A Tortoise Diet –
During this blog, we are going to cover all of the key points you will need to know about your Tortoise’s diet.
The Correct diet.
Feeding you tortoise with a diet that meets the needs of a Mediterranean type tortoise can be fairly daunting but is a key task for a tortoise owner, as you will need to meet some very specific requirements. To keep your tortoise happy and healthy their diet will need to contain high levels of natural fibre and calcium and low protein and carbohydrate.
Fibre
Fibre is difficult to digest, so it provides an important bulk to a tortoises diet without adding large quantities of nutrients. It also helps the food to move through the gut, speeding up the time it takes for food to move through.
Calcium
Calcium is vital for tortoises to develop healthy bones and a healthy shell. In the wi, d the plants they eat are naturally high in calcium, and they will also eat calcium rich stones from their environment.
Protein
Due to having a totally vegetarian diet, Mediterranean tortoises naturally consume low levels of protein in the wild and never eat animal protein. Choosing the right plants to feed, and avoiding unnatural foods, means that you will be able to replicate this in captivity.
Carbohydrates
Many plants contain high levels of carbohydrates and sugars and these would be rarely eaten by wild tortoises. In captivity fruit and root vegetables should not be fed in significant amounts as they can cause stomach upsets and diarrhea.
Remember to follow these simple rules;
- Provide a wide range of natural plants.
- Avoid salad vegetables such as lettuce and cucumber.
- Provide calcium by supplementing natural food.
- Avoid legumes (peas and beans) and brassicas (cabbage family).
- Provide fibre rich plants such as tough weeds/edible grasses.
- Avoid fruit and root vegetables as much as possible.
- Provide a good source of UVB
- Avoid artificial foods which contain ground fibre, are based on cereals, have high protein content or are heated to high temperatures during production.
- Always Provide plants whole rather than chopped.
- Never feed animal protein (meat) of any sort.
Here are some types of tortoise food we offer.
Not all the information in this blog is from us, some information is from pro rep who specialise in reptiles and can offer great information and advice. www.pro-rep.co.uk
For our other blogs, click here. For any other questions, contact us on Facebook.
