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Diet One of the biggest questions I get asked when I talk about my tortoises is "what do they eat?!" People are usually shocked to find out that they cannot thrive on the diet they used to eat many years ago, during the 60's and 70's, which was generally a bit of tomato and lettuce. This diet is highly unsuitable and does not contain the correct nutrients that a tortoise needs to live a happy, healthy life. Tortoises thrive on a diet as close to what they would eat in the wild as possible. For Mediterranean species, this would be a mixture of wild flowers and weeds. The best diet in the UK for tortoises is weed based. Weeds such as dandelion, plantain and clover offer a good source of nutrition for tortoises, and are also very easy to find, and best of all, FREE! What weeds do I feed my tortoise? The best information, regarding tortoise's diet, can be found at 'The T-Lady's' website. CLICK HERE to visit the T-lady's guide to tortoise food in the UK. How much do I feed my tortoise? There is, unfortunately, no hard fast rule on how much to feed a tortoise. However, keep in mind that in the wild, a tortoise will have a slow, steady growth. This is because they have to hunt for a long time to find their food. They do not have constant access to food, and so they grow slowly. I monitor my tortoises weight and growth by weighing them each month. I aim for a steady growth of 2-3 grams a month, and this seems to give me a nice, smooth, steady growth for my tortoises. Personally, I feed my tortoises once a day, at different times each day, and I feed enough to cover their shells. This has proven effective in growing healthy, smooth tortoises. Should I give my tortoises any special Supplements? In the wild, the plants and weeds that tortoises eat are rich in calcium and other minerals. They also get vitamin D3 from the sun, this helps the absorption of calcium into a tortoises shell and bones, which is *Crucial* for correct development and growth of a tortoise. However, in the UK we do not have such luxuries as calcium and mineral rich soil, and we also do not get adequate amounts of UV year round. This means that, to keep our tortoises happy and healthy, we need to stimulate these by supplementing the tortoises diet, so that it includes sufficient amounts of calcium and also D3. To provide my tortoises with Calcium, I do three things. Firstly, I provide a small dish of 'Limestone Flour' in their enclosure. This is often used in keeping horses, and is a great provider of calcium to tortoises. My tortoises are often seen with white 'beards' where they have been nibbling at the limestone flour. You can buy large tubs of limestone flour at most horse suppliers for a cheap price. Please do not confuse Limestone flour with 'Garden Lime'. 'Garden Lime' can be fatal to tortoises, and will not provide calcium to them. The second thing that I do, is provide 'Cuttlefish bone' for my tortoises. This is available cheaply in most petshops, and is used for keeping birds. I scatter this about the enclosure and the tortoises will often nibble on it. It also helps to keep their beaks trimmed. Other tortoise keepers have good results placing piles of limestone flour around the enclosure, and this is absorbed into the plants through the soil, as it is in the wild. Another supplement I use for my tortoises food is Nutrobal is a vitamin and mineral calcium balancer, this aids the tortoise in processing the calcium, which helps their shells and bones to grow strong. |
