Pearly's tips to feed picky eater

Nisi

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Can you list good flowers for leopard torts to eat. I am going to my brothers to steal some of his grass since his isn't treated and my friend has a natural garden she is willing to bring me clippings . Just want to make sure I don't poison him.
 

Tidgy's Dad

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Can you list good flowers for leopard torts to eat. I am going to my brothers to steal some of his grass since his isn't treated and my friend has a natural garden she is willing to bring me clippings . Just want to make sure I don't poison him.
Try http://www.thetortoisetable.org.uk/site/tortoise_home_1.asp
they are a tad on the safe side ( wisely so) but give a good idea of what is safe for you tortoise to eat.
 

Pearly

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Can you list good flowers for leopard torts to eat. I am going to my brothers to steal some of his grass since his isn't treated and my friend has a natural garden she is willing to bring me clippings . Just want to make sure I don't poison him.
Somehow I had missed your question. I think any flower of nontoxic is good diet item for grazing tort. Dandelion, hibiscus, rose, pansy, marigold, snapdragon, calendula, dianthus, squash, zucchini, pumpkin blooms... maybe clovers... look around and see what you've got growing around
 

Cymmie

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I do what you do except I have two types a pellets (zoomed grassland tortoise food) and the mazuri LS. I never thought about doing a rotation with them. Teo gets pellets about two times a week, because he just went in to the vet and he was underweight due to his RI (as you may remember from my other thread). I decided to get mazuri to use instead to help put on some weight cause I know it does. But I don't know why I haven't rotated them XD Funny thing is I use a huge amount of veggies/greens/weeds/some fruit for Teo and he loves it. He also has his sprouts which I plan to plant some outside of his cage because the poor sprouts can't even grow for two whole days before they meat the horrid tortoise mouth. But what I usually do to get him to eat his pellets is I soak them with just enough warm water to get them moist and then because he can be a picky little man I usually mix them with canned pumpkin/sweet potato (all organic) if I need something quick. Or if I have some sweet potato pre cooked or squash or whatever I mix it in. He of course gets plenty of that raw and grated in larger grated sizes. I grow various things for him, my blue tongue, and my insects that I feed to my various other reptiles.
 

TempestRising

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Really great post on feeding our 'Babies'! I received Sunni and Sheldyn on May 2 they both weighed 45g (I'm guessing they are 4 or 5 months at the most) since then Sheldyn is now (5/28/17) 60g and Sunni is 55g. I have noticed that Sheldyn will hog the food dish leaving Sunni to pace the edge or nibble on what he/she can get. Soooo... I was getting worried because Sunni is very active but just seemed not to be eating enough in my opinion. I'm super glad I was able to search the forum and find a solution. It doesnt look very appealing (I'm gonna work on that LoL) but Sunni ate a full hardy meal today that included *Pureed hibiscus flower, chickweed, mushrooms, beet tops, and Mazuri (I ordered a 12oz bag from an Amazon Verified Seller) soaked in warm coconut water and calcium supl mixed in. I've decided to separate them for a bit to get Sunni eating regularly again. After a good soak in separate containers (pic is of their soak yesterday) I brought Sunni inside to eat alone for 30 minutes then once he/she roamed off and hid under some moss I brought Sheldyn in from his sun time and he/she ate good as well. They are both bedded down for the evening... night temps are 80F (cool end) - 86F (warm end) and humidity is 91%.... I think they had a pretty good day! #SideNote @Pearly I totally live in Pflugerville! So glad to have someone to turn to close to home! If you don't mind I'll definitely be asking for your tips as these guys settle in and grow! Thanks again!
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Fredkas

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I think the best way is separate them and let them have their own enclosure.
Tortoise rarely do well in pair.
 

