Hi
I'm trying to feed my 2 greek tortoises with plenty of weeds but I really find it hard to get hold of the quantity. Although the torts have access to the garden (well bits of it), because the garden is a well looked after garden there are not many weeds growing naturally (the garden isn't just mine, I share it, so I don't have control over what is grown). I have bought the various packs of seeds of tortoise weeds and tried to grow them - both outdoors in pots and inside in trays, but they seem to take so long to grow. the most recent batch was planted 4 weeks ago and they're still tiny and no where near big enough to feed to the torts. I live in town so there's not much access to wild growing weeds and where there are some I'm too nervous to pick them because you never know what they've had on them - dog urine,chemicals etc.

I only have 2 torts and they eat so much but I'd really like to be able to feed them as many weeds/natural plants as possible.

So I'm just wondering - how do other people manage? especially in winter?
How do you grow enough of a quantity of weeds etc for your torts? Do you just have hundreds of trays and pots of the stuff?

Any advice gratefully received
thanks

You could go for a walk with a carrier bag and collect them like people do for rabbits but not from the road side or where dogs foul.You can also grow some and supplement with certain salad leafs from the shop.You could also feed one day a week with tort pellets.

thanks - I do use tort pellets as well - one tort loves them, the other won't touch them

I live in london and it's really hard to find places that have weeds where there isn't a risk of dog fouling etc but I will certainly give it a go and of course wash everything.

Does anyone grow their weeds in large quantities? how?

I have found a similar problem with my desert iggy - but what I did was approach the cartaker at my daughter's school and ask him if it was ok to pick the dandelions...

They aren't allowed to use pesticides and no dogs or traffic - perfect! and he is happy too lol

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i too have collected weeds from the school grounds. the trick in the summer is to get there just before the grass is cut! weeds will keep in a carrier bag in the fridge for a week or so. they may go a little limp towards the end of the week but they will still eat them. I have also found that friends are all to willing to collect from there own gardens for my torts, just mention it and people think its great.
I am lucky enough to live between 2 SSI's so there is no weed killer or pesticides used at all. We can easily fill a carrier bag to bursting point in less than 10 minutes so i am very lucky indeed. Even in the winter we only struggle for 3 or 4 weeks a year, and a poor collection is less than half a carrierbag. but i always rotate the areas i collect from to make sure i dont wipe out all the weeds in any one area!

I tried growing the weed seeds to with little success... tried some indoors and some outdoors.

Remember though that it's not just weeds that they can eat, there's things like rose petals, pansy leaves and flowers which can easily be grown indoors. There are many quite common garden plants which can be fed, here's a couple of good lists:

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Diet and healthy growth

Don't forget that you can also supplement with supermarket salads such as endive, chicory, water cress, wild rocket... Florette bagged salad gives a good mixture of leaves too and it's the only one not washed in bleach. They're fine as a supplement to a mixed weed diet.

Hope that helps

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thanks everyone!
That's great - didn't realise pansies were ok. One of my torts is obsessed with sweet pea flowers and campanula flowers. I know campanula is ok and I know sweet pea leaves are toxic, but are the flowers ok? He's never had any ill effects from it and he's never tried to eat the leaves, only the flowers.

I know the seeds of sweet peas are toxic but neither the flowers nor leaves are listed as toxic.

It's a plant I've never seen on any edible plant list for torts though.

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I found a place with weeds, an old abandoned cemetery, its perfect for walking the dog as it's also fully enclosed!

I phoned the council to check where pesticides are used, and they don't use any there.

I just wash them to be certain theres no dog wee or anything on them before feeding.

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Josh

www.tortoise-world.com

Hi I read somewhere to avoid sweet pea but i cannot remember where now sorry I will try to find it.