Arcadia Optimised52

[ShellingtonTheFirst]

For the last month or so I’ve been chopping up Shellys food into bite size pieces and mixing in tiny amounts of Arcadia’s Optimised52 to try to get him used to it but he is absolutely not interested in it, so yesterday I put my foot down and only offered him Optimised52 and nothing else — he was hungry as he is every time I feed him, sniffed around, but refused to touch it. It’s now been over 24 hours since he last ate and has gone on hunger strike over his change of food. I’m going to offer him it again today and hope he eats it, but if he doesn’t, how long is it okay for him to go hungry for? I’m hoping he’ll eventually get so hungry that he forces himself to eat it but at the same time I don’t want to starve him to death!

 

[wellington]

How old is he? I personally wouldn't let a baby go very long, maybe 3 or 4 days tops. An adult can go longer.
If he's a baby, maybe try one last time and if he doesn't eat it, wait until he is a little older and try again.

 

[ShellingtonTheFirst]

How old is he? I personally wouldn't let a baby go very long, maybe 3 or 4 days tops. An adult can go longer.
If he's a baby, maybe try one last time and if he doesn't eat it, wait until he is a little older and try again.

How old is he? I personally wouldn't let a baby go very long, maybe 3 or 4 days tops. An adult can go longer.
If he's a baby, maybe try one last time and if he doesn't eat it, wait until he is a little older and try again.

He’s 4(ish!)

 

[wellington]

4ish is closer to adult in my opinion then a baby. So he can go longer. I still wouldn't push it past a week. However, when you were mixing it with his chopped foods, how long did you do this for and did you start out with just a very small amount of the arcadia?
Tortoises are slow at everything they do and that's getting used to new foods. Sometimes it may take weeks or even as long as a month or more to get them to like something new.

 

[ShellingtonTheFirst]

4ish is closer to adult in my opinion then a baby. So he can go longer. I still wouldn't push it past a week. However, when you were mixing it with his chopped foods, how long did you do this for and did you start out with just a very small amount of the arcadia?
Tortoises are slow at everything they do and that's getting used to new foods. Sometimes it may take weeks or even as long as a month or more to get them to like something new.

Yep! About a month, and only a tiny bit at a time which he literally sniffs out and avoids. He really hates it for a reason which is a shame because otherwise he isn’t that picky at all.

I’ll try again tonight and tomorrow morning, but if he hasn’t eaten anything still by tomorrow evening I’ll go back to feeding his usual diet with the Arcadia mixed in. 😵‍💫 Stubborn little thing!

 

[wellington]

Yes they sure can be stubborn. It's even harder when they are older most times.
You could also just wait a while and try again at a later time or keep trying now.
Have you tried mixing and spritzing with water? Helps for everything to stick together so they can't as easily pick thru.

 

[ShellingtonTheFirst]

Yes they sure can be stubborn. It's even harder when they are older most times.
You could also just wait a while and try again at a later time or keep trying now.
Have you tried mixing and spritzing with water? Helps for everything to stick together so they can't as easily pick thru.

Yes! It’s a dried food that you rehydrate with water to the desired consistency. Give it a look! Arcadia Optimised52. It’s supposed to be really good. Just a shame Shelly doesn’t think so. 😵‍💫

 

[wellington]

Yes! It’s a dried food that you rehydrate with water to the desired consistency. Give it a look! Arcadia Optimised52. It’s supposed to be really good. Just a shame Shelly doesn’t think so. 😵‍💫

I did look it up as I never heard of it till now. Eventually he may take to it. You just really have to our smart and/or out last them. Lol

 

[Tom]

For the last month or so I’ve been chopping up Shellys food into bite size pieces and mixing in tiny amounts of Arcadia’s Optimised52 to try to get him used to it but he is absolutely not interested in it, so yesterday I put my foot down and only offered him Optimised52 and nothing else — he was hungry as he is every time I feed him, sniffed around, but refused to touch it. It’s now been over 24 hours since he last ate and has gone on hunger strike over his change of food. I’m going to offer him it again today and hope he eats it, but if he doesn’t, how long is it okay for him to go hungry for? I’m hoping he’ll eventually get so hungry that he forces himself to eat it but at the same time I don’t want to starve him to death!

It can take more than a month to introduce new foods, and if it is a food not normally eaten by a given species, it often doesn't go well. The first ingredient in the Arcadia food is grass. Russians are not grass eaters. The rest of the ingredients look good on paper, but if your tortoise doesn't like it, then he doesn't like it. I've had tortoises that don't like Mazuri. Most of them love the original Mazuri, but I've had a few that wouldn't touch it. I can understand your frustration.

Try a different supplemental prepared food, or just use more "real" food instead.

 

[NibblerTheGreeksOwnerJame]

I was also surprised to see Timothy hay as a main ingredient alongside the blurb of being suitable for all Tetsuro.
My first thought was “he won’t like that..”.

My greek goes mad for Mulberic Dry (main ingredient mulberry leaves) but won’t eat actual mulberry leaves (became his new hide lol) and hates even the old Mazuri.

 

[RosemaryDW]

They've really put a lot of thought into that food!

I wouldn't attempt to push anything with a lot of grass on my Russian. She *could* eat it if she was starving, I suppose. But that would mean weeks or months going without, not twenty-four hours. Perhaps I'm reading the ingredients list wrong and there is less grass/hay in there than I think.