I’m looking to upgrade both my tortoise enclosures this weekend. I have an adult Russian tortoise and a three-ish year old Red Foot. I’m getting 2 new larger enclosures, new substrate, pretty much new everything. I’m also looking to include plants in both of their enclosures, and was wondering if anyone had some good suggestions on safe plants to include in the enclosures for each tort? I’m planning on keeping the plants in terracotta pots buried several inches above the substrate to stop them from being trampled. I have a list of safe plants for my Russian by using the Tortoise Table, but am kinda stumped on the Red Foot. The enclosures will be indoors with heat lamps, uvb lights, and LED lights. Any plant recommendations would be greatly appreciated!
I have heard a lot of people have great success with hibiscus, Boston fern, banana plant, Hostas, dandelions, and ornamental grasses for red foot tortoises. Some of the plants will get large but if you have a properly sized enclosure it shouldn’t be an issue.
For the russian your best bet is going to be spineless prickly pear, aloe, Echeveria, Rhipsalis, Carex, and Schlumbergera all seem to be popular and good plants for them
Awesome, thank you so much! I really appreciate it!
Lots of grasses are also good for Russians, but check https://thetortoisetable.org.uk/ and see what they say. They have species specific info about diets. (I had a russian tort baby once and that was where I did a lot of research on what’s good for them to eat.)
EDIT: Oop you found them already. LOL. Anyway for further info,
Garden State Tortoise on Youtube are some of the very knowledgeable people on tortoise keeping and they have care guides and info for common species like Russians.