The tortoise has strong adaptability and likes to eat fruits, vegetables and other plants. Bananas, tomatoes, citrus, etc. are more tempting to them. In the wild, chestnut turtles also eat flowers, grass, wild fruits and fungi, insects, arthropods and mollusks.

In captivity, lettuce can be used as a staple food , cabbage leaves, Shanghai green, sweet potato leaves, dandelion, mulberry leaves and fragrant hemp leaves. Tomatoes, bananas, apples, rice, fresh corn, plantains, cucumbers, beans, cantaloupe, watermelon rinds, etc. can be fed in small amounts, but not as staple food. Feeding a diet high in oxalate is detrimental to the metabolism of the tortoise. Animal foods such as lean meat and snails can be fed regularly.