We are often asked what sort of diet we provide. For the most part, we provide grass, weeds, and flowers. Then we add cactus and succulents. After that we use Mazuri Food products, then produce. But how much and how often you ask? Not even once per week with many delicious edibles. Many produce products carry high water content. And this proves to be too much for these desert tortoises and their tiny livers.
Five common dietary problems
- Not providing enough fiber
- Providing too much protein
- Giving fruit or other sugary foods too often
- Not providing enough calcium, or the right calcium/phosphorus balance
- Generally overfeeding the tortoise
Sulcata tortoises have evolved to deal with harsh life in a semi-arid environment, Where the only food available for much of the year is dry grasses and weeds. Sulcata tortoises require a very high-fiber, grass-based diet to stay healthy.
If you feed the wrong foods to your tortoise, it will grow too quickly, develop a bumpy, pyramided shell, and may develop other health problems that could drastically shorten its lifespan.
If you feed the wrong foods to your tortoise, it will grow too quickly, develop a bumpy, pyramided shell, and may develop other health problems that could drastically shorten its lifespan.
Grazing tortoise species such as leopard and sulcata rely on beneficial bacteria in their intestines to help them digest and extract nourishment from the grasses that they eat.
If you give your tortoise large amounts of fruit, the acids and sugars in the fruit can actually change the pH of the tortoise’s digestive tract, and this pH change can cause the beneficial bacteria in the tortoise’s gut to die off.
When large quantities of gut bacteria die, they release toxins that can cross the gut wall and enter the tortoise’s bloodstream, causing the tortoise to experience a form of Toxic Shock Syndrome that can be fatal.
If you give your tortoise large amounts of fruit, the acids and sugars in the fruit can actually change the pH of the tortoise’s digestive tract, and this pH change can cause the beneficial bacteria in the tortoise’s gut to die off.
When large quantities of gut bacteria die, they release toxins that can cross the gut wall and enter the tortoise’s bloodstream, causing the tortoise to experience a form of Toxic Shock Syndrome that can be fatal.
Grasses and hay 100% Of The Time!
Sulcata tortoises NEED access to grasses and hay on which to graze. The bulk of their diet should be from pesticide and herbicide free grass and grass cuttings, cheatgrass, clover, edible flowers (nasturtium, geraniums, hibiscus, rose petals) and shrubs.
- Avoid feeding predominately alfalfa hay, as this is high in oxalates and can cause stone formation within the bladder, kidney failure and decrease life-span.
- Grass hays to offer include Timothy, Meadow Grass, Oat Hay, Orchard grass.
Warning! It Is Harmful To Give Your Torts Hay That Has Mold!
This Includes Food and Bedding!
Greens and vegetables: 60% Of The Diet!
- Leafy greens can be offered often. We suggest 40% of the veggie diet should include collard greens, kale, mustard, turnip and dandelion greens.
- Limit greens that are high in oxalates, such as parsley, spinach, rhubarb, beet greens and collard greens.
- You have to be careful with Spinach, and collard greens. It is okay to feed these. But it should NOT be the only or bulk of the veggie greens! It is perfectly okay to feed these items one to five percent of the time. (1-5 times out of 100 times)
- Other vegetables should be about 20% of the veggie diet. These can include grated raw carrots, winter squash, sweet potatoes, pumpkin, broccoli, corn on the cob; greens such as collards, dandelions, escarole, romaine, kale.
- You have to be careful with kale, and broccoli. It is okay to feed these. But it should NOT be the only or bulk of the veggie greens!
- It is perfectly okay to feed these items one to five percent of the time. (1-5 times out of 100 times)
Watch to see more!
Fruits:20% Of The Diet!
- Fruits should be fed sparingly, as a treat. These tend to be high in sugar and water content, both of which sulcatas are not accustomed to receiving in the wild.
- Fruits that are appropriate to offer as treats include strawberries, chunks of organically grown bananas with skin, cantaloupe with rind attached, berries; peaches (no pits), apricots (no pits), pears, apples
Cuddle Up To A Cuddle Bone!
Sulcata tortoises require a great deal of calcium in their diet to help them grow healthy bones and shells. The Sahel area of Africa where sulcata naturally occur is a semi-arid region that has calcium-rich soils. African Sulcata tortoises, therefore, get sufficient calcium by eating the grasses that grow in these calcium-laden soils.
Sprinkle Some Extra Love!
In choosing a calcium supplement, make sure you choose one that does NOT contain Phosphorus. Calcium (CA) and Phosphorus (P) are both necessary to build healthy bone tissue. However, the phosphorus available in most food items is used much more readily by the tortoise’s body than calcium, so you really don’t need to supply any additional phosphorus to your tortoise.
We recommend using a multivitamin supplement twice weekly. Click this Amazon link. Crazy Critters will receive an affiliate commission with any purchase! The items are shipped right from Amazon!
