picky eater

[Harley]

so i have been giving harley romaine lettuce. at first i would get the mix from the store and have noticed hes a bit picky. he doesnt like cabbge, or carrots. well i decided to try something else. so instead of getting the pre-mix i go and i get fresh roamine lettuce. i tried spinach and saw that it was bad. so i stopped the spinach. so yesterday i went and got fresh romaine and kale. so last night after a while i went to see what he was up to and noticed he ate the lettuce and left out the kale. what am i gonna do with him? he has got a funny personality. i know grass and flowers and weeds are good for him too. but right now i dont have any of that outside. what do you do to get this stuff for them during the winter? any suggestions are appreciated! THANKS!!

 

[firetwofire]

Do you have a local feed store? For horses ect, they sell bails of grass for cheap(I use orchard grass bails). You can also ask them for pellet form. My tort loves the pellets(I soak in water before giving to him).

 

[wellington]

You need to get him to eat other stuff. Chop up all the greens and mix together. Less romaine then the others. Spritz with water. The greens will stick together and if he wants the romaine, he will have to eat the others too. Also, Mazuri tortoise diet is another good thing to add into his diet. Dandelion greens, mulberry leaf, hibiscus leaf and flower. Check out the tortoisetable .org for other edible plants.

 

[Harley]

Where do i find all these edible plants?

 

[wellington]

Some at the supermarket, some at stores like Home Depot, some are weeds, some you can plant yourself. Oh, optunia cactus also is a good food to feed. That you can order online, tortoisesupply.com has cactus, Mazuri and I believe they even sell seeds. You can also get wild bird seed and plant that.

 

[mainey34]

I have had that same problem with my sulcata. She has to be the pickiest eater ever...my experience with my sulcata.....just keep trying different things. Have you tried mazuri? I have resorted to planting a garden with lots of goodies in it. If you haven't delt with a pickey eater..you haven't a clue, they are just so stubborn..

 

[Harley]

I have had that same problem with my sulcata. She has to be the pickiest eater ever...my experience with my sulcata.....just keep trying different things. Have you tried mazuri? I have resorted to planting a garden with lots of goodies in it. If you haven't delt with a pickey eater..you haven't a clue, they are just so stubborn..

Can he have the mazuri everyday? Or is that a once n a while kind of thing?

 

[marcy4hope]

my sulcata had been a very picky eater and then all of a sudden he took off and just started eating almost everything. but during his pickiest times, i really chopped things up more so he couldn't pick through it as easily. i also added mazuri to the mix, since he loved it and then he'd eat more of the other stuff trying to get at the mazuri. now i only use mazuri once or twice a week. i don't chop anything up anymore and he seems to like that better now that he's not so picky. he eats cactus, kale, mushrooms, mustard greens, collard greens, bok choy parsley, squash, spring mix. spring mix is the staple that i use and then i just mix in other things as i get them in the market right now. (it's winter, so no grass growing.) age also has something to do with it. how old is yours? young babies won't usually eat hay. mine is a year old and is just starting to eat a little bit of hay pellets soaked.

 

[mainey34]

I have had that same problem with my sulcata. She has to be the pickiest eater ever...my experience with my sulcata.....just keep trying different things. Have you tried mazuri? I have resorted to planting a garden with lots of goodies in it. If you haven't delt with a pickey eater..you haven't a clue, they are just so stubborn..

Can he have the mazuri everyday? Or is that a once n a while kind of thing?

Its whatever you choose...I give every day. But I started out with 6 pellets. Then reduced it. I also add zoomed grassland.. with greens. I chop up greens soak zoomed and mazuri and mix everything. I can now feed with or without mazuri. She is no longer pickey. Let me tell you, it was very frustrating in the beginning because she wouldn't eat anything...now its great...

 

[AZtortMom]

I have a picky eater too. I just started using the Mazuri every day mixed in her food and it has been helping a lot because it forces her to eat everything else to get to the Mazuri. She only eats 2 pellets a day though