desert tortoises love it. It looks like a big pile of mud that they’re eating and I’ve had people who’ve come over ask me why I’m feeding them piles of mud. My little leopard gets it daily but the deserts only get it on Saturday. Usually Tiny Tim the male hangs out only with 5 1/2 or zigzag my females and they don’t usually eat together which is why I only feed them this once a week. Otherwise, there’s plenty outside for them to eat that I grow and the two females are very competitive with one another and zigzag pushes 5 1/2 off.

 

[wellington]

All mine eat whatever they find to graze on. Weeds, grass and any flowers they find coming up. A few times a week I feed mazuri and some romaine or spring mix just too mix it up a bit. Mostly grazing in the summer.

 

[Tom]

Today was a little simpler. I finished up the remainder of my cilantro and endive, mixed in some soaked ZooMed Gourmet Tortoise pellets, and a couple of handfuls of herbal tortoise hay from Tortoisesupply.com.

 

[Blackdog1714]

I was bad-left the house in a fog on the way to work. The Kapidola food chunks with vitamin supplement were soaking on the counter in the kitchen. Wife texted me later that I also left my lunch on the counter. ??! THe wife couldn't help me with my luch,but the tortoises got fed!

 

[Maro2Bear]

Sooooo, wifey went shopping to our local International Market this morning. I had my order in early & our Sully gets extra treats on marker day.

I cleaned up Sullys “feeding tray” and topped it up with freshly mown weeds & grass. Then a few cactus pads & some cactus fruit (aka tuna). We normally get a few bundles of cheap dandelion greens from the Market, but prices are now sky high. Instead, we bought a few bundles of “Yu Choy” (A) Tossed in a few Yu Choy leaves. Also picked up half of a Calabasa pumpkin (B). (Pix). A few slices of pumpkin out for Sully along with the pumpkin innards & seeds. A few hibiscus flowers, some cubes of zucchini, freshly picked grape leaves. And, a few fresh corn husks. All topped with a sprinkle or three of freshly mown Maryland grass/weeds/plantains/dandelions/clover.


Notes
(A) Chinese Greens, or Yu Choy, looks a lot like the Chinese Broccoli (Gai Lan), except that the Yu Choy stalks are skinnier and the flowers are yellow (Gai Lan has white flowers). This vegetable is tender, the taste of the leaves are very much like spinach leaves, even though it is part of the mustard family.

(B) Calabaza is one of the generic names in Spanish for hard squashes (Cucurbita spp.). These represent multiple species of cucurbita; however, the most common species is C. moschata, which is the same genus and species as butternut squash and many other hard squashes grown in New England.

 

[MichaelL]

I thought it would be fun to have a thread where people can post what their tortoise(s) get fed each day. So many members ask for feeding advice and ideas that I thought we could link this thread as an example of what to feed. I've gotten new ideas and inspiration from so many other tortoise keepers, so I'd like to share what I've learned over the years and also get some new ideas for myself.

Most days I just feed one item, like mulberry leaves or opuntia pads. Today I mixed up all kinds of different stuff. I use a 5 gallon bucket, pile everything in there and mix it all up. I started with a head of endive and two bunches of cilantro. Then I mixed in some freshly sprouted grass collected from my pots. Got some hollyhock leaves, thistle, marigold leaves and flowers, a couple of handfuls of dried moringa leaves from @Kapidolo Farms , some soaked Timothy hay horse pellets, some fresh cut Bermuda grass, and then I topped it all off with a garnish of lavatera and hollyhock flowers.
View attachment 300303

This food was fed to my stars, radiata, chersina and all the babies in the reptile room:
View attachment 300305

It would take 3 full buckets like that to feed the sulcatas and leopards, so they got three buckets of opuntia pads instead. Here is the pile next to one of the sulcata houses. The big sulcatas and SA leopards always have grass hay available too.View attachment 300306.


Here is Gargantua looking huge and eating from his pile:
View attachment 300307


The leopards are on the other side of the ranch. I didn't get a picture of their cactus pad pile, but you get the idea.

What did YOU feed your tortoise(s) today?

Love it! There's something satisfying about making a tortoise's lunch and watching it fill up on healthy greens? I'm sure you've heard my list of foods in another thread, but I'll say it again just for others too Also, you're tortoises look great, love the non pyramided shells.

So I have fed clover, hibiscus, narrowleaf plantain, sowthistle, rose, hawksbit, dandelion, mulberry leaves, collards, romaine, boston fern, mimosa, horseherb, and probably others I can't think of off the top of my head. I feed most of those in one meal every once in a while when I feel like making it fancy. Usually though I just give one or two at once. Usually it is mulberry leaves, rose leaves, hawksbit, mimosa, or collards because those are the most abundant. (I grow collards, and the others are right near the tortoise pen) But yeah, they are growing great with the variety of foods and outdoor, sunny environment. Large variety of healthy foods + Sun = Healthy tortoise.

Enjoy some pics of the torts eating.?

 

[ComeNT8kIt]

Well apparently we’re not that exciting. My Hermann’s got a little mazuri topped with hibiscus leaves, prickly pear cactus pad and a little bell pepper

 

[deedle]

This was very interesting and helpful! Thanks!

 

[Cozmo88]

This morning I fed hibiscus flowers and leaves, mushrooms, dried mulberry, moringa, raspberry, and mashed Mazuri.View attachment 300317

I’ve been hearing about this Mazuri. Where can one get some? I have a Russian tortoise. Is it good for them?

 

[Cozmo88]

This is from yesterday, as I didn’t take a picture this morning. He got some endive, green dandelions, some spring mix, And I went outside to pick some plantain leaves from my yard as well as a few clovers, sprinkled with some dried mulberry and dried rose flowers on top. (The dried mulberry and rose flowers are from Kapidolo Farms)

 

[Maggie3fan]

This morning my 2 Sulcata got Rose of Sharon flowers and leafs, grape leafs, carrots, zucchini, and sweet potatoes, they also have free feed hay in the tort shed. It's gonna be 90 today. That is so rare.
Knobby and grape leafs

 

[Tom]

Everybody got opuntia today:

 

[Maro2Bear]

I’ve been hearing about this Mazuri. Where can one get some? I have a Russian tortoise. Is it good for them?

Depends how much you want to purchase, smaller amounts are easily located. But here’s the main web sute

Mazuri | Mazuri® Exotic Animal Nutrition

Mazuri

www.mazuri.com

Regular ➡️➡️ https://www.mazuri.com/mazuri/reptile/tortoise/tortoise-diet-25lb

Some torts don’t like the new & improved, some do. New stuff ➡️ http://www.chewy.com/mazuri-tortoise-diet-ls-food/dp/124765