Reptile & Amphibian Forums

several times i've heard that wild plants and weeds are better for the tortoises than store bought produce. what plants do i look for? i live in central florida and the one weed i know i can feed, dandelion, doesn't seem to grow here. i've tried giving my redfoot some similar looking plants with broad leaves that grow close to the ground, but he usually takes one bite and walks away. it certainly would be cheaper to feed him weeds, but i dont know what to look for. oh, and he doesn't like grape leaves, even though they grow everywhere around here. what about blackberry or rasberry foliage?

thanx

The easiest is to order seeds from turtlecafe.com or turtlestuff.com. They have seed mixes that will give you a good variety of weeds appropriate for your tortoise. If you want to gather your own, make sure it's from areas that aren't sprayed or contaminated in some way. For identification, you can do a web search for common weeds in your state. Once you know some of the more common ones, you'll start seeing potential tortoise food everywhere. Mulberry leaves are also popular, but I don't know if they grow in your area.
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Sohni
Northern California

0.1 Baja de L.A. Rosy Boa
0.1 Okeetee Corn Snake
1.1 Rubber Boas
1.0 Leopard Gecko
0.0.1 Hermann's Tortoise
plus my kids' herps:
0.0.1 California King Snake
1.0 Mexican Rosy Boa
0.1 Leopard Gecko

Type in "tortoise" "weeds" and "diet" in a Google and all kinds of sites will come up with pictures and good descriptions.

I like to feed mine the "fearsome foursome."

Dandelion, sow thistle, mallow and plantain. These are all very common weeds found all over the country. Mallow in particular is very good for them and they love it. The leaves look a lot like gerranium leaves. You have probably seen them in vacant lots and such. Speaking of gerraniums, they are good for torts as well.

My redfoot enjoys mulberry leaves in the spring & plantains & sedum (a very common houseplant with fleshy leaves) year around. I had no idea that dandelions don't grow in Florida.

I picked half a dozen wild strawberries the other day & made all of the tortoises happy.

Mulberry leaves are good, but my tortoises will only eat them if they can't find anything else. I think they're spoiled.

Most people just don't realize that they have a nutritious super market within a stone's throw of their house, or even in their own yards.

Pick up a copy of the Petersons Field Guide on Wild Edible Plants. It's an easy resource to find. (amazon.com)
Ed