Tortoise Diets by Species
Identify your tortoise, then feed it correctly. Diet guides for Hermann’s, Horsfield’s, spur-thighed, marginated, Sulcata, leopard and red-footed tortoises.
Feeding advice written for “tortoises” is close to useless, because the species kept in Britain come from three habitats with three incompatible diets. Grass is a staple for one group and a poor food for another. Fruit is normal for one group and a genuine risk for the rest.
So the first question is not what to feed. It is what you have.
Identify your tortoise first
Most pet tortoises in the UK are Mediterranean species, and the four are easy to confuse. These are the features that separate them.
| Species | Latin name | How to recognise it |
|---|---|---|
| Hermann’s | Testudo hermanni | Horny nail or tubercle at the tail tip. No thigh spurs. Scute above the tail is split into two. |
| Horsfield’s (Russian) | Testudo horsfieldii | Four claws on each front foot rather than five. Rounder, flatter shell. |
| Spur-thighed (Greek) | Testudo graeca | A spur on each thigh. Single undivided scute above the tail. No tail tubercle. |
| Marginated | Testudo marginata | The largest European species, with rear marginal scutes that flare outwards like a skirt. |
| Sulcata (African spurred) | Centrochelys sulcata | Two spurs on each thigh, no tail tubercle, and it gets very large. |
| Leopard | Stigmochelys pardalis | Heavily patterned domed shell, no tail tubercle. |
| Red-footed | Chelonoidis carbonarius | Red or orange scales on the legs and head. |
The four-claw rule for Horsfield’s is the quickest check of the lot, and it settles the Hermann’s confusion that comes up constantly in UK keeper forums. Pet shops are not always right about what they sold you.
If you are still unsure, the Tortoise Protection Group and similar UK organisations will identify a tortoise from photographs.
Mediterranean tortoises
Testudo hermanni, Testudo horsfieldii, Testudo graeca and Testudo marginata.
These evolved on dry herbaceous scrub, eating leaves, weeds and flowers through a short abundant spring and then very little through summer drought. Their diet needs to be high in fibre, high in calcium, low in protein and low in sugar. The Royal Veterinary College puts weeds at more than 70% of the diet, with vegetables and salad used only when weeds are unavailable.
Fruit is not part of the picture. Grass is poorly digested. Animal protein does serious damage.
Guides: Horsfield’s, Hermann’s, spur-thighed, marginated, and the Mediterranean group overview covering what all four share.
Savannah and grassland tortoises
Centrochelys sulcata and Stigmochelys pardalis.
Grazers, in the literal sense. The Tortoise Trust puts mixed grasses and meadow hays at roughly 70 to 75% of the total diet for both species, with weeds and flowers making up the remainder.
This is the group most often fed wrongly in Britain, because people apply Mediterranean advice to them and end up feeding salad to a grass eater. The result is a diet far too low in fibre and far too high in energy for an animal that grows to a considerable size.
Guides: Sulcata and leopard, plus grass and hay for tortoises on choosing hay.
Tropical forest tortoises
Chelonoidis carbonarius and its yellow-footed relative.
The exception to most of what this site says about fruit. Red-footed tortoises are partial omnivores that eat fallen fruit as a substantial part of their natural diet, seasonally more than half of it, alongside leaves, flowers, fungi and a small amount of animal matter.
They also need considerably higher humidity than the other groups, which affects them beyond the bowl.
Guide: red-footed tortoise diet.
Indian star tortoises (Geochelone elegans) sit slightly apart again, being dry-zone grazers with a strong tendency to pyramid in low humidity. We do not yet have a dedicated guide for them or for yellow-footed tortoises.
What all species share
Habitat sets the specifics. A few principles hold regardless of which group you own.
Variety matters more than any single ingredient. Wild tortoises sample around 200 plant species across a year, and a captive diet built on three reliable items fails however good those three are.
Calcium needs to outweigh phosphorus, and vitamin D3 is required to use it. D3 comes from UVB, which does not pass through glass. See calcium and supplements.
Protein should be low for every species except the forest group, and even there it stays a small proportion.
Water should always be available. The idea that tortoises rarely drink is wrong, as water and hydration explains.
Overfeeding is more common than underfeeding in captivity, and fast growth in a juvenile is a problem rather than a success.
The reasoning behind all of this is set out in tortoise diet.
Checking a food against your species
The tortoise food checker holds 105 foods and gives a separate verdict for each of the three groups, so you can look something up without translating advice written for a different animal. Twenty-five of those foods carry a different verdict depending on which tortoise you have.
For a printable overview, use the tortoise food chart. If you have just acquired a tortoise and want the basics first, start at what do tortoises eat.
Species guidance here is drawn from specialist and veterinary sources and checked as described in our sources and review policy. It does not replace advice from a reptile-experienced vet for an individual animal. See our veterinary disclaimer.
Last reviewed: September 2026.
Evidence-led UK tortoise feeding guidance produced by a multidisciplinary editorial team with veterinary review.