Post
by Nina » 18 Jul 2021, 12:22
Hi Amber,
My tortoises hibernate for three months over the winter, but of course there are still lots of days when they are awake but it's cold and miserable outside and they can't go out and plants aren't plentiful. As far as picking from outdoors, plantain lasts all winter, you might find the odd dandelion, and winter pansies and the low growing campanula are alive all year long.
Freezing weeds sort of turns them to mush when they defrost, so not so nice, but many people do dry weeds, and you could try that. There are also some things you can get in the supermarket to help over the winter (kale, a mixed salad called Florette crispy, radiccio and other things), but they shouldn't form the whole diet.
There is one commercial product that we would recommend, and I give it to my tortoises when food is short, and it's called Pre Alpin Testudo. It comes either loose or in very large pellets called 'cobs'. You soak the cobs in warm water until they rehydrate and they expand enormously, so half a cob woud probably be more than enough for Dynamite. It's made completely of dried grasses and flowers from Alpine meadows and it is excellent for them. You can buy it in several places, including Shelled Warriors shop. Here's a link to the page with the various types of Pre Alpin Testudo on it, and I would buy the smallest and cheapest size first. I don't think there is a big difference in the composition of the different types -- Fibre, Herbs or Original -- so you could try any of them -- but do get the cheapest to start with.
Many tortoises don't like it at first, so you have to mix little bits of it with food they do like (and wet the food they like so that the Pre Alpin sticks to it and when they take a bit of their favourite food they also get some of the new food). Then gradually increase the amount of Pre Alpin you are mixing in with their favourite food and reduce the favourite, until they are eating this pretty much on its own.
It's really good that you are thinking about this early, as so many people don't and then they panic when winter comes!
Nina