What is the best thing to feed your tortoise(he is a sulcata)?

The basis of a sulcata's diet should be high fiber foods such as Orchard, Timothy, or Bermuda grasses or hays. In the warmer months, your tortoise can graze on your backyard grass and feed on dandelions and clover, as long as the area hasn't been treated with any chemical fertilizers, weed killers, or pesticides. Most tortoises also love hibiscus flowers and leaves; but again, make sure they haven't been sprayed with any chemicals.

The diet can be supplemented with dark leafy greens such as turnip greens, dandelion greens, kale, collard greens, endive, chicory, arugula, watercress, or radicchio. You can also buy bags of mixed salad greens labeled as "spring mix." (Iceberg lettuce isn't recommended because it's mostly water and provides very little nutrition.)

NOTE: Very young sulcatas often have a hard time eating hay and the tougher grasses. If your tortoise is still a baby, you could try blending the grasses up really fine in a food processor and sprinkling a little on dampened greens to add fiber.

Vegetables should comprise about 10% - 20% of the sulcata's diet. Some options are carrots, cooked sweet potatoes, squash, pumpkin, tomatoes, corn, and bell peppers. Some vegetables are high in goitrogens, which impair thyroid function when fed in excess. These include broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, and Brussels sprouts. Limit those veggies to occasional small amounts.

Fruits have a high sugar content which may cause intestinal problems, so it's important to limit the amount given; but you can offer a strawberry, apple (no seeds), piece of melon, or chunk of banana with skin as an occasional treat.

Meat should never be given to sulcatas because it can lead to kidney/liver problems or bladder stones.

Finally, tortoises (especially young ones) should be given a powdered calcium/vitamin D3 supplement to help in the development of a healthy shell and bones. Look for one that does NOT contain phosphorus. Sprinkle lightly onto food twice a week.

Variety, Variety, Variety. The more varied that healthier the pet. Broccoli, tomatoes, corn, green beans, peas, bananas, apples, oranges, sweet peppers, okra, cauliflower, variety of greens (excluding iceberg lettuce), carrots, etc, etc.

You also need to sprinkle reptile vitamin and mineral supplements on the salad.

About 80% of your pet tortoise's daily diet should be fresh vegetables like kale, dandelions and collard greens. For fun, toss in a little green or yellow bell pepper, sweet potato, squash or cauliflower.