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Baby and smaller sulcatas have a harder time eating the tougher grass and hay because of their less powerful jaws.
Sulcatas respond to bright colors, so always include at least one vividly colored food in your selection. This also means that you must keep inedible brightly colored things away from them!
What Is Mazuri All About?
Mazuri is a world leader in quality exotic animal nutrition for virtually every living exotic animal. All I know is we trusted this food source even before our veterinarian told us it was one of the most important things to include in the diet. Click here to go to the Mazuri website.
What Foods Should You Avoid?
Certain foods contain oxalic acid compounds that prevent the body from absorbing calcium from food. You should AVOID feeding your African tortoise the following foods regularly because of the oxalic acids in them:
- Spinach
- Kale
- Broccoli
- Mustard Greens
- Cauliflower
- Regularly is the keyword. If you have a small amount of any of these, you can feed it on occasion,
Avoid over-feeding your tortoise. Sulcata tortoises can experience a variety of health problems when they are fed the wrong food’s. Equally, they can also have problems when they are fed too much of the right foods. Overfeeding is the single biggest mistake that most tortoise keepers make. Reptiles have slower metabolisms than mammals like dogs and cats, so they really do not need to take in as much food as you might think.
You should also consider the activity level of your tortoise. Can he go outdoors and walk around a secure yard every day? Or does he stay indoors on a small tortoise table? If your tortoise is mostly sedentary, he doesn’t need to be fed every day. Really! Every other day is fine, even though he may look up at you with pleading eyes in between feedings.
RECAP!
Good choices, use as the main bulk
- Collard, turnip, rape, and mustard greens
- Kale, cabbage, kohl rabi, chard
- Endive, Escarole, green-leaf, red-leaf lettuces
- Red or curly lettuces
- Arugula, rocket, ‘corn salad’, ‘lamb’s lettuce’
- Parsley, watercress
- Carrot or radish tops
- Sprouts
- Cactus pads
- Mushrooms
- Edible flowers
- Fresh leafy spices- basil, etc.
Good choices, use freely
- Papaya, figs, mango, kiwifruit, pomegranate and other ‘tropical‘ fruits
- Pineapple
- Melon, all kinds, including horned melon
- Strawberry
- Cactus fruit
- Cherries
- Bell peppers, any color
- Corn, especially on the cob
- Squash, pumpkin
OK choices, use sparingly for variety
- Iceberg, Romaine, Boston, bibb, and butter lettuce
- Spinach
- Celery
- Peas, bean pods
- Carrot (chopped or lightly cooked)
- Zucchini, broccoli, cauliflower
- Yams, sweet potatoes (shredded or lightly cooked)
- Blueberry, blackberry, mulberry
- Apple, pear, peach, plum, apricot
- Banana, grapes
- Cucumber
- Tomatoes
- Naval oranges
Bad food choices. For one reason or another, we should avoid the following foods…
- Hot peppers (too hot, they usually avoid these)
- Most citrus fruits- other than occasional naval oranges (while some acid is fine, too much causes problems)
- Fatty, salty, or sugary foods
- Processed foods in general, unless meant for tortoises
- Dairy products- milk, cheese, etc.
- Bakery goods- other than occasional bread to treat protozoans, etc.
- Tofu, soybeans
- Olives, avocados, artichokes (Fatty, and avocados are dangerous for birds, so MAY have some risk for reptiles)
- Root vegetables, such as beets, potatoes, etc.- other than occasional yams, sweet potatoes, and carrots
Free Range Grazing Tortoises Will Encounter
- Dandelions, chicory, plantain (the yard plant)
- Purslane, clover, alfalfa, Timothy or other hay
- Grape leaves
- Mulberry and other fruit tree leaves, flowers, fruits
- Leaves from ‘forest trees’ other than Oak
- Mallow, rose, hibiscus, and pansy leaves
- Flowers from any edible flower- rose, pansy, violet, dandelion, etc.
- Cactus pads, fruits or flowers
- Mushrooms, fungi
- Worms, snails, slugs, millipedes, insect larvae, ‘bugs’
(Important: Avoid areas that may have been sprayed or treated with hazardous chemicals!)
Pet or feed store foods
- Prepared tortoise chows, especially Mazuri Tortoise Diet, Zoo Med Natural Grassland Tortoise Food,, or Zoo Med Natural Forest Tortoise Food.
- Freeze-dried plants, cactus, fruits or insects
- Fresh, dried, cubed, or pelleted hay
- Live or frozen baby or young mice and rats
- Live or freeze-dried worms, slugs, snails, crickets, ‘Superworms’ or other invertebrates
- Cuttlebone
- Feeder fish
- Canned, moist, or dry cat or dog foods (low fat)
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