Grow your own tortoise food | happytortoises

[@noranawa4loans]

Torties & gardening come hand in hand. The things we do for love of animals! I had to learn to love plants & dirt to keeps my torties healthy & fed! In california we dont need to hibernate so they eat year round! 🐢🍀🏝

[@thekbshouse]

Tips: Long stem is a symptom of not getting enough light. This makes the plant reach for it and grow too long. You might want to add a fan and artificial light to increase the growth you will get out of them in 22 days. Fan helped stronger stem helps them thrive when you move them outside into actual wind. Too nutrient dense soil can halt growth, if plant doesn't have enough nutrients it will go pale green. If it has too much nutrients the growth is slow and leaves are dark green (due to the N amount in soil). It's good idea to plant plants in low nutrient soil and add the nutrients when the plant is large enough (re-potting time to the more nutrient rich soil outside). Heating the soil will help the seed germinate and make roots faster what makes the plant thrive. If flowers start to grow too soon, you can snip them off before too much energy is pushed there by the plant to promote more leaf growth instead. This can increase the amount of flowers and edible leaves the plant will grow later if there's time. After the plant flowers they go into seed production and death stage into their life and there wont be much more than seeds to look forward harvesting after that.

[@DescentOfTragedy]

Thank you ! Finally good content on a subject of interest.

[@MsCherylB183]

Thanks for sharing this. I potted my seed in the last couple of days and I'm hoping they grow!!

[@ysari]

What a great selection of seeds. I have been sowing a seed mix but would love to grow them separately like you have. Any chance you could recommend where to buy the seeds from? Thank you for the video.

[@thekbshouse]

@ 8:06 You mentioned to take off the lid to get rid of condensation, but you didn't know why that was an issue. Condensation can drop on the seedlings and snap them or direct them away from light and they use too much energy to straighten up again. It slows growth and can kill a plant that would have potentially grown otherwise. A fan is often used to make the seedling stem move a bit so it grows stronger stem towards the light. In nature, this all would be provided by wind.

[@MrFuturehistory]

Thanks for this helpful video

[@rrrrrr-ry3cn]

Hello from isreal... thank you for the vid

[@happytortoises]

Hello! You're welcome, I'm glad you enjoyed it! 😊💚🐢

[@arvopelaa]

Are dandelions good spasic food for leopard tortoises ?

[@emilybarry2657]

I’m just about to plant my own, I got a tortoise safe weed seed mix and I’m using soil with calcium in it to make them extra good for my tortoises 😊🐢

[@happytortoises]

Brilliant, good luck with the planting! 😁 & love that you're using extra calcium in the soil too, your tortoises will be very happy 💚🐢

[@emilybarry2657]

happytortoises Thankyou! They’ve grow so much faster than I thought! 😊 can’t wait until I feed them with it

[@happytortoises]

What did you plant? & has your tortoise tried them yet? 😊💚🐢

[@emilybarry2657]

I don’t really remember because it was a mix but I got it from shelled warriors and it’s especially for tortoises so I know it’s safe for them 😊 they’ve tried one thing that grew really fast and they enjoyed that which I was glad because my male tortoise is a very fussy eater 😂

[@happytortoises]

🌿🐢😍😍

[@jackpepper2501]

Thank you for sharing.

[@happytortoises]

No problem! Glad you enjoyed the video 😊

[@peteredwards338]

The use of a sieve helps to cover the seeds evenly.

[@happytortoises]

Good tip for the smaller seeds, thanks! 😊

[@vladtheimpaler371]

Are the plants and weeds in this vid recommended for a Horsefield also ?

[@koolkestrel9512]

A little late but yes my horsefield tortoises love these plants

[@samhind4231]

Great video thank you so much !

[@Nimita_sg1]

What would you recommend for Indian star tortoise, that i can grow at home.?

[@congoclash]

FYI tortoise most favorite & beneficial food is snails. Give it a try. I have 2 Herman's living in my garden, in Tuscany which is their native habitat, except for some kitchen discards I don't usually feed them, they fend for themselves and judging by their growth and size of turds they're doing well. I've even seen them eat a dead blackbird. Tortoises are not exclusively herbivores, they are omnivores and opportunists.

[@jackgibson16]

I know you wrote this 5 months ago but just to say a Herman's tortoise definitely is supposed to be a herbivore and should not be eating that much protein not to mention thats some very strange behaviour from them. Are you sure they have the appropriate amount and type of veg in their diet?

[@teagybprankz]

Uhh they don't sound very healthy😦...

