Ideal large tortoise food should include plenty of dietary fiber and vegetables for optimal growth and health, including supporting normal development and supporting eyes, skin, guts and more.
Pet stores carry several canned (dry) foods advertised as complete tortoise diets, yet these typically contain too much protein and sugar for proper care of tortoises.
Contents
Mazuri Large Tortoise Food
Mazuri Tortoise Food is a low-starch tortoise diet designed to provide them with balanced nutrition, including essential vitamins and minerals for eye, skin, GI tract health and normal growth. It features large particle sizes with flavorful textures making this food easy for tropical or omnivorous tortoises such as Burmese/Indian Star Tortoises; Elongated Tortoises; Red-footed Tortoises; Adult Box Turtles and Adult Wood Turtles to consume.
This tortoise diet features high fiber levels and reduced starch for dry land herbivorous tortoises such as Gopher, Sulcata and Galapagos tortoises. Yucca helps reduce ammonia odors. In pellet form this diet includes live probiotic cultures to aid gastrointestinal tract development.
Mazuri Tortoise LS Diet is ideal for herbivorous tortoises and lizards that reside in both desert and grassland environments, such as Aldabra, African Spurred/Sulcata tortoises or Desert Egyptian Gopher Greek Leopard Pancake Russian Radiated Yellow-Footed or Chuckwalla Uromastyx Lizards. This pelletized food offers low starch levels while simultaneously stimulating natural diets while aiding in digestion.
Pretty Pets Large Tortoise Food
Pretty Pets Large Tortoise Food is an innovative high-protein diet specifically formulated for tortoises. Containing 8 percent protein, 3 percent fat and 13 percent fiber nuggets that tortoises readily accept. Plus its natural ingredients support eyes, skin, gut health as well as promote normal growth for maximum performance! This food is ideal for tropical and omnivorous tortoises such as Burmese or Indian star tortoises, Elongated turtles, red footed tortoises and adult box turtles. Additionally, it may benefit acorn tortoises as well as other omnivorous turtles. Carnivorous turtles should avoid this food, due to its high sugar content which could potentially lead to digestive and kidney issues. Therefore, for best results it should be soaked for 30 minutes in water prior to offering. This way the tortoises can more easily consume it.
Petsmart Large Tortoise Food
Tortoises need plenty of room in their tanks; an adult Russian or Hermann tortoise can reach 10″ while Red-Footed tortoises may grow 14″. For optimal growth, they need at least a 50-gallon tank with screened lid and enough room for movement; also an eco-friendly substrate such as vermiculite is necessary and an aquatic hideout or shallow water dish wide enough for them to soak.
To keep their temperature under control, create a heat gradient by warming one side during the daytime hours while keeping other sides cooler at nighttime. A ceramic heat emitter, under-tank heater or nighttime bulb are great ways to help achieve this result; additionally, using a hygrometer allows for monitoring moisture levels within their habitat.
To keep their health at peak levels, provide tortoises with fresh vegetables and fruits like kale, collard greens, mustard or dandelion greens, escarole and zucchini as food choices. In addition, provide them with reptile multivitamin twice weekly and calcium powder for tortoises once weekly as supplementations to their diets.
Petco Large Tortoise Food
Texas A&M College of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences states that tortoises require a diet rich in proteins and fibers for proper growth, according to Tellem. Heavily imbalanced diets may have catastrophic results on tortoise health; incorrect foods may even lead to growth deformities.
Tortoises must eat plenty of leafy greens daily, in addition to fruits, berries and flowers, according to her. Cacti and other types of poisonous plants should also be avoided by them.
She noted that for people wanting tortoises as pets, adoption or buying from a reputable breeder are ideal solutions, since this ensures they were raised with adequate food and care as well as being free from genetic defects. Petco and Petsmart often sell wild-caught tortoises without providing adequate housing – they do this to increase sales, stay in business, and turn a profit for themselves rather than offering permanent homes to reptiles they sell.
