Tortoise pellets or no pellets

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I have a baby sulcata tort hes only about 4 inches. What do you people feel about giving them the pellets to the torts ? Is he to young to start him on the pellets? What brands do u recommend?
 

ZEROPILOT

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All pellets are not created equally.:)
I like Mazuri brand. But it's hard to find the original formula and the Mazuri "L.S" is something that most tortoises will not eat.
 

BrianWI

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I am using Zoo Med Natural Grassland Tortoise Food. I tried soaking it and feeding by itself, she wouldn't eat it. So I now mix it in with torn of pieces of greens and she eats it. I have also seen her eat it now by itself out of the bottom of the dish after all the lettuce is gone. I like commercial diets as good ones provide an easy way to round out their nutritional needs.
 

Tom

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There are two brands of pellets that I like and recommend.

1. Mazuri. I like the regular "original" style. I'm not a fan of the new "LS" type yet. Mazuri is a good supplement to a varied diet of grass, weeds, leaves and succulents. Mazuri will make sure there are no "holes" or missing nutrients or trace element in whatever anyone is feeding their tortoise. It also gives a nice protein boost, which is needed, and as an added benefit, most tortoises love it. Because they find it so palatable and desirable, you can use it to introduce new foods that might not be as appealing.

2. I also like ZooMed Grassland pellets. When soaked and mixed with grocery store greens, these pellets are a good way to add much needed fiber and variety.

Neither type of pellet is "necessary", but both can be beneficial.
 

JHat

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To me pellets are a good source of offering something needed for your tort that you can't easily, or in the quantity necessary, provide them by other means.
 

Speedy-1

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I like Mazuri , because Speedy eats it so well ! I think the pelleted foods do a good job of hitting any nutritional mistakes a person might make !
 

Tom

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Tom,
Do tortoises like the Mazuri better?

In general, I would have to say yes. About 75% of tortoises act like Mazuri is candy and come running for it. Many tortoise will chow down on it the first time they see it, and that is very unusual for a new food. I've only heard of a few tortoises that don't care for it. I had a big male sulcata that would take a few bites and then walk away from the rest to go eat weeds or hay, but most of them would never leave a tray that still had a tiny morsel of soaked Mazuri on it.

Most tortoises have to get used to the ZooMed pellets. I start very slow with only a little bit mixed into their greens. Once they get used to it and accept it, most tortoises will eat it just fine, but many won't just eat it plain if its not mixed in with greens. I think it is a great supplemental food, but tortoises definitely "like" Mazuri better.
 

jockma

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Mazuri themselves discontinued selling smaller amounts of their product, I think the least you can buy is 30 lbs at a time (could be wrong, haven't checked in a while) so if you want a small amount of Mazuri to try it out you might be out of luck. I think some folks buy the huge barrels of Mazuri and repackage them to sell in smaller quantities, that seems to be what happens on Amazon.

I bought a 6 lb bucket of it. Bean swallows it whole. Patience does not exist when Mazuri is involved.
 

Speedy-1

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30 Lb bags are all I could find also , I think there are folks on the forum here that sell it in smaller quantities ? I just bought the 30 Lb bag the more Speedy grows the faster it disappears ! :D
 

Pearly

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I mix in some soaked pellets with fresh stuff for every morning feeding. ImageUploadedByTortoise Forum1467656813.725414.jpg. This is Mazuri LS , my babies eat it ok soaked, mashed, mixed in with greens/fresh chopped stuff) ImageUploadedByTortoise Forum1467656835.096286.jpg they absolutely LOVE this one! Soaking takes a lot longer and better with warm water. ImageUploadedByTortoise Forum1467656994.794747.jpg these are very small pellets and I actually sprinkle them dry over the fresh food. Tucker loves these. He pics to the very last one bfr eating rest of his food. ImageUploadedByTortoise Forum1467657451.532195.jpg can't really say that they like this one. ImageUploadedByTortoise Forum1467657484.326266.jpg and not too crazy about this one. ImageUploadedByTortoise Forum1467657506.654574.jpg they love these as treat.
 

AmandaGal

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If you feed a pellet, do you still need to supplement with repti-cal? I know Mazuri is fortified.
 

Gillian M

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I mix in some soaked pellets with fresh stuff for every morning feeding. View attachment 179145. This is Mazuri LS , my babies eat it ok soaked, mashed, mixed in with greens/fresh chopped stuff) View attachment 179146 they absolutely LOVE this one! Soaking takes a lot longer and better with warm water. View attachment 179147 these are very small pellets and I actually sprinkle them dry over the fresh food. Tucker loves these. He pics to the very last one bfr eating rest of his food. View attachment 179148 can't really say that they like this one. View attachment 179149 and not too crazy about this one. View attachment 179150 they love these as treat.
Wish all that stuff was available here!
 

Calatrava

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I give a mix of different brands of pellets, like Mazuri, Versailles, Sudo, rep-cal, zoomed. My leopard likes Sudo and Mazuri a lot. Sometimes, in order to feed him with grass I plant, I grind the pellets into powders and spray them on the grass, so the tort has to eat grass in order to taste the pellets.
 

jockma

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@Calatrava now THAT is an excellent idea. And to think I wasted all that fruit purée to trick Bean into eating things. He suddenly started hating sweet potato and attacks it (I mean he literally attacks it, he rams it repeatedly and bobs his head at it) so I'm gonna try this to rekindle his long-lost love of sweet potato.
 

Big Charlie

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I got Charlie 17 years ago. At that time, there was some kind of tortoise pellet food I got at the pet store that smelled fishy. He wouldn't touch it, so I never tried again. He has lived his whole life without pellets. He might like Mazuri but if I got him started on it, I would have to keep providing it. It is easier just to let him loose on the lawn and let him find his own food.
 

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