Help with getting chomper to eat mazuri or anything other than just lettuce!

[omgdoubletacos]

I have been fighting with Chomper pretty much since I got him with changing his diet. The guy I received him from never soaked him, didn't have the humidity where it was supposed to be, had his substrate as dry paper towels, and only fed Chomper the mixed lettuce.

Now I cant get him to eat anything but that. He'll eat a bite or two of mustard or collard greens but then decides he doesn't want anymore. He never touched any mazuri or dandelion that I give him. I tried the "tough love" approach but he just wouldn't eat and I tried to chop the lettuce up and mix it with the mazuri, but again n luck. :/ I'm at a loss. Kw he needs to eat healthier stuff but hes being a brat.

 

[wellington]

I don't really have any new suggestions. Just the chopping of the food you want him to eat. Chop small amounts of the new food and mix it with a larger amount of the older food and spritz with water so it all sticks together. As he eats it and gets used to eating it, add more of the new foods and less of the old food. As he does good with that, then you can try adding Mazuri. Again, soak a couple pieces, and mix it well into the greens. Also, maybe try some pumpkin or squash. If he really likes that, mix the chopped greens in it, then less and less of the pumpkin/squash until its just the greens. Good luck.

 

[kathyth]

ditto to the above.
That is what I would do.
Good luck

 

[Zamric]

the hungrier he gets the more open minded he will become about food sources.

 

[Yellow Turtle]

How long have you done the tough love? You might need to be tougher, they certainly can starve themselves pretty long time. My radiata basically almost stopped eating for a week when I move him to new enclosure and still doing fine, until he readjusted and started to eat again.

 

[Laura]

if you dont feed it he cant eat it...
mix it or remove it and try lots of different things. something with color helps a lot too.

 

[Vegasarah]

I had a hatchling sulcata come from the same type of environment. He refused to eat anything but romaine lettuce! I had to do the tough love approach, too. When I first put a collard/ mustard/ turnip mix in there he refused to eat any of it. So a whole day went by and he didn't touch it. So I took it all out and replaced it with fresh ones each morning (wanted to make them look appetizing!) . After three whole days of this and not eating he finally waddled over to the greens and tried them. He chowed down out of hunger and he's been eating them daily ever since! You have to keep in mind that he won't starve! He knows those greens are for eating, though they might not be his favorite! I could also suggest bumping your temps slightly (keep an eye on the humidity) because I find the warmer the reptile the more they eat/ get hungry! I've also been mixing theses collar/ mustard/ turnip greens with Zoomed Grassland pellets kind of smeared on the greens. Squirt's spoiled and still gets romaine about twice a month with the Zoomed pellets on top- he eats it like candy!

 

[Katherine]

I notice sometimes with a new tortoise that they do not recognize the Mazuri as food initially. If your tortoise is eating lettuce, I would reccommend you over soak a single a single piece of it and smear it like on the leaf of lettuce like you are making a piece of toast. Doesn't even have to be a lot, once they accidentally ingest some they seem to get used to the taste and recognize it as edible. Also, like others have mentioned, hunger is the best motivator!

 

[motero]

I think three days is the low end of the tuff love approach, up to 6-7 days. Don't let that little guy boss you around.

 

[Livingstone]

What he said.

I think three days is the low end of the tuff love approach, up to 6-7 days. Don't let that little guy boss you around.