Grow Your Own Greens!

[Keblin]

Still not getting a skink for another year...and yet I'm still researching stuff! XD

Anyways! I know many tortoise keepers grow their own greens and I found this handy shop that sells loads of seeds!

Here's an example of a tortoise mix (http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/SW-Tortoise-s ... 2c5d968dea)

And here's a bearded dragon mix! (http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Bearded-Drago ... 53ea8d8575)

I reckon the beardie mix would be great for blue tongues but wondered if people though the tortoise mix would be fine to.

Anyways, just generally thought people would like to see that shop!

[Lea]

I don't know. Some of those plants, in both mixes, are not good greens for blue tongues, with a few being toxic. Most lettuces are of low nutritional value and may cause gastric upsets, such as diahorrea And cramping. Clovers can Potentially be high in cyanides, particularly when grown in frosty conditions- fairly likely in the Uk. There are a few that are also high in oxalates, such as parsley and the mustards, which can cause renal stones and even death, if eaten in large quantities.

Rather than a premix, perhaps it would be better to select a few greens that are known to both be safe and non-toxic and just get seeds or seedlings from your local garden centre. Green basil and mint are both easy to grow and eaten in the wild. You can usually check with the store about the origins of seeds and plants, know the use by date by checking the packets (seeds are a high risk for mould if in bulk storage) and whether they have been chemically treated at any time. eBay can be great, but for anything 'alive', I would want to visit the store to ensure the product is of a high standard.

Thank you for posting this though, it's a good area for discussion and I'm sure other users can give tips for growing your own produce to feed their blue tongues. I have a few 'pick your own' plants in the enclosure, strawberries, succulents, basil, mint and saltbush, which supplement a balanced dish from the indoor supermarket, lol.

[Keblin]

Ah okay! Thankyou very much for the information!

This seller is quite highly recommend over on reptile forums UK by the tortoise folks, so there isnt much risk of getting a bad batch of seeds. But thanks to your info, I think I'm more likely to just get some single species packets such as the dandelions (which are actually quite hard to find round me! O_o). Do you feed yours the leaves of the strawberry plants or just the fruit?

Hopefully this post at least will encourage more people to tell their own "pick your own" regimes!

[BruinsEv]

This is a great idea. I definitely plan on adding some "skink specific" greens and fruits to my garden next spring !

[Fatal_S]

My g/f's parents have a hobby farm, and her mom spends all her time gardening. So all summer/fall she gives me various veggies and greens to offer the monsters. She also offers me lots of bugs and weeds

[Keblin]

Thats so useful for you!! We do have an allotment, so we have kale/cabbages/beans fairly often (and plenty of snails! XD). But these are very season restricted. I was hoping there were some weeds and/or indoor plants I could grow for more all round feeding! ^^

We have lots of bindweed to in the allotment which I know tortoises can eat...but not sure about skinks...Loads of this other weed at home to, but I have no idea what it is! ;^^

[Karen]

I actually just started up a mini dandelion garden. I wish I had more room for a real garden, but I figure I can at least get weeds to grow in a container. It'll help supplement what I pick up at the grocery store for a while at least.

[Keblin]

I reckon even a mini garden will be successful as dandelions grow like...well...weeds! Blue tongues hardly have huge appetites too when you consider you have to mix it with other veggies and protein! :3

I was quite excited when I found these seeds as I thought it would help to add more variety to their diet and be beneficial...But as mentioned, some of the bearded dragon set arent healthy!

[Coomassie]

I had a deck garden this year. I got a number of months worth of collard greens for my leopard tort (which she loved). I attempted squash but some things just shouldn't be grown on a deck. I'm going to go into next year with a better plan. When I buy my house, I'm going to plant lots of veggies so my veggie-loving reptiles get all homegrown food.

[Keblin]

Very nice! Yeah squash can require quite a lot of space depending what variety you get...Ours aren't doing too great this year since its been so rainy and cold! Do you freeze the collard greens as you have so much at once?

[Linnea]

as for treat berries......

may i introduce the smultron?

its a wild strawberry, very tiny - perfect for smaller treats. and i bet theyre more vitamin rich (i might loose that bet though)
i got a very pretty plant as a birthday present, but im allergic to them, so i give some every now and then to my skink.

for the record, i now grow smultron, pineberries (a white strawberry type), blueberries (the real ones - blue inside), tomatoes,
black/redcurrant, gooseberries, giant blackberries.....

ITS ALL JUST SWEET STUFF D:

i want to be able to grow squash and pumpkins and good every-feeding veggies for my skink, but they just never make it.....

[LarissaLurid]

You should grow squash for your skink :] it's a healthy staple food that they love. I feed mine fresh squash i get from my parents garden when i visit them and he loves it so much he will eat it plain without any meat mixed with it.

[Richard.C]

by staple u dont mean a diet largely comprising squash do you larissa?

[LarissaLurid]

by staple u dont mean a diet largely comprising squash do you larissa?

No no, sorry I didn't realize it made it sound like i ONLY feed him squash. I mean it's a healthy vegetable that I use often with his food mixes as well as other veggies, collard greens, etc etc. I mean it's something I use regularly but I don't feed him huge amounts or make that the majority of his entire diet. Like for example, he doesn't like to eat many things alone, so when I feed him Dubia Roaches for his protein one night or something that isn't a meat i can mix veggies in with, I can use squash and some other stuff he will eat without meat added and he will eat no problem. If i just put some dark greens on a plate alone he's not interested. Sorry for coming off very unclear half the time

[Richard.C]

no need to apoligise mate,just thought id ask incase people read it that way

[Keblin]

Oh don't worry, I took it as "staple veggie" but I can see others potentially taking it the wrong way! ^^

I've tried to grow squash 2 years running and it never seems to work!! DX They never seem to grow fast enough and then die when it gets cold...Here's hoping this years batch make it!!

I've got SO many berry plants around though...strawberries...blue berries...black berries...cherries.... I have the same problem as Linnea having too much sweet stuff!! XD

[Coomassie]

Very nice! Yeah squash can require quite a lot of space depending what variety you get...Ours aren't doing too great this year since its been so rainy and cold! Do you freeze the collard greens as you have so much at once?

No, we were also pet sitting a bearded dragon so between Herbert (the leo tort) and the dragon, we didn't even get to eat any. My tort is a little piggy. A little but growing very fast piggy.

[LarissaLurid]

Oh don't worry, I took it as "staple veggie" but I can see others potentially taking it the wrong way! ^^

I've tried to grow squash 2 years running and it never seems to work!! DX They never seem to grow fast enough and then die when it gets cold...Here's hoping this years batch make it!!

I've got SO many berry plants around though...strawberries...blue berries...black berries...cherries.... I have the same problem as Linnea having too much sweet stuff!! XD

oh man! I wish i had that problem. The squash grows like a weed here, we have tons! That and cucumbers lol. My parents have a few wild berry plants around, but they never produce much at all. Only a few tiny berries. When I was little I would go to my aunt's house and she had tons of wild blackberry bushes though with tons of huge berries, yum!

[Keblin]

oh man! I wish i had that problem. The squash grows like a weed here, we have tons! That and cucumbers lol. My parents have a few wild berry plants around, but they never produce much at all. Only a few tiny berries. When I was little I would go to my aunt's house and she had tons of wild blackberry bushes though with tons of huge berries, yum!

Lucky!! I'd love to be eating that much squash! We have courgettes coming out of our ears at the moment...Im presuming they would be an occasional food for blueys like cucumber?

There's a bit heathland fairly near me where you can...precuuuree...blackberrys from the wild bushes...>.>