Many turtle breeders advise their clients to provide their turtles with a varied diet of vegetables and leafy greens as turtles that depend on humans for sustenance may fail to hunt enough and can become malnourished.
Box turtles are omnivorous animals, taking pleasure in both plant- and animal-derived foods such as fruits, vegetables and some meat products.
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Fruit
Turtles are opportunistic feeders in nature, moving between aquatic and terrestrial environments as food sources become available. Some species specialize in aquatic feeding while others feed along coastlines or around basking spots.
Captive turtle enclosures require providing their resident tortoises with a healthy, varied diet consisting of fruits, vegetables and meats. Commercial diets may help provide essential nutrition but should always be supplemented by offering fresh foods from time to time.
Leafy greens should form the basis of any turtle diet, including romaine lettuce, mustard greens, turnip greens and collard greens. Dandelions, carrot tops, kale and Swiss chard are other great veggie choices to include in their diet. Fruit should be offered more sparingly since it contains sugars that may cause digestive distress in turtles; apples, berries, cantaloupe and bananas may all make great treats but should always be balanced out with foods rich in calcium to phosphorus ratio such as beet greens and okra for best results.
Vegetables
Wild turtles primarily consume fish, insects and aquatic plants like water hyacinth. A well-rounded diet for captive turtles should consist of vegetables and fruits to provide them with similar nourishment as what would be available to them in nature.
As a rule of thumb, 80-90% of a baby box turtle’s diet should consist of vegetables and flowers while the remaining 10-20% can include fruit. Common vegetable options for baby turtle diets are kale, chard and spinach – light-colored veggies like iceberg lettuce contain mostly water with minimal nutritional benefits.
Pet land turtles or tortoises may enjoy treats, but for their health it is essential that most of their diet consists of dark greens and vegetables. Never feed your turtle anything made by humans such as fried items, sweets or raw meat as these could contain bacteria and parasites that can harm its wellbeing.
Flowers
Turtles in the wild are opportunistic feeders, eating whatever is available – from worms, grubs, earthworms and beetles to flowers, grasses and grasshoppers – along with beetles, millipedes and caterpillars!
As hatchlings, green turtles are omnivores and feed on an assortment of aquatic prey such as larval crabs, jellyfish, algae and fish eggs. With its finely serrated beak they use to scrape algae off rocks while torn seaweeds and grasses from rocks for feeding purposes.
Pet turtles and tortoises must receive a balanced diet. Bread has no nutritional value for these aquatic reptiles and should be limited as its presence can lead to metabolic bone disease that could prove fatal for them. Instead, offer fruits and vegetables instead, sparingly feeding fruits which contain high levels of sugar (the latter should only be fed occasionally as fruit can become contaminated easily with bacteria over time). It is always a good idea to thoroughly wash all fruits and vegetables before giving them to turtles as this ensures best hygiene standards.
Meat
Turtles in the wild are omnivorous animals, eating both animal- and plant-based food sources. Their diet may include fish, invertebrates such as snails and crickets, aquatic plants such as dandelion and collard greens as well as fruit.
Plant-dew is also available as another source of water to the plants, providing essential minerals and other essential nutrients needed for their diets. Raindrops provide yet another source of drinking water.
Fostering your turtle’s health and well-being with an appropriate diet is paramount to its wellbeing and survival. Avoid feeding it bread as this provides no nutritional value to it and could contribute to metabolic bone disease. Other foods to limit include carrots (can lead to vitamin A deficiency) and cooked vegetables such as bok choy, alfalfa hay, Swiss chard, broccoli or romaine lettuce as these may lead to health problems in turtles.
Eggs
Turtles in the wild are opportunistic feeders and will take advantage of whatever food sources are available, including plants, insects and fish. When kept as pets in captivity they should be fed a variety of food items while avoiding those high in fat, sugar or salt content and bread as this incomplete source of nutrition could cause deficiencies to arise.
Collard greens, mustard greens, turnip greens, bok choy, kale, alfalfa hay, dandelion leaves, parsley Swiss chard watercress and clover should be given in abundance to their turtle diets. Cruciferous vegetables such as broccoli or cauliflower contain oxalates which prevent minerals from being absorbed by the turtle; in their place should come fruits such as apples berries bananas.