[@Monke4691]

If I used an outdoor enclosure could I put the seeds in the enclosure

[@lingbing2990]

Yes, but honestly not 'recommended' as the tortoise will eat the growing plants.... Make a small fence or smth to defend the plants from your tortoises

[@nataliedebiase5089]

Which soil have you used?

[@katieglauber3083]

Condensation can be problematic simply because if the soil and air is too damp, the seeds could rot.

[@kijix85]

Do you know much about russian tortoises? Do you have any contact info? I have one that was abused that I nursed back to health but still have 2 problems now that he is become very attached to us. I wanted to know if you had ideas. The first is he refuses to eat anything but endive and the crunchy stems of escarole, so he isnt getting enough fiber and his stools are more runny than hard. In the beginning he would eat anything, collards and all kinds of good things but now he wont. The second is he is scared / gets anxiety of being in his enclosure for any length of time. I am barely able to get him an hour of indoor UVB a day so I take him outside as much as I can but its difficult. He was a pet store tortoise that was almost completely blind when we got him, he now has gotten some of his vision back but still has some issues so he has to be hand fed.

[@Frankgzz24]

Hope he Is doing better! G

[@happytortoises]

Hello! Please feel free to DM me on Instagram if you'd prefer (happytortoises). Sounds like you're doing a great job and your rescued tortoise is very lucky to be in your care now 💚🐢 re: fussy eater: There's a couple of things you can try... either completely stop his 'favourite' foods and give him a variety of other weeds/flowers that are high in fibre (he won't starve - he may not eat much for a day or two, but will soon tuck into the new foods). If you don't like this idea, then gradually reduce his 'favourite' foods and increase the new weeds/flowers to ween him off the 'favourites'. You can also try sprinkling on some shop-bought fibre foods (e.g PRE ALPIN Fibre Tortoise Food) - you can mix with a little water to soften then sprinkle over his normal foods, again he may not like the taste initially but will soon get used to it. Keep persevering! re: UVB - you can try using a uvb tube that will cover a larger area of his tortoise table - including his food bowl, that way he'll be getting UVB when he eats too as well as other areas of the enclosure. It's great that he has outdoor time too as even on cloudy days he'll be getting some UVB. Most tortoises have a good sense of smell, so should be able to smell out his food rather than you having to hand-feed - some get very lazy when this is an option! 😉 (however, I don't know your tortoise so it may not be possible). Keep up the good work 😀

[@TheCityWife]

where do you buy your seeds?

[@happytortoises]

I get my seeds either online (from shelled warriors shop or amazon), garden centres or collected from my garden! 💚🐢

[@onlygreens1818]

Will milk thistle be too thorny for baby tortoises? I’m growing some in my garden but it’s so thorny it hurts to touch it lol

[@nurintessarzamri4498]

Do you have Greek tortoises? If you do please do a care guide

[@happytortoises]

I do have greek tortoises and yes of course, I will do a care video for these soon! Thanks for the video suggestion 🙏😊🐢

[@cj.ninja.1312]

What plants do you recommend for Russian tortoise?

[@happytortoises]

The weeds and flowers listed in this video are also safe for Russian tortoises 😊💚🐢

[@LeuBlue]

@@happytortoises also red foot tortoise?

[@willowsworld596]

You should get all of the soil then like you did separate the soil and you know the rest

[@MarkSmith-jk4sl]

All the sites ive checked said they shouldnt eat lettuce, cabbage is ok but not lettuce

[@hssportsinmichigan]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/opLYp416hph4ZpY Michigan is tough. We built this for beauty but functional feed choice for my Red Foot Stan.lee...I spread chicory seeds, forget me nots, as well ton of white clover. I will be covering up most of the white stuff that hung on the roots as well as fertilizer. Stan.lee will not be added for weeks. Still planting and adding rocks for exercise. It's her weekend get away...I transplanted dandelion in the indoor enclosure and clover seeds. She loves dandelions almost ate the first one to death but dandelion weed properties rock..I seeded zucchini for cover but need better plants I'll upload after I establish those plants

[@happytortoises]

Looks brilliant 😊😊 Thanks for sharing the info! You'll have one very happy tortoise in her weekend getaway! 💚🐢

[@angelinaortiz5809]

How often do you feed your tortoises?

[@xflxra8459]

Like Almost every animal you should feed your tortoises every day

[@vickya346]

Give me tourtoise food list pls ???

[@happytortoises]

I give my tortoises a wide variety of weeds/flowers. I have a video on "What to feed your baby leopard tortoise" that lists lots of different foods I'd recommend - hope this helps? 😊💚🐢