Greek Tortoise Diet, “What should they eat?”

Greek Tortoises Eat Too

Greek Tortoises are Awesome pets who are easy to take care. However they are pets just like any other and have a specific diet that should be followed for optimal health and happiness for the Reptile. With Greek Tortoises there is one easy rule to follow, if it ain’t natural don’t give it to them.

Store Bought “Pellets”

All of those “Tortoise Pellets” in Pet Stores are a joke. My question is when was the last time you ate blue, red and yellow dried lettuce and liked it? The only exceptions to his rule I have found are the Sulca Dry Mix and Mazuri’s tortoise diet. I have used Sulca with varying results some tortoises love it while some hate it but its good for them. The Mazuri was formulated exclusively for exotic zoos and just recently became available to the public. It is exceptional and loved by most tortoises. Both of these are 100% natural, high in fiber and low in protein which is essential for tortoises.

Good Old Greens

Tortoises come from all over the word and from a variety of habitats but the majority come arid to semi arid habitats and consequently they love munching on the greens. Optimum tortoise eatery is all the good stuff they would find in the wild. For example they love all those annoying weeds, crabgrass and flowers out in your yard. If you want to make their day go outside and pick them some fresh dandelions. They also love Romaine and the mixed greens at your local grocery store but stay away from spinach and ice berg lettuce as one is poisonousness and one like tortoise crack. Once you feed a tortoise ice berg lettuce (which has zero redeeming qualities for both humans and tortoises) you run the risk of the tortoise refusing to eat the healthy stuff, just like a spoiled kid except in this case it will cause severe health issues.

The best feed you can give them is fresh greens/grasses right out of the ground. One excellent seed mix can be found HERE. My sugestion is to serperate your tortoise enclosure into 3 or 4 separate parts so you will always have some grass growing while another part is getting eaten.

Supplements Are A Must

We humans want to own tortoises regardless of where we live and consequently end up keeping them indoors during the winter and such and thus we are inadvertently depriving the tortoises of some of the essential vitamins and minerals they would normally get from the sun and nature. So what you should do is either have a regimen of Phosphate Free Calcium Powder and Multi Vitamin Powder at least twice a week but not both at the same time or as I prefer purchase TNT Powder which has been awesomely convenient for me to sprinkle on their food twice a week and my tortoises love it.  Also always provide your tortoises with easy to access cuttlebone so they can regulate how much calcium they are getting.

Follow these directions and you will end up with some happy, healthy and energetic tortoises!