ABOUT
About TortoiseFood.co.uk
Who we are, what this site covers, how we source our food records, and what we are not qualified to tell you.
Evidence-led guidance · UK focus · Veterinary reviewed
This site covers one subject: what tortoises eat.
Not housing, not heating, not hibernation protocols, not breeding. Diet, and the things that directly determine whether a diet works, such as calcium, UVB and hydration. Doing one thing properly seemed more useful than covering everything at surface depth, which the internet already has in abundance.
Why the site exists
Tortoise feeding advice online has three recurring problems.
It ignores species. Grass is most of a Sulcata’s diet and a poor food for a Hermann’s. Fruit is normal for a red-footed tortoise and a genuine risk for the others. Advice written about “tortoises” is often wrong for the animal in front of you.
It is written for the wrong country. Most of the best-known material assumes a Mediterranean or American climate. British keepers face a specific problem: forage disappears from November to March, and almost none of the standard advice addresses it.
It flattens safe and unsafe into two boxes. In practice most foods sit in between, and “not poisonous” gets read as “fine daily”. That middle ground is where most feeding damage happens.
What we do
We maintain a database of 105 foods, each rated separately for Mediterranean, grazing and tropical forest species, with the reasoning and sources attached to every record. The food checker searches it, and the pages on this site are built from the same evidence.
Where specialist sources disagree, we say so and explain which position we follow. That happens more often than most sites admit, on pellets, on alfalfa, on daisies, and on how much fruit a forest species should get.
Limits of our expertise
We are not veterinarians, and we do not claim to be. Nothing on this site diagnoses, and nothing replaces examination of an individual animal by a reptile-experienced vet. Our veterinary disclaimer sets out where that line sits.
We do not test the products we write about, and we say so on every product page rather than implying hands-on experience we do not have.
Where our position differs from a specialist organisation’s, we present both rather than quietly picking one.
How to hold us to it
Our editorial policy sets out research standards and how corrections are handled. The sources and review policy covers how food records are built and reviewed. Contributors are listed on the authors page, with accurate descriptions of what each person does and does not know.
If something here is wrong, tell us. Corrections from vets, keepers and specialists are welcome and get acted on. See contact.
Last reviewed: September 2026.