Tortoise Diet

Tortoise's Dietary Requirements

For some unexplained reason a large proportion of pet owners think that over-feeding or "treating" their pets is an "expression of love", a sense of "wanting to please", or "being kind". In truth, allowing a pet to become obese, or feeding an un-natural diet is actually shortening their animals' lives, be it a cat, a dog or a Russian hamster!

A diet should be appropriate for the particular species, along with the age and size of the animal concerned. Never has this been any more critical than when the animal in question is a hatchling Mediterranean tortoise!

For years captive bred tortoises had almost always displayed thick, spongy, bone formation, pyramid shaped scutes, thick dark keratin layers, spinal deformations and walking difficulties. This was solely due to incorrect dietary knowledge, resulting in owners feeding up to two or three times the amount of food actually required. In particular protein was often fed in hugely unsafe amounts. In 99% of cases these animals died of renal disease, kidney or bladder stones and general gastric tract disorders.

Adult tortoises already have a fully formed shell and skeleton, so temporary dietary shortfalls can go relatively unnoticed. But in the case of a developing hatchling or juvenile the condition of metabolic bone disease is escalated incredibly.

A growing tortoise needs the correct amounts of food, calcium, water, UVB, vitamins, minerals and trace elements, in order to fully assimilate these to produce healthy bones and tissues.
For example; calcium is the main ingredient in bone formation, but take away UVB and the animal can't manufacture vitamin D3, if it can't manufacture D3 it can't metabolise the calcium, and so the process is abruptly stopped.

It is also vitally important not to overfeed, or feed too much of one kind of food. The trick is to feed little bits of as much different variety as possible, as this will help to ensure a wide range of vitamins and trace elements are provided. Supplement each feed with a high potency calcium supplement like ground cuttlefish bone or a "calcium/D3 mix" like Nutrobal if natural sunlight is limited.

If housed in an enclosure with natural vegetation, then additional feeding should be sparse and only used as a tool to administer supplements. If, however, your hatchlings are in an enclosure with only artificial plants, then feeding should be four or five times a week. Just enough food should be offered for the hatchlings to consume within the space of an hour, anything left after this time should be removed.

As a competent tortoise owner, you should aim for extremely slow growth from your hatchlings.

H2O

There has been much debate over the requirement of water needed by tortoises and in particular hatchlings and juveniles. I am not a scientist or a biologist in any sense, but I do believe in the principle that every life needs water to survive. Granted, tortoises can gain moisture from food, some of my adults hardly ever drink, but hatchlings can and do dehydrate very quickly due to their size. The possibility of this happening increases ten-fold when kept in artificial, captive situations. Tortoises lose water through natural evaporation from something as simple as breathing.
 Although in the wild they can control their water losses through creating microclimates which are naturally a few percent more humid than that of the rest of the landscape, thus helping to retain moisture, we, in captive situations, cannot provide exactly the same microclimate and other environmental controls as what Mother Nature does. Consequently I always have shallow water trays in my hatchling's enclosures to provide a "hydration safety net". These are voluntarily used by all of my hatchlings every day.

Even short-term dehydration can cause long-term or terminal kidney damage. It is just not worth the risk. Keep your water trays topped up every day!!

In Brief

Tortoises are "grazers", - they do best when allowed to chomp naturally on wild growing weeds and flowers, and should only be offered extra food items sparingly ( I feed mine three times a week)

They should be allowed controlled inactivity periods, and discouraged from a 365 day feeding program.

Never offer any foods which contain high amounts of protein (peas & beans in particular) or have extremely negative calcium to phosphorous balance.

Rarely, if ever, offer any fruit as this can lead to flagellate proliferation and colic

Always ensure an adequate water supply is available.

Regularly supplement food items with a good calcium and vitamin powder, and "D3" if housed indoors for long periods of time.

Vary the diet as much as possible.

The following list of wild plants, cultivated plants and salad items can be used to form the basis of a good balanced diet, in addition to natural grazing, for all Mediterranean species. Plants with a " # " marked alongside (too much oxalic / phytic acid, poor fibre content, or slightly high protein content) should only be offered occasionally, however they're perfectly fine in very moderate proportions, as part of an overall mixed and balanced diet. It is worth noting that when collecting wild foods, try to stay clear of any areas which may have been sprayed with pesticides or suffered heavy pollution from traffic fumes etc, as tortoises are intolerable of these.

