Can tortoises eat olives?
No, olives aren't a suitable food for a pet tortoise, whether fresh, tinned or from a jar. Most tortoises commonly kept as pets, including Hermann's and spur-thighed tortoises, are herbivorous grazers built around a diet of weeds, leaves and flowers, and olives don't fit that pattern at all, before you even get to the salt and oil in a jarred one.
Picked for your pet
Tortoise Feeding Kit
Komodo tortoise salad mix, hay cakes, a flower treat bar and calcium supplement for a balanced tortoise diet.
£20.49
Pettex Reptile Tortoise
Calcium-added tortoise substrate, 10 litres, for arid-habitat tortoises and lizards
£9.99
Komodo Tortoise Eco Terrain
Soil and sand substrate for arid tortoises, deep enough to burrow in, 10 litres
£9.99
Komodo Tortoise Leaf Mix
A 100G dried botanical leaf mix as a complementary treat for tortoises and other reptiles
£5.29
Why olives don't fit a tortoise's diet
The Mediterranean tortoise species most commonly kept as pets have digestive systems built around processing large amounts of fibrous plant material - weeds, leaves and flowers - efficiently. Olives, even fresh ones, have a very different composition, with meaningful fat content and little of the fibre a tortoise's gut is designed around.
This isn't about toxicity in the way a specific poison would be, but about a food that simply has no place in the pattern of eating a tortoise's digestive system evolved for.
The bigger problem with jarred or tinned olives
Olives sold for human eating are typically preserved in brine or oil, both of which mean very high salt and fat content, alongside preservatives that serve no purpose in a tortoise's diet. That combination is considerably harder on a tortoise's system than an unprocessed olive would be.
Salt in particular is a genuine concern for reptiles generally, since their kidneys aren't built to handle the levels found in foods preserved for human tastes.
What a fresh olive alone still gets wrong
Even setting the brine and oil aside, a plain fresh olive still isn't a good use of a mouthful in a tortoise's diet. It displaces a bite of the weeds and flowers a tortoise actually needs a large volume of, while offering little of the fibre that diet is built around.
There's no meaningful nutritional case for including olives in a tortoise's diet even occasionally, which is different from a food that's fine in small amounts but risky in excess.
What to feed instead
Dandelion, plantain, clover and other safe leafy weeds should make up the bulk of a Mediterranean tortoise's diet, alongside a small proportion of tortoise-appropriate mixed forage. Variety within safe plants matters more than introducing something like an olive for novelty.
If you're looking to broaden what a tortoise eats, a proper reptile-specific forage mix is a far more appropriate way to add variety than reaching for something from a human kitchen.
Introducing anything new safely
Whenever you're trying a new weed, flower or forage item with a tortoise, introduce it in a small amount alongside their usual diet rather than as a replacement, and watch how they get on with it over the following day or two before offering it again. This applies to genuinely appropriate foods, not just borderline ones like olives.
Keeping a mental note, or a written one, of anything new that's been tried makes it far easier to spot a pattern if a tortoise's appetite or droppings change unexpectedly, and it's a habit worth building regardless of which specific food prompted the question.
More for your pet
Things we stock that owners commonly reach for here. Nothing on this page depends on you buying one.
Komodo Tortoise Fruit Mix
A fruit-based treat mix for tortoises, made from dandelion, aronia berries, strawberry and redcurrants
£5.29
Komodo Tortoise Food Salad Mix
A complete holistic tortoise diet flavoured to taste like fresh salad
£7.29
Komodo Tortoise Food Cucumber
A complete holistic tortoise diet in cucumber flavour, high in fibre
£7.29
Common questions
- Can tortoises eat any fruit?
- Some tortoise species can have a very small amount of certain fruits occasionally, but this varies by species and shouldn't be assumed - Mediterranean tortoises in particular do best on an almost entirely weed-and-leaf-based diet. Check what's appropriate for your specific species before offering fruit.
- What happens if my tortoise eats an olive by accident?
- A single olive eaten by accident is unlikely to cause a serious problem, but watch for any change in appetite or droppings over the following days, and contact your vet if anything seems off or if it was a jarred, salty olive rather than a fresh one.
- Why is salt bad for tortoises?
- Reptile kidneys aren't built to process high salt levels the way some other animals are, so salty foods, including anything preserved in brine, can put a real strain on a tortoise's system. It's one of the main reasons processed human foods generally don't belong in a tortoise's diet.
- What vegetables are safe for a pet tortoise?
- Leafy weeds like dandelion, plantain and clover form the basis of a healthy diet for most Mediterranean tortoise species, alongside a smaller range of other safe leafy vegetables. Species needs vary, so check what's appropriate for your particular tortoise.
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Written against guidance published by UK veterinary and welfare organisations. Always confirm specifics with your own vet.
Written by Matt Garnett, who runs Giddy Pets and is a lifelong pet owner — not a vet. This is general information, not veterinary advice, and it cannot replace an examination by the vet who knows your animal. How we write these guides.