Things You'll Need
- Fresh produce
- Cuttlefish bone
- Reptile calcium and vitamin supplement
- Edible flowers
- Dog food
- Bugs
Instructions
Give the tortoise as much green leafy vegetables as it wants. Good choices include dark-colored lettuce (not iceberg, which has little in the way of nutrients), kale, endive, mustard greens, dandelion leaves and turnip greens. Supplement with occasional vegetables such as squash and carrots for variety.
Place a cuttlefish bone in the tortoise's enclosure. This provides extra calcium that the tortoise can access as required. Additionally, dust the tortoise's food with a reptile vitamin and calcium supplement as per the instructions. The vitamin supplement should include vitamin D3 if you keep the tortoise outside.
Feed small amounts of fruit a couple of times a week. Fruit is high in calories so it should not form more than about 25 percent of the tortoise's diet, however much it may like it. Leave the peels on fruit to provide extra roughage. Suitable fruits include mangoes, apples, strawberries and tomatoes.
Collect edible flowers such as dandelion and hibiscus flowers and feed one or two handfuls about once or twice a week as a treat.
Provide a handful of meaty foods once every two or three weeks. Suitable meaty foods are a high quality dog food or slow moving invertebrates such as earthworms and slugs.