Adding Pre Alpin into my tortoise's diet has been a big decision for me. For years I have avoided commercial pellets having only seen negative results in the tortoises that have come into my care having had such a diet and thus I have always stuck to fresh weeds, flowers and leaves.  However, many tortoise keepers I respect have seen very positive results from commercial diets being used as part of their tortoise's diets and thus I was confused.

Then last year Andy Highfield from the Tortoise Trust published this article... http://www.tortoisetrust.org/articles/dietaryfibre.html It really got me thinking as I have noticed my older tortoises going for dried up plants over the fresh food provided when they had had the opportunity and I wondered why this.  Highfields article thus made a lot of sense to me as it suggested that more fibre and seeds were gained through eating the dried foods.

The Pre-Alpin food is made up of dried roughage that adds fibre to a tortoise's diet. It has not been overly processed thus pounding vital nutrients away, there are no false additives like maize or oats, and it is simply dried organic plant matter matter. 
The Pre Alpin website lists the plants in the Fibre:-Cocksfoot, amaranth, meadow fescue, dandelion, false oat grass, Yorkshire fog, Lady's mantle, English plantain, bush vetch, cat's tail, crested dog's tail, perennial ryegrass, Alpine meadow grass, clover, common yarrow, Lady's bedstraw, meadow fescue and many others, linseed oil

Having read this great list of plants and that is was low in protein, I decided that this winter I feed a little Pre-Alpin Testudo to the tortoises I was over wintering (not hibernating). There was one elderly Spur thigh tortoise, one hatchling (Sept 2010) and three juvenile tortoises. I always mixed the Pre-Alpin with weeds and a bit of cucumber with my elderly lady as she finds it irresistible and she did need some persuasion at first, but then I guess change isn't easy after 60 years!  What I noticed simply amazed me.  There was a big change in the consistency of all of the tortoise's poo. Instead of it being very dark, wet and loose, it was formed, lighter and although there seemed to be more of it and easier for the tortoises to pass.  It looked much more comparable to the pellets of the wild tortoises photographed in Andy Highfield's article.  Now that they are used to it they seem to really like it too.

The Nutritional Information for all Agrobs Testudo foods can be found here...

http://www.agrobs.de/en/products/Tortoises.htm