Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Timothy hay soaked in water then dumped out into a pile, he loves
the Kaytee brand, it's soft like grass. Pansy heads plucked from
the many pansy beds and hanging baskets I have, added for color.

Teddy, sweet dolly, best & smartest tortoise in the entire world/universe.

i love how that flower is hanging out of his mouth!

i'd, of course, like to supplement my own tort's diet with flowers. i plan on giving him dandelion greens and flowers as wells as daylilies once they're blooming, as they grow at my parents' house and they don't treat their yard with anything.

which brings me to my questions:

firstly, what kinds are okay to feed? i'd guess that any flowers that are safe for people to eat (dandelions, daylilies) are okay for them...?

and, second, do you have to grow or pick them yourself from someplace safe (as in, chemically)? if i buy a pot of pansies at home depot or a prickly pear from pike nursuries, would that be a gamble? i'm ignorant of what kinds of things commercially sold plants may have been exposed to that may be harmful to a tort.

sells baskets of flowers and individuals - if I plant anything in
his cage he can reach, it's history. Commercially grown stuff does
not bother me, remember the stuff you buy in the grocery stores
(lettuces, green peppers, etc...) all came from some place. Just
rinse it off, same with the flowers. Obviously don't let them
eat the weird green pebbles of fertilizer or perlites, but you
can pick the flowers and feed those, plus that will encourage more
especially in pansies. They like geraniums, pansies, and hibiscus
(too early for hibiscus here). When I do plant something in the
yard I make sure the top part of the dirt with it is covered by
my plain dirt from the yard, that's it. I mean, I don't give him
bottled water (same stuff comes out of the faucet anyways), there's
a point where you have to live in the world and not fret over the
chemicals in the plants, or the smog, or the chlorine in the water,
etc...

nm

you said the "best and smartest"! My Toby may have something to say about that, but he's still sleeping so he'll have to voice his rebuttal in April !

Love the closeup!
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Stacey