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Here are 3 common weeds which should be fed to tortoises as much as possible. They grow throughout the US and are highly nutritious as well as very tasty to our shelled friends. All of them, and a several more species, grow right in my backyard.

From left: Common mallow, plantain, sow thistle.

We've got all of those here, but they're fairly scraggly and dried out in late summer, hence the weed seed. Unfortunately, the first batch I got seemed to be almost all vetch, with a little dandelion, nasturtium, and mallow thrown in, so now I'm growing a new crop from another source. Now that the rain has started, this area will be a virtual tortoise smorgasbord.

Now I've got a question for you: what can I add to the soil in my tort pen to improve the level of calcium in the weeds that grow there? The soil currently is a mix of sandy loam, playsand, and organic compost.
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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

Hi Sohni. How are you doing?

Calcium carbonate is what is in most arid area soils that are mineral-rich. This may seem weird, but you can save all of your egg shells and grind them up (I use a blender, it works great) and then put them into the soil in the pen and water it. This will put calcium carbonate into the soil. Just dry them out first in the sun so any bacteria will be killed.

I am just fine, but ewwww, I don't like eggs. We do go through about a dozen Uncle Eddie's eggs (from happy hens) in a week, so I guess I could save up those and throw 'em out there this winter. I mean just the eggshells, duh. I assume I need to wash them?
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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

>Unfortunately, the first batch I got seemed to be almost all vetch, with a little dandelion, nasturtium, and mallow thrown in, so now I'm growing a new crop from another source.

Sohni,
Did you buy local or Internet? If Internet, your source?

Thanks!

I got the first batch from turtlestuff.com and the second (which I just planted) from turtlecafe.com. I know most people are very pleased with turtlestuff, so I'm assuming I just got a dud batch--although I could see right off the bat that there were a lot of vetch seeds in it. My current batch of seeds looks like a better variety.

Sometimes local nurseries or feed stores will carry some seeds, too. I know one nursery/ranch supply here has clover seeds, and they usually carry dandelion seed. I bought some mallow plants there, too (a different species from the common weedy kind, but still edible). I've yet to have any plantain come up, so I don't know if my tort will eat it.
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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

Would you mind showing more pictures of the mallow? I think I have it in my yard, but not 100% certain.

Katrina

http://www.weedalert.com/weed_pages/wa_common_mallow.htm

Sorry I don't have any way to post a picture for you. There are a number of different species of mallow (malva), but this is the common one.
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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