Mediterranean Tortoise Diet
Just like it is for us humans, a varied diet is the best to keep us happy and healthy. A good diet for Mediterranean Tortoises should only really consist of leaves and flowers. Variety is the key with tortoises, the bigger the variety, the healthier the tortoise. Some plants will contain more nutrients than others so having a larger variety means a larger variety of nutrients. Tortoise diest can be quite confusing but onece you get the hang of it, you'll soon be able to feed them fairly easily as long as you research what your feeding first.
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It's very important for you to replicate a tortoises life in the wild as the same in your home. A lot of people may disagree by saying that "the tortoise was bred in captivity so it doesn't matter". The more your diet matches with that in the wild, the healthier your tortoise will be.
Different species of tortoises require different dietry requirements. For example, in the wild Mediterranean Tortoises wouldn't come across much fruit, maybe the odd berry very, very occasionally whereas species like the Red foot tortoise come accross different fruits all the time and will eat that and other sources of protein such as pinky mice.
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Protein is a big issue with tortoises, many people feel that you should give all tortoises protein from pinky mice etc. this is false. Well.... Kind of. See, Red Foots can have pinky mice as they would eat them, but Meditteranean Tortoises on the other hand, wouldn't eat them at all. At no point should you feed your tortoise cat or dog food! If you purchase a tortoise with an eating habbit like this, be sure to break it immediately as it can cause bladder stones and renal faliur which can cause death.
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Feeding plants can actually be a lot cheaper than buying fancy foods that may decrease the health of your tort as you can plant your own! I've planted my own Hawkbit, Pansies and a few more that I feed Arlo and he loves it!
Some Plants my Tortoise has on Offer
Pansies (Flowers and Leaves)
My tortoise absolutely adores these plants! Especially the flowers. They're easy for him to eat as the flowers and leaves are soft. It's best to plant these as seeds because this ensures that there are no chemicals on them that could harm your tortoise. These plants are ok to put in the table as they are completely fine and look very attractive. Also, the flowers grow quite high meaning the tortoise can't eat the buds before the flowers appear.
Sedum (Leaves Depending on type)
Sedum is another great option for decor for your table. My tortoise enjoys munching on the leaves. However, because they're so small, they don't tend to eat a load of it at once. There are so many options for sedum, some of them, the tortoises can eat the stems whereas, some sedum has stick like stems proving quite hard to be munched on.
Hawkbit (Leaves and Flower)
Probably my tortoises least favourite one. Hawksbit is a fairly large weed with "fluffy" leaves that my tortoise isn't to fond of. However, he does absolutely love to munch on the flowers and because they grow so high, he can't eat all of them at once.
Echeveria (leaves and Flowers)
Echeveria is quite a popular succulent and is usually used as a decor plant. These look quite nice in the tortoise tables. However, because they're quite thick, my tortoise has a hard time eating the leaves. What I do is pick a piece off and "peel" it so that all that's left is the soft stuff on the inside. Because he can't eat it by himself, I've just left the plant inside the table, if your tortoise begins to eat this constantly, be sure to take it out as it could cause a laxative effect.
Dandelions (Leaves and
Flowers)
Dandelions are a firm favourite to all tortoise owners and my tortoise especially loves the flower! However, despite what you may think, you can over feed with this plant! If you feed to much of this plant, your tortoises urine can actually turn a weird pink colour so it's best to feed this as part of a wider, varied diet.
Cats Ear (flowers and Leaves)
Much like Dandelions and Hawkbit, Cats Ear is another fairly common plant that my tortoise loves. I'd often pick some of this while walking my dog, there's tons of the stuff! When Cats Ear begins to seed, you can take one home and plant them yourself either in your torts table or in a pot! I'm begining to plant this along with Hawkbit!
Foraging For Your Tortoise
Foraging is a great way to collect your tortoises food! It saves money and whether you have or don't have a dog, it makes a nice walk for you and your companion. But before you go foraging, there's a few things you need to remember:
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1. If you go "foraging" in your garden, make sure that you haven't used any lawn treatment on it before. Never forage in a farmers field or anywhere that may have been treated with chemicals before.
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2. Avoid areas that may be contaminated with dog urine or feces. You can do this by foraging from higher ground or deeper in the field, straying away from the footpath.
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3. Once you get home, I like to wash the plant(s) off in the sink just using water, then just dry them between a paper towel and you're good to go.
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As I said, foraging is an excellent idea as tortoises will basically eat anything that grows naturally outside. Just make sure that you've checked whether the plant is safe or not. You don't want to risk giving your tortoise illness such as poisoning.
Forage Collected on a Dog Walk
Clovers
Only feed a few of these at a time and only occasionally. This is because they are high in protein which we've already established isn't really suitable for Mediterranean Tortoises. Be sure to rinse all dirt off before feeding.
Buddleia
This is fine to feed in moderation. It's more commonly found growing in gardens. However, it's sometimes found out in the wild.
Dandelions
The flowers of this plant are perfectly fine to feed but don't feed to many of it's leaves to your shelled friend. Don't feed the stems though as they are high Oxalic Acid, the same goes for the leaves, you can feed them to your tortoise but they also have a higher Oxalic Acid content.
Plantain
Hawksbit
All species of plantain are perfectly fine to feed your tortoise.and contribute to a nice, healthy diet for your tortoise. Just don't confuse this with water plantain or the fruit plantain (that looks like a green banana). Be sure to rinse off all the dirt to prevent an impaction.
These are very common and extremely easy to find in the wild, just collect from un contaminated places.
Water
Despite what you may have been told or read off the websites, water is actually very important to these tortoises. They need it to hydrate themselves, although they may not drink it, they are still hydrating. If you see bubbles form at their mouth, they're drinking. However, don't worry if you don't see this. As long as you're bathing and soaking them, they should be fine. Tortoises should always have a water dish that they can easily fit into. I tried to make mine look more natural like I did in his table. I added rocks around a terracotta dish to make it look as natural as possible. I found the dish at a garden center for quite a cheap price and the rocks were free from my nans house.
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I find that it's best to situate the water on the warmer side of the table, not too close (or directly under) the basking lamps or any additional heating. This means that the water won't be such a shock to the tortoise temperature wise. Eventhough your may not catch your tortoise in its water, you still need to provide it. I also think that it looks very attractive.
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In the wild, tortoises would come accross patches of water so we must try our best to re create that in our own way. You should also moisten the substrate to avoid it becoming too dusty and causing infections or impactions. Giving the table a light spray also represents desert dew so often the tortoise will emerge from its hide to be out in it. They will also often lich the water that runs down their neck.
Calcium
In the wild, tortoises obtain their calcium requirements by consuming calcium rich vegetation typically grown in calcium rich soils. They also obtain calcium by incidently eating pieces of sand and soil while feeding and by eating snail shells or sun bleached bones (we can immitate this by using cuttlefish bones as a supplement to their diet). The calcium that you should use must have a low phosphorus content, this is because tortoises diet already contains phosphorus so it's not needed or reccommended to add more phosphorus on top of that. Your calcium also should contain vitamin D3 or you should provide an extra vitamin D3 supplement. That's why I like Repashy Superfood, it contains everything needed for a healthy, happy tortoise!