food

I want to talk about what to feed your tortoise.You can,t always get hold of dandelions and other weeds so ask your neighbours to keep them for you.If you go for a walk check out the verges and always wash any you bring home with you. As for other food well, they love red so if you think your torotise is not eating try a little strawberry or tomato and sprinkle the limestone flour on it before you give it to them. Spring greens are good and watercress is excellent because it has a lot of calcium in it. Some like spinach, brussel tops, curly kale, purple sprouting greens, cabbage and pea tops.Always give a little lettuce in their diet because it has  alot of water but thats all so don't give it as a staple diet. A lttle peeled cucumber , nasturtiums. they do like some types of clematis. I grow Ice plants, they are  type of sedum and are full of water and they love them last thing in the day. They are cheap to buy and easy to take cuttings from, you just snap off a piece and poke it into some soil.So have a go at growing them. Also grow your own greens etc in pots in your garden, there is nothing like giving your tortoise home grown food and when you grow it put lots of limestone flour in the soil you use so that it will be in the food you grow.They like mallow flowers and some like Budhlia leaves. You can't actually poison your tortoise; it may take a bite but if it doesn't like it or it is not good for it it won't eat it. So , try lots of different things from your garden so it has a huge variety of things to eat, after all would you like to eat a dandelion  leaf for the whole of your life?? spoil your tortoise and you will be rewarded with him or her coming over to you when you bring food.Look at the earlier blog about runner beans...