Diet consist of arthropods, earthworms, snails, bird eggs, small birds, frogs, and lizards, and a native cricket-like insect the size of a mouse called a weta. Young tuataras are also occasionally cannibalized. Due to its low metabolic rate, the tuatara eats much less frequently than other reptiles.

 

Animal Foods: Birds; Amphibians; Reptiles; Eggs; Insects; Terrestrial Non-insect Arthropods; Mollusks; Terrestrial Worms