is grass ok for red foot

Question
hi
i have noticed that all diet about red foots have no grass components.  all internet sources recommends dark greens for their fiber components.
my friend also says that grass are too rough for red foots to digest unlike star tortoise and sulcata... is it true. just want to confirm
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Followup To

Question -
hi mark,
its me again...i just bought today a tortoise pellets named SERA RAFFY VITAL (a herbal food for terrestial turtles and tortoise)...
its says here that it can be a staple food for tortoise.  also i have read some articles saying that red footed's do well with mazuri diet and i want to compare it with these because we have ni available mazuri diet in the market. of course natural food is still the best. but i just want to know and for my added knowledge if sera raffy vital is a good option for my tort.  BTW the components of the pellets is Crude Protien 18%, Crude Fat 5%, Crude Fiber 8%, Calcium 1.7%, Phosphorus .4% ;  Vit A 30,000iu, Vit B1 30mg, Vit B2 90mg, vit C 550mg, Vit D3 1500iu and Vit E 60mg ; also one of its major ingredients is alfalfa...


tnx


Answer -
That brand is not locally available, and I cannot find a good comparison for it so I have no idea if it is a good brand, like Mazuri, or a lesser brand, like Wardleys Flakes.

Personally, I am not a fan of pellets as the main item for tortoises- I prefer 'real food' for them. I have tossed some pellets into the mix, and think that is OK, but not as a main element.

Answer
http://www.austinsturtlepage.com says this about Red-foot diet: "In captivity, you should use mango's, melons, grapes, along with ALFALFA, berries, GRASSES and dark green vegetables, along with Tortoise food. DO NOT overfeed your red foots though. If you do, Shell pyramiding can become an issue."

My favorite tortoise diet expert, Douglas Mader, DVM lists several grasses and forage in his article (http://www.petdoc.ws/TortDiet.html)

http://www.tortoise.org says this about Red-foot diet: "The forest habitat provides the red-foot with an abundance of fallen fruits such as wild plum. It also eats wild mushrooms, vines, GRASSES, succulents and carrion, and is attracted to yellow and red flowers. Twice a week David feeds his red-foots mixed vegetables, green leafy vegetables, and fruits and flowers supplemented with Osteoform powder, and once a week he offers them Zu-Preem."

Some authors seem to skip over grasses as tortoise food for indoor feeding, but I think that is more due to the difficulty of finding grass as a food item in winter, etc. than a diet or digestability issue.