Commercial Tortoise Foods - Prepared Diets

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Additional Notes - Commercial Tortoise Foods

star tortoise taking a bite

Sri Lankan Star tortoise (Geochelone elegans)

Prepared tortoise diets

Ideally, Stars and other tortoises should eat a great variety of natural foods. They do not need any commercially prepared pellets if they eat a balanced diet, but many tortoise owners like to serve them occasionally.

Discussions on commercial diets tend to cause hot debates among tortoise owners and breeders. Some feel it's beneficial to offer commercial tortoise foods as a complement to grasses, weeds, flowers, greens, and other natural foods. Others feel it's totally unacceptable to feed prepared foods.

If your tortoise youngster is not fond of munching on greens that have vitamin powder on them, feeding prepared tortoise diets every so often is one way to provide additional vitamins and minerals to him. Commercial foods and dry grass products can also be handy in the winter time when tortoises cannot graze outside.

Below is a listing of commonly available tortoise pellet foods. For Star tortoises, look for products that are very high in fiber, low in protein, and low in fat. Pellets made from herbs and weeds are better than grain based products.

Unfortunately, many of the tortoise food manufacturers show their product ingredients as maximum or minimum values, so we really don't know what the actual percentage is. Fiber % is usually listed as a max value and protein % as min value. In other words, the product may be much lower in fiber and much higher in protein than the number listed.

Quick look three number codes (as %) = Fiber / protein / fat.

PMI Nutrition - Mazuri (USA)

Mazuri Tortoise Diet by PMI Nutrition (Purina Mills) is a popular prepared food among US tortoise keepers
According to PMI, it was formulated for dry land herbivorous tortoises such as Galapagos, Gopher, and Sulcata tortoises
No artificial colors or flavors
The pellets look similar to dry dog food, but are softer
almost odorless when dry
Soak 1-10 min for little ones
This food is somewhat difficult to find locally because it's mostly sold by specialized feed and reptile supply stores
Usually available through several sellers at the link above
Crude fiber 18% max (approx 14.6%), crude protein 15% min, fat 3% min
18 / 15 / 3

PMI Nutrition Int. - Nutrazu (Europe)

Nutrazu Tortoise Diet by PMI Nutrition International is sold in Europe
Intended as a complementary food for dry land herbivorous tortoises
Fiber 18% max, protein 15% min, and fat 3% min
18 / 15 / 3

Dietex Int. - Mazuri Exotic Leaf Eater (UK)

Mazuri Exotic Leaf Eater diet by Dietex International Limited (UK) is sold in Europe
It is NOT the same reptile food as the Mazuri Tortoise Diet in the US by PMI Nutrition (USA); the food formulation is different
Fiber 11.36%, protein 23.12%, and fat 3.3%
11.36 / 23.12 / 3.3

Note: In the US, the trademarks Mazuri and Nutrazu are registered to Purina Mills. In the UK, the trademark Mazuri is registered to Dietex International Limited.

Zoo Med - Natural Grassland

Natural Grassland Tortoise Food by Zoo Med is a newer product
According to Zoo Med, it was formulated for all grassland tortoises such as Sulcata, Russian, Greek, Leopard, Pancake, Greek, Hermann's, Desert, and Galapagos tortoises
No artificial colors, flavors, or preservatives
The pellets look and smell like compressed dry grass
You can soak them very briefly
Can be mixed with, or sprinkled on top of, grocery store greens to increase the fiber level
Crude fiber 26% max, crude protein 9% min, and fat 2% min
26 / 9 / 2

Ectotherm - Sulcata Gold

Sulcata Gold by Ectotherm was formulated for grassland tortoises including Sulcatas, Leopards, Indian Stars, Russians, and Spur-Thighed tortoises
This food must be soaked for 30-60 minutes prior feeding to soften it
Due to severe flood damage to the manufacturing plant in IA, this food was off the market for a few years. Currently, it may be available in limited quantities under the new name "Grassland Gold Tortoise Diet."
Formulation for Sulcata Gold was fiber 9% max, protein 7.8% min, and fat 4.5 max.
9 / 7.8 / 4.5 (current values?)