Horsefield tortoises there diet?

Question

i have 2 horsefield tortoises they are only little i have noticed they have started walking over each other and it looks like one is getting jelous of the other. i am sure they have enough room in there home?

i have also noticed when the tortoises are out roaming my living room they are going to eat stuff like paper and the seal off my window????? i feed them lettues and tomates and crest stuff like that but am i missing something out? they also have tortoise food watered down a few times a week.

thanks in advance!

Answer 1

Russian tortoises need to be fed a balanced diet of fresh green leaves and a weed fodder diet here is a list of the weed diet Dandelion (Taraxacum officianale)

Hawkbits (Leontodon spp.)

Sowthistles (Sonchus spp.)

Hawkweeds (Pictis spp.)

Hawkbeards (Crepis spp.)

Plantains (Plantago spp.)

Clovers (Trifolium spp.)

Honeysuckle (Lonicera periclymenum) [preferred by T. hermanni]

Cat's ears (Hypochoeris spp.)

Vetches (Vicina spp.)

Trefoils (Lotus spp.)

Mallows (Malva spp.)

Bindweeds (Calystegia spp.)

Sedums (Sedum spp.)

Ivy-leaved Toadflax (Cymbalaria muralis)

Also (observed eaten by T. hermanni and T. marginata in Greece):

Robinia (pseudo-acacia) leaves

Wild clematis

Acanthus

Nettles

you can also feed some lettuce (not iceberg) cucumber, greens a small amount of broccoli and cauliflower (it binds calcium so not too much),  i feed mine a treat of a fruit salad once a month (melon, apple, grapes,pear and strawberries) but only as a treat, i get tortoise weed seed off hte internet and grow my own weed but most of it you can find in your garden so it won't cost you anything and is better for your tortoise, to be quite honest the tortoise pellets are not that good for a tortoise they can contain too much protien and are more suited to ta tortoise that eats protien such as the red footed tortoise, here is a site on russian tortoises that is good  http://russiantortoise.org/ another good site is this  http://www.tortoisetrust.org/  it has lots of good articles on tortoise keeping, you also need to be feeding a good calcium supplement for the healthy growth of the shell. as for space a russian does like quite a bit of room to wander about, a pen about 4ft by 4ft would give them plenty of space to roam in, best of luck honey to you and your tortoise

Answer 2

Hi, check out the edible plant and diet sheet at this website.

http://www.russiantortoise.org/care_shee...

It's the best on the web for Horsfield (Russian) tortoise care.

  Russians require quite a bit of space for such tiny tortoises.

The minimum housing requirement for one tort is 4ft by 2ft and bigger is always better.