Proprietary tortoise food

[Jennie]

In my panic to make sure Marigold had everything she needed when she arrived I also bought some Komodo dandelion tortoise food.
My suspicion is its like junk food for tortoises but I figured it would make sure she got anything that was lacking in the diet I provided and also something to fall back on if I couldnt forage for any reason, someone else had to look after her in an emergency or something to feed her through the cold months with no weeds etc.

So how awful are shop bought tortoise foods?
I am sure there are some that are considered better quality but is it a good idea to get your tortoise to accept them in case of emergencies?

[Nina]

I should think it's fine for an emergency, and you probably won't have to encourage her to eat it, as usually they put something slightly sweet in there to tempt them. I looked it up online and it has oats, beet pulp and maize in it, which isn't great -- and strangely no dandelions! It does say it has a high fibre and low protein content (which is good), and that the protein content is 9%, which isn't terrible. It also gives the calcium to phosphorous ration of 3.5 : 1. In the wild they would have at least a 4 : 1 calcium to phosphorous, and it is recommended that it is even higher (like 20 or 30 to 1), but 3.5 : 1 isn't horrendous. So all in all I think that if you fed this only on occasions when you've run out of everything else, and make it as infrequent as possible so that she doesn't get to like to more than natural food, it should be OK, but you could do better with a commercial food.

If you want a dried food that is really good for tortoises, the only product that we (and the Tortoise Trust) would recomment is Pre-Alpin Testudo, made by Agrobs in Germany. You can get it in this country online at places like Buzzard Reptile: https://buzzardreptile.co.uk/product/pr ... -food-1kg/ and others. Here's a link to a Google search: https://www.google.com/search?client=fi ... in+testudo It comes in different forms (herbs, fibre, original, etc.) but there's not much difference between them and any will do. It's available loose and in large cobs (like big pellets). You soak a cob in warm water and it expands enormously -- one cob will be more than enough for her), and it is made solely from alpine grasses and herbs and is really excellent. The poos from tortoise that eat this look almost the same as the poos of wild tortoises. If you do buy it, I would get the smallest quantity possible, as it goes a long way.

Nina