I would like to grow my tortoise a tray of tasty treats?

Question

i want to make my tortoise a horsfield a tray of different flowers asi havegrass and weeds out back which flowers are good plz i know a few is milk thistle good i think it is ??

Answer 1

Greens like collards, mustard, dandelion, leaf (not head) lettuce and weeds/edible flowers are the best foods for your tortoise. The other things that you're feeding are too high in protein and can cause shell overgrowth (pyramiding)

If you'd like to give treats carrots and apple are okay occasionally but too much can cause a parasite bloom.

I grow trays of wheat/oat and barley grass (sold as "cat grass" in the petstore) for my russian and he loves to mow them  =)

Check out the diet sheet

http://www.russiantortoise.org/russianto...

and edible plant list for other options

http://www.russiantortoise.org/edible_pl...

Answer 2

The foods you list as 'treats' should be the main diet. The other stuff you listed (broccoli, etc.) should only be given rarely.

Try http://www.russiantortoise.org for a list of good foods.

Answer 3

i grow trays of grass which mine love to not only eat but bask on i also grow clovers and dandelions but they should be part of the natural weed diet anyway, you could grow some flowers such as nostrums, pansy or get a prickly pear as tortoises love the de-spined pads of of them and the fruit, you can also feed rose petals , petunia, mallows  honey suckle and the Californian poppy