They love to eat and generally prefer leafy greens. Ideally, they should consume a high fiber diet of hay, dark lettuces, and greens such as collards, kale, and turnip, mustard, and dandelion greens, along with various vegetables, including squash, corn, peppers, carrots, prickly pear cactus, and sweet potatoes.
Fruit eating tortoises can eat melon, raspberries, blackberries and grapes. You can also offer sweet desert apple, in sliced small amounts. Mango can also be eaten, although this can be very sticky and attract wasps. Bananas can be eaten, and cherries, in strict moderation.
Cucumber can be offered to help with hydration, or prescribed medication can be hidden within it and offered to the tortoise as a tasty treat. The leaves and flowers of the Cucumber plant may be fed in small amounts to all species.
Ask your veterinarian for exact amounts. Dark, leafy greens such as romaine lettuce, kale, collard, mustard and dandelion greens should make up the bulk of the diet. Other greens to try include: bok choy, red leaf or green leaf lettuce, butter lettuce, water cress, escarole, parsley, turnip greens and green onions.
Diet: Russian tortoises are herbivores, and the more varied their diet, the better. They mostly prefer leafy greens (collard greens, dandelion greens, mustard greens, turnip greens, spring mix, chicory, endive) but will also eat veggies like bell pepper, squash, and carrots.
Broccoli contains goitrogens that interfere with thyroid activity and could damage the liver and kidneys. Therefore, although Broccoli is not actually toxic, we would advise you not to feed it to your tortoise.
Russian tortoises may be more manageable than larger tortoise species, but their very specific care requirements and long lifespan make them more suitable for intermediate reptile keepers. 40-60 years with proper care.
Russian tortoises requires a very dry, well-drained cage in an indoor enclosure. The enclosure should have appropriate landscaping, with an area for both hiding and excercise, and an easily cleaned substrate. Housing: Russian tortoises can be housed well indoors or outdoors in warm weather, depending on the climate.
How Often Should You Feed Your Tortoise? Feed hatchlings and young tortoises daily or divide the daily portion in two and feed morning and afternoon. Adult tortoises can be fed daily or you may choose to omit to feed for one day a week.
Tortoises often don't appear to know which foods are good to eat and which are not, and there is some evidence of tortoises dying after eating plants such as Buttercups, Daffodils and Foxgloves, which are considered poisonous.
Vegetables You will find Cucumbers are welcomed as a healthy treat. The darker leafy greens have good nutrition but see the warnings below. Popular items include kale, mustard greens, turnip greens, collard greens, and such. Avoid the pale lettuces like Iceberg, as they contain little nutrition.
Food and Water: Russian Tortoises eat fresh, fibrous vegetables. Dark leafy greens and grasses as well as alfalfa hay should make up a large portion of their diet. Feed them a large diverse salad three or four times a week. Keep fruit to a minimum. The sugars in fruits can give your tortoise digestive problems.
You should NEVER feed your tortoise: Cat or dog food, processed food or bread/cakes/biscuits. Cat food is particularly problematic. Tortoises are vegetarians and they are designed to eat plants and nothing but plants.
What treats can you give to a Russian tortoise? Fruit should be only used as a treat, and in small quantities due to its high sugar content. Appropriate fruits include apples, berries, melons, papaya, guava, pineapple, bananas, cactus fruit, grapes, plums, and peaches.
You may have to show some tough love with the tortoise and not give in with iceberg lettuce. The tortoise will not thrive eating that. I also suggest the tortoise gets a soak daily for hydration.
Spinach contains a high level of calcium, but it also contains oxalic acid which binds with calcium in the diet and prevents the tortoise from absorbing and using it. In addition, it possesses a high level of calcium oxalate crystals which contribute to the formation of kidney stones.
In addition to these staples, other veggies such as carrots, squash, and bell peppers can be offered to add variety. Fruits such as figs, apple, bananas, and strawberries can be fed occasionally as treats, but these foods should make up no more than 10% of the animals diet.
The whole plant has a high carbohydrate content, a high sodium content, and the calcium/phosphorous ratio is also not ideal for tortoises, so although it is not toxic as such, we do not recommend feeding it (although a few nibbles would do no great harm).