Basic recommended food items

Dandelion , Trefoils , Honeysuckle , Cat's ears , Vetches , Sowthistle ,

Hawkbits , Hawkweeds , Plantains , Clover (red and white) , Pansies ,

Rose leaves and petals , Hibiscus , Mallows , Grape vine leaves , Agave plant , Mulberry leaves , Bindweeds , Opuntia cacti pads and fruit , Romain or red leaf lettuce , Watercress , Endive , Escarole , Chicory , #Cabbage , #Beet greens , #Kale , #Alfala hays , #Finely choppped carrot.

Most tortoises instinctively seem to know what foods may be poisonous to them and generally tend to leave them alone. Also, due to their incredibly slow digestive system, tortoises are sometimes able to de-toxify certain poisonous plants. But, after almost losing two of my collection due to eating bulbs which they had dug up in the garden, I now ensure that I remove any potentially lethal plants which they could get access to.

The following list (compiled by the Tortoise trust) are plants which could cause harm. The ones marked with a "#" have been known to cause death, so should be completely avoided.

Poison plant list

#Any ornamental bulbs , Acokanthera , Aconite (monks hood) , Amaryllis , Amsinckia (tarwwed) , Anemone , Avocado (leaves) , Azalea , #Baneberry , Beach pea , #Betal nut palm , #Bellaonna , Bittersweet , Bird of paradise , Black locust , Bleeding heat , Bloodroot , Bluebonnet , Bottlebrush , #Boxwood

Buckeye horse chestnut , Buttercup , Caladium , Call lily , Cardinal Flower , Carolina jessamine , Casava , Castor bean , Chalice or trumpet vine , cherry - (seeds only) , Cherry laurel , China berry tree , Christmas berry , Columbine ,

Christmas cactus (Euphorbia) , Christmas rose , Common privet , #Crocus ,

Coral plant , Croton , Cyclamen , #Daffodil , Daphne , #Death camus ,

#Deadly nightshade , Delphinium , #Destroying angel (death cap) , Dogwwod ,

Elderberry , Elephant ear (taro) , English Ivy , False Hellebore , Fiddle neck ,

#Fly agaric (amanita,deathcap) , Four o'clock , #Foxglove , Gelsemium , Golden - chain , #Hemlock , #Henbane , Holly , Horse chestnut , Horsetail reed ,

Hyacinth , #Hydrangea , Impatiens , Iris , Ivy , Jack-in-the-puplit , Jasmine ,

Jatropha , Jerusalemcherry , Jessamine , #Jimson weed (thorn apple) , Johhnson- grass,wilted , #Lambkill (sheep laurel) , Lantana camara , Larkspur , Laurel ,

#Lily of the valley , Lobelia , #Locoweed , Locust , #Lupin , Machineel , May apple , #Mescal , Milk Weed , #Misletoe , Moccasin flower , #Monkshood , Moonseed , Morning glory , Mountain laurel , Narcissus , Natal cherry , Nectarine (seed only) , #Nicotine tree/bush -flowering , nightshades , Oak , Oleander , Pear seeds , Pennyroyal , Peony , Periwinkle , Philodendrons , Pinks , Plum seeds , Poinsettia , #Poison hemlock , #Poison ivy , #Poison oak ,

#poison sumac , Pokewood or Pokeberry , poppy , #Potato (leaves) , Privet , Redwood , #Rhubarb (leaves) , #Rhododendron , Rosemary , Russian thistle ,

Sage , Salmonberry , Scarlet pimpernel , Scotch broom , Senecio , Skunk cabbage , Snapdragon , Spanish bayonet , Sqirrel corn , Sudan grass , Star of Bethlehem , Sundew , Sweetpea , Tansy , Tarweed , Tiger Lily , Toad flax ,

Tomato (leaves and plant) , Toyon berry , Tree of Heaven , Trillium , Trumpet vine , Venus flytrap , Verbena , Virginia creeper , #Water hemlock , Wild parsnip , Wisteria , Yellow star thistle , #