Tortoise Food:
How It Affects Your Pet's Health

Finding the right pet tortoise food is more complex than just going to the pet store and buying the "all in one" tortoise product.

The Natural Habitat

The natural habitat of a tortoise species in the wild gives the best clues as to what a tortoise will thrive on. Desert tortoises do well on a range of grasses, weeds, flowers and generally what looks to us like very tough and indigestible food.

Rainforest species may include fruit and animal protein in their diets, and again the environment they live in is the cause of this.

Because tortoises live in such a broad range of habitats it is impossible to prescribe one "all-purpose" diet product that will suit them all. If you are considering a pet tortoise, you will need to find out its exact dietary requirements otherwise the animal will simply suffer.

Effects Of Poor Diet

A poor diet is one that is not appropriate for the species. Diets that are too high in protein will result in abnormally fast growth. Tortoises grow slowly and need to do so because they need to build solid, strong and dense bones. Fast growth does not allow for this.

A high protein diet is also usually deficient in calcium. Feeding your tortoise tinned dog food is an example. The result is a condition called metabolic bone disease that can leave your pet grossly and sometimes permanently deformed. Tinned dog food is for dogs. It is not tortoise food.

The tortoise to the right should have a domed, smooth shell. It did not receive a proper diet and calcium deficiency resulted in a poorly developed shell.

Other problems are also caused by poor diet. Digestive tract, liver, kidney and other internal organ complications can leave your animal in a state of long term stress and on a downward slide to death. Often internal symptoms of diet related problems are not apparent until it is way too late to be treated.

Diet is without a doubt a significant contributor to captive tortoises living for only a fraction of their expected lifespan. For an excellent and very specific discussion about the diet needs of different species, click this link.

Here's what a tortoise raised on a good diet should look like. Note the smooth domed shell, the well proportioned body and the normal looking head and skin. The shell is also a good color for this species (it's a Russian Tortoise).