Mushrooms and Olives?

[Lunartwist]

I made a pizza last night, but ended up having a ton of fresh button mushrooms and black olives left over.

Can my tortoises nibble off these? Or are they not good for them?

I'm just curious because I've never seen them listed on the "safe" or "toxic" lists.

[welovevader]

Here's a qoute from Joe that might help. In it he says that the items listed would be more suited to an RF and the list includes mushrooms.

Hi All

I see that some great answers are given. I just want to add a little

The needs of iguanas are similar. But how they fill the need isn't. The diet listed there would be a disaster for a russian tortoise

The following are not recomended:
Acorn squash, Alfalfa, Apples, Asparagus, Bananas, Beets & beet greens, Bell peppers, Blackberries, Bok choy, Broccoli, Brussels Sprouts, Butternut squash, Cabbage, Cantelope, Cauliflower, Celery, Coriander, Corn, Cucumber, Grapes, Honeydew melon, Kabocha squash, Kiwi fruit, Lentils, Mango, Mushrooms, Okra, Papaya, Parsley, Parsnip, Pasta, Peaches, Pears, Pumpkin, Raspberries, Rice (cooked), Rutabaga, Snap peas, Spaghetti squash, Strawberries, Sweet potato, Sweet potato, Tomatoes, Watermelon, Whole wheat bread, Yellow squash. Yucca root and Zucchini. Thats 49 items out of a total of 64. Not a good diet

I also breed redfoot tortoises. This diet would be more suited to them. Both iguanas and redfoots come from South Amarican rain forsests and naturally eat fruit. As a matter of fact fruit is a very important part of their diets.

Russians come from a very different environment and have evolved to thrive on a fruit free diet of high fiber broad leaf weeds.
 
I also keep leopard tortoises. Their requirements are similar to Russians, but still different. They evolved to eat a diet very hugh in grasses. Redfoots and iguanas wouldn't last long on a leopard tortoise diet.

Variety is the key for all species including us. But it doesn't have to be with each meal. There is nothing wrong with feeding just turnip greens today and mallow tomorrow. As a matter of fact in the wild, they get the variety over the course of the year and take advantage of whatever plant is in season.

As far as chopping up food, I don't. Not even for hatchlings.

Also it really isn't hard to make that high water diet better (BTW most of the items listed on the iguana site are higher in water than the greens). Just add TNT. That whay I created it. It also ensures variety.

As far as the vet goes, the recommendations are better than most. But keep in mind the number of species that they treat. It would be virtually impossible to be an expert on the diets of each.

Follow the diet at http://russiantortoise.net and you won't go wrong.

And for redfoots go to http://redfoottortoise.com

No idea on the olives, though.

[Joe H]

Neither are good for Russians.

And olives aren't good for any tortoise