Garlic to make a tortoise eat?

[ZEROPILOT]

An old trick for making picky or ill large tropical fish interested in food is to ad garlic. It almost always works.
Yesterday I added a little very finely blended garlic into some Mazuri mashed up and offered it to Bertha, my big female RF that still has not eaten in about 1.5 weeks.
Instead of ignoring the food and walking right over it, she stopped and lowered her head and looked at it...Before walking through it. An improvement!
Today I'll try garlic bananas. Sounds great.
The vet appointment is Monday. I do hope she eats before then.
Has anyone else used garlic?

 

[Gordi]

Most allium sp are considered toxic to tortoises as are most plants that produce a bulb. In small doses it may not cause any noticeable reaction, long term it could be a different matter. Tortoises metabolise so slowly the long term effect on kidneys liver etc are not known. The first thing we do with poor eaters is look at the set up, possible changes in the heat and light that might have gone unnoticed, parasite infestation, sometimes they just don't need to eat as much as we think they should

 

[ZEROPILOT]

She didn't touch the garlic concoction. I guess I'm lucky. (It was a very small amount anyway.)
I'm actually sitting in the vets office as I type.
Thanks for the warning.
That's exactly the type of information I needed.
Maybe today I'll find out what is wrong with her.

 

[Gordi]

Hopefully it's nothing to worry about. Keep us posted :0)

 

[newCH]

So what did the vet say ?

 

[ZEROPILOT]

After x-rays and an exam and blood work it was determined that she is absolutely healthy.
The vet gave me her Email and told me that a Redfoot can go without eating for three months.
I'm updating and reviewing on a new thread.

 

[Yvonne G]

Oh,man...they charge you $130 for the x-rays then an additional $85 to interpret them? Yipes.

 

[Killerrookie]

After x-rays and an exam and blood work it was determined that she is absolutely healthy.
The vet gave me her Email and told me that a Redfoot can go without eating for three months.
I'm updating and reviewing on a new thread.

View attachment 127691

That's almost as much as I paid in medicine to treat a respiratory infection.

 

[newCH]

3 months, thats a long time. Talk about "living off your reserves" !

 

[ZEROPILOT]

So. Not good value at this place, huh?
The only other tortoise vets are down near the Keys.(Florida keys)