What all can desert tortious eat? And can they eat parsley?

Question

Can I plz have a list of foods or a website! Thanks!!!

Answer 1

what is a tortious?  if i knew what that was, i might be able to help-but i never heard of a tortious before.

Answer 2

here is a site that has the diet of a dessert tortoise, http://www.anapsid.org/tortdiet.html, it breaks it down so you can see what foods should be fed mainly and what should be fed occasionally, you can feed parsley as a treat but it should not be fed regularly as it does stop the tortoise absorbing calcium but if you feed a good calcium supplement or grate a cuttle fish bone over your tortoises food it is OK as a treat for your tortoise,

Answer 3

they can eat garbage cans

Answer 4

Don't feed them too much pellet food as it can be dangerous. Stick to a diet of anything other than iceberg lettuce and too  much spinach.

Tortoises especially love Lamb's lettuce and dandelion leaves and flowers. Oh, and don't feed the animal parsley, or any other herbs

Answer 5

A desert tortoise diet is comprised mainly of safe grasses and weeds, leafy greens, with small amounts of hard vegetables and moist fruits.

Grasses and Weeds

Foraging Mix

Alfalfa hay or pellets

Bermuda grass

Fresh clover

Clover hay

Rye grass

Rice grass

Mallow

Sowthistle

Cabbage**

Chard**

Collards

Dandelion greens and flowers

Endive

Grape leaves

Kale**

Mustard greens

Parsley*

Spinach*

Turnip greens

Watercress

* These are high in calcium oxalates that may bind calcium causing metabolic bone disease, and may cause visceral gout (mineralization/crystallization of the soft tissues and internal organs). Feed sparingly.

** These are high in goitrogens, which impair thyroid function when fed in excess. Feed sparingly.

Don't feed the list below at all as they have little or no nutrition:

Iceberg lettuce

Boston lettuce

Romaine lettuce

Red- and Green-leaf lettuce

Answer 6

carrots and fruit are good.

Answer 7

Well-I`ve seen some that eat out of human garbage cans....

Answer 8

No i would not feed parsley, it has the same problem as spinach, chard,  and flowering kale in the fact that it can prevent the uptake of calcium into the bloodstream from the oxalate's in these greens. I actually would stay away from all herbs and stick with mustard greens, turnip greens, and dandelion greens. I would stay away from leaf lettuce, romaine lettuce, and iceberg (actually can cause diarrhea) because they have little to no nutritional value. You can also give fruits and things like green beans and peas. Also give at least twice a week a vitamin and calcium supplement with no phosphorous. I like the rep-cal brand because the vitamin in very complete, and it is a separate from the calcium (they need more calcium than vitamins). I would stay away from boxed food because they are have a lot of preservatives and are not the best diets form your turtles.  This is a great salad recipe, very complete and safe http://www.anapsid.org/iguana/igdiet.htm... .

Answer 9

If it's a desert tortoise as in native to the Western U.S., you shouldn't be feeding it ANYTHING, it's an endangered species and needs to be put back where you found it and left alone. Also, they can live to be 80 -100 years old, who gets him when you die?

Do a bit of research on diet yourself and if you go to the simplest research site in the world, wikipedia you're learn that: Desert tortoise populations in some areas have declined by as much as 90% since the 1980s and the Mojave population is listed as threatened. It is unlawful to touch, harm, harass or collect wild desert tortoises. It is, however, possible to adopt captive tortoises through the Tortoise Adoption Program (TAP) in Arizona, or through the Bureau of Land Management in Nevada. When adopted in Nevada, they will have a computer chip embedded on their back for reference. Under Arizona law, one tortoise per family member may be possessed if the tortoises are obtained from a captive source which is properly documented. Captive sources include urban foundlings, unwanted captives, and their progeny.

And I can't see a qualified "captive source" or the state of Arizona or any other legal source allowing you to keep them without having a bit of dietary information first, so I HAVE to assume that you went out and caught this tortoise that you are now asking if it can eat parsely... if so, let it go and go about getting one in a legal fashion.