Changing diets

[ChrisJohan]

Hey I need some advice changing my russian torts diet.
The pet store that I got him from used to feed him repcal pellets, and ONLY repcal pellets. Because of repcals such strong fragrance in the pellets, i think this has cause him to find other foods to be unappealing. And if I'm not mistaken i heard that repcal also use coloring in their pellets so right off the bat I figured he needs to change his diet. Can anyone please share me some of your experience in handling this? Cause he is starting to lose weight, I cant stop the repcal now, but also I don't want him to only eat repcal pellets. I want him to eat more grass/flowers/etc.
Any advice would be appreciated! Thanks.

 

[Yvonne G]

Chop up a bunch of the food you want him to eat, but in the meantime, be soaking some of the Repcal pellets in warm water (or aloe juice). Mash up the pellets then stir it and the greens all together, coating all the greens with that Repcal smell. You might have to start with not too much greens, slowly over time adding more greens and less repcal.

 

[ChrisJohan]

Chop up a bunch of the food you want him to eat, but in the meantime, be soaking some of the Repcal pellets in warm water (or aloe juice). Mash up the pellets then stir it and the greens all together, coating all the greens with that Repcal smell. You might have to start with not too much greens, slowly over time adding more greens and less repcal.

Yes! I did that method, start from 80% repcal and slowly add more of the other food each day. Did this for almost 2 weeks now, the end result is just lost in appetite, maybe I need to do this slower and just be more patience...?

 

[ZEROPILOT]

A lot of those colorful pellets are full of sugar. They do love it, but it's horrible food. It'b be like you just eating ice cream. My tortoises became "addicted" to MAZURI. I had to slowly wean them back until it only now makes up about 20-25% of the diet. (Mazuri is actually good stuff, not like those colored pellets.) It is NOT unusual at all for a tortoise to be spoiled and reject new food. It might last a few weeks. In the end, hunger will win and he'll begin to eat again. Don't worry about it.

 

[Yvonne G]

I've heard over and again that a tortoise won't let himself starve and it's ok to just keep offering the good food because eventually he'll eat. But I have a female desert tortoise that won't graze. I've tried every method I know to make her see that she can pluck grass off the 'stem' and eat it. She'll eat grass if I put it on a pile of greens, but she just won't graze. She almost starved for two summers because I wasn't alert enough to realize she wasn't grazing.

If you want to try to just wait it out - put down a pile of the good food daily - and don't offer the pellets, you can give it a try, but be alert to know if she's eating anything or not.

 

[ChrisJohan]

A lot of those colorful pellets are full of sugar. They do love it, but it's horrible food. It'b be like you just eating ice cream. My tortoises became "addicted" to MAZURI. I had to slowly wean them back until it only now makes up about 20-25% of the diet. (Mazuri is actually good stuff, not like those colored pellets.) It is NOT unusual at all for a tortoise to be spoiled and reject new food. It might last a few weeks. In the end, hunger will win and he'll begin to eat again. Don't worry about it.

I still have some mazuri, And just the other day I introduced him to mazuri, didnt even look at it, its as if the mazuri was invisible.

I've heard over and again that a tortoise won't let himself starve and it's ok to just keep offering the good food because eventually he'll eat. But I have a female desert tortoise that won't graze. I've tried every method I know to make her see that she can pluck grass off the 'stem' and eat it. She'll eat grass if I put it on a pile of greens, but she just won't graze. She almost starved for two summers because I wasn't alert enough to realize she wasn't grazing.

If you want to try to just wait it out - put down a pile of the good food daily - and don't offer the pellets, you can give it a try, but be alert to know if she's eating anything or not.

That's what I'm afraid of I dont wanna take the risk, cause right now he has lost so much weight than when he first came, and I'm all out of ideas...

 

[teresaf]

Hmmmm, Have you tried soaking the mazuri and mixing a small portion with the pellets? Increasing the portion percentage over time? I don't know of many torts that don't eat the mazuri. The original type mazuri tortoise food in roundish nugget shape is the stuff most love. NOT the "Mazuri tortoise diet LS"(pellet shaped that most torts won't touch).

 

[Jodie]

What are your temps and enclosure like? Is it possible there is another reason he isn't eating?