Red footed tortoise Diet

Unlike nearly all species of tortoise, Red-Footed tortoises are actually omnivorous.  This includes cherry head tortoises as well as yellow footed tortoises.  Forest tropical species like the red foot prefer fruits, greens and vegetables to grasses and weeds.  Red foots even search for high protein food such as worms and rodents.

Supplements are also important for what to feed a red footed tortoise

Carrion is also consumed by forest species, which is another reason they consume more water than desert species. We recommend that you DO NOT feed iceberg lettuce or any other head lettuces as they contain very little vitamin and minerals. Mazuri tortoise chow should be soaked, softened and added to the tortoise salad every other day.  By using Mazuri you are supplementing additional protein as well as vitamins, minerals including Vitamin D3.

Please remember variety is very important to keep your animal healthy, you should aim to provide a diet of around 70% fruit, 25% greens, 5% protein based diet. Here is a list of recommended supermarket obtainable products to feed your tortoise.

Fruits for the red footed tortoise:

  • Strawberries are a favorite
  • Blueberries
  • Sliced Mangos
  • Blackberries
  • Honeydew, Water melon and other green melon like cantaloupe
  • Papaya is great!
  • Bananas sparingly
  • Tomatoes occasionally

Greens/Vegetables for the red footed tortoise:

  • Romaine Lettuce
  • Kale
  • Escarole
  • Turnip Greens
  • Collard Greens
  • Mustard Greens
  • Radicchio
  • Squashes
  • Zucchini
  • Pumpkin
  • Carrot

Red footed tortoise supplements

It is very important that you supplement the diet of your new red foot tortoise for sale with calcium supplements such as  Calcium powder with Vitamins for Herbivores.. You can simply sprinkle this over the top of the food you provide your tortoise. This is very beneficial to all reptiles and prevents any horrific problems occurring such as metabolic bone disease.

So you want to purchase a healthy captive bred baby red foot tortoise for sale, but what does it eat?  Well, a lot… but in all seriousness, feeding them properly is key to a healthy pet red footed tortoise.  Feeding them is also SIMPLE.  The best things you can feed are simple, easy to find and honestly better for the tortoise then going crazy with all types of veggies and even fruits which you should avoid altogether.

Feeding your red footed tortoise fruits

We feed our Red Foot tortoises a simple but very high quality diet of Papaya, Strawberry, Dandelion Greens (usually available at super market or produce market, just ask someone!) Spring mix (a blend of various greens and lettuces normally consisting of an even ratio of:Baby lettuces (baby green romaine lettuce and red romaine lettuce, tango lettuce, baby green oak lettuce and red oak lettuce, lolla rosa, baby green leaf lettuce and red leaf lettuce, baby green butter lettuce and red butter lettuce), baby greens (red swiss chard, mizuna, tatsoi, baby spinach, arugula), frisee and raddichio.  Both our red foot tortoises and our cherry head red foot tortoise for sale are fed the same diet.

Out of all those ingredients, one that we do not like to feed is ROMAINE or any “head” shaped lettuces as they have VERY little nutritional value.  Remember, you are what you eat!

We also feed soaked and mushed mazuri tortoise chow, available on our website.  Take 4-5 pellets per tortoise per day (based on tortoises under 1 year old, increase 3-5 pellets per year of age) and drop them into a cup of warm water for about 8 minutes or until they are swollen and soft.  Some tortoise keepers mush them up, other try to keep them whole and just soften them… we feed this every other day in addition to the greens listed above daily.  We sprinkle calcium on the food twice a week or provide tortoise bone (a calcium supplement also known as a cuddlebone).

The red foot tortoise are by nature scavengers.  They live in the tropical forests of South America as well as some outlying islands.  Red foots are known for eating more protein, and animal matter then any other tortoise species.  They are to be thought of (diet wise) closer to a box turtle then a tortoise.  Adult Red Foot tortoises are often fed protein including hard boiled eggs, even pinkie mice, as they do need a higher protein level then most species of tortoise once they are larger.  Just keep in mind your new pet red foot tortoise for sale, or cherry head red foot tortoise will require a bit more protein, as well as limited access to fruits then most species of tortoise.

Find detailed information on the following Red foot, cherry head and yellow foot tortoise care needs:

red footed tortoise diet

cherry head tortoise

yellow footed tortoise for sale cherry head tortoise for sale

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yellow footed tortoise for sale yellow footed tortoises yellow foot tortoise

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