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Some people say mustard greens, collard greens, turnip greens, and kale should not be in a tortoise's diet. And some say they should be in the diet. What does everyone think?

You can feed them, just don't make them a huge part of the diet.

>>Some people say mustard greens, collard greens, turnip greens, and kale should not be in a tortoise's diet. And some say they should be in the diet. What does everyone think?
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aquariphiles.com-where I blog about aquarium stuff

It depends some on what tortoise you are feeding.Grazers, of course, eat grass,like Sulcuta.Browsers, such as Manouria,eat like a Deer or Goat.They eat leaves,twigs,shoots,trees.There are many opinions on nutrition.When discussing this with a Nutritionist DVM and Tortoise diet specialist,her answer to these questions were "We are still kind of foggy on this" Some things are well known,for example Kale and the broccolli family.Its the calcium brocking.I have fed my Mt.Torts.Collard greens for 20 years,and their doing fine.Do what your Granny said,"eat ALL your veggy's.Turnips are a very good source of calcium, more so than dusting,BUT,it dryes out fast and they hate it unless I mix it with cooked sweet potatoes.I hope some experts chime in,for over the last 20 yrs a bunch of people have been to Collage,what say you oh learned one.You will know if your doing it right when Nutrition enviroment = reproduction.Vic

sp check/type o. calcium blocking.

Vary the diet. Don't stick with just one type of food. You run a higher risk of an imbalanced diet.

For my russians I will include the items you mentioned along with endive and various dark lettuces. Also cactus leaf, squash, carrot. Rarely a piece of apple.

Along with things I gather from my yard such as dandelion (leaves and flowers), clover (leaves and flowers), henbit, plantain, wild violet and a few other things I can't recall.
They also like mulberry tree leaves. I've also noticed that my torts will eat grass when housed outdoors.

Hibiscus flowers and leaves.

Various canned foods like pretty pets or mazuri.

I try to make the weeds and flowers the largest part of the diet, then the greens, and last and least the canned stuff. If there is any item that is bad for them, at least it's only a small part of the diet.

Read up on your tortoise. Not all tortoises will benefit from a straight weeds and greens diet. Some need more grasses. Some need fruits. Some even consume some animal protien.

I agree in general with the other posts. Sometimes you have to take a chance, because theories change every decade or so. But you can not argue with success, and you have some successful opinions here. Some say avoid Cruciferous vegetables because of chemical compounds that inhibit Calcium absorption. I therefore limit them, offering some collards, no mustard, and lots of turnips. It is not as easy as just feeding high Calcium and low phosphorus, becuase of goitrogens/purines and compounds that make Calcium use an issue. I agree with Brad, when he says to vary the diet, that way you "buffer" your mistakes if any, plus provide trace elements etc. I provide European annual weeds, home grown greens, spineless cactus, various flowers and Mazuri 5M21 in roughly that order to my herd of tortoises and it seems to work. I see ridiculous expensive cactus, go to a market that caters to a Mexican clientele and buy "nopales" for a reasonable rate. Easy to grow in mild climates, probaly overrated as food however. A confusing topic for sure, but the above works for me.

I do feed them a veried diet.The Granny comment.They also have 3000sf.per pair to 6000sf outside enclosures heavly seeded with mixed grasses and wild plants."i'll read up on them"

Having seen the Mt. Tortoises at Vics and chatted with him for years about his husbandry techniques with this species, I'm impressed. Can't wait until "I can do some more reading" when Vic completes his book he is working on. Thanks for all the help you give us here on the forum................R. Rooker
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Richard -amazoa-

"Changes in behavior occur when the pain of staying the same outweighs the pain of change."