TempestRising

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I completely agree on seperating them for now. My husband has agreed to us getting another hatchling in July hopefully after 3 months of quarantine (I'm going to get him/her from the same breeder so hopefully 3 months will be good before introducing the 3rd tort). We are working on a larger closed chamber enclosure where I can divide it into private sections and they still have adequate space to be okay. Here is this mornings observations. Sheldyn is definitely a Baby Bully! He hogged the food this morning again I had to be sure this is what was happening. I went ahead a soaked Sunni and then refreshed this mornings meal (Cantalope Green Leaf Lettuce Blueberries Mazuri Soaked in warm Coconut Water and Strawberries are Sunni's favs so I sprinkled sum on top just to get him/her going....) AND I got nibbles then no interest. Sunni did poop which I think looks consistent and regular for her. But because I'm a New Nervous Netty I ended up resoaking sum fresh Mazuri mixing with Strawberries and laying on Greenleaf because she is curious and will wonder near the lettuce. I then put the food and Sunni in a separate space turned off the lighting opened the blinds to let the natural light go into the enclosure... Temps were about 82 to 86 throughout and humidity above 90%... Sunni did eat a portion that made me feel that she is just being bratty BUT better safe than sorry so I will be keeping my eye out! Pics of this mornings ordeal below! LoL! My 1year old was my shadow this AM! He thinks he is my helper! NOT! Just a tripping hazard. I spilled rain water for saoking all over my dining room floor!20170601_083939_Film4.jpg 20170601_085831_Film4.jpg 20170601_091352_Film4.jpg 20170601_091817_Film4.jpg 20170601_092716_Film4.jpg 20170601_092621_Film4.jpg 20170601_093112_Film4.jpg 20170601_114251_Film4.jpg 20170601_114318_Film4.jpg 20170601_092758_Film4.jpg
 

Pearly

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I completely agree on seperating them for now. My husband has agreed to us getting another hatchling in July hopefully after 3 months of quarantine (I'm going to get him/her from the same breeder so hopefully 3 months will be good before introducing the 3rd tort). We are working on a larger closed chamber enclosure where I can divide it into private sections and they still have adequate space to be okay. Here is this mornings observations. Sheldyn is definitely a Baby Bully! He hogged the food this morning again I had to be sure this is what was happening. I went ahead a soaked Sunni and then refreshed this mornings meal (Cantalope Green Leaf Lettuce Blueberries Mazuri Soaked in warm Coconut Water and Strawberries are Sunni's favs so I sprinkled sum on top just to get him/her going....) AND I got nibbles then no interest. Sunni did poop which I think looks consistent and regular for her. But because I'm a New Nervous Netty I ended up resoaking sum fresh Mazuri mixing with Strawberries and laying on Greenleaf because she is curious and will wonder near the lettuce. I then put the food and Sunni in a separate space turned off the lighting opened the blinds to let the natural light go into the enclosure... Temps were about 82 to 86 throughout and humidity above 90%... Sunni did eat a portion that made me feel that she is just being bratty BUT better safe than sorry so I will be keeping my eye out! Pics of this mornings ordeal below! LoL! My 1year old was my shadow this AM! He thinks he is my helper! NOT! Just a tripping hazard. I spilled rain water for saoking all over my dining room floor!View attachment 209167 View attachment 209168 View attachment 209169 View attachment 209170 View attachment 209171 View attachment 209172 View attachment 209173 View attachment 209174 View attachment 209175 View attachment 209176
Omg!!!! Your Baby is absolutely adorable!!!!!
 

Greta16

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So hopefully someone here can help and I won't have to start a new thread. My soon to be 6 mo old Hermanns is really driving me crazy. A little over a month ago I'm gonna guess she started eating her mazuri. This was about the time I switched over to fresh weeds as they started growing outside. For a few days she wouldn't eat the greens then voila, she did. Now it seems all she wants to eat is her mazuri. She hardly touches her greens. When I got her in march she weighed 28g and now she's 30g. Should I be chopping up her greens with the mazuri? I'm afraid she'll only eat that and never touch her greens again?!
 

Pearly

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So hopefully someone here can help and I won't have to start a new thread. My soon to be 6 mo old Hermanns is really driving me crazy. A little over a month ago I'm gonna guess she started eating her mazuri. This was about the time I switched over to fresh weeds as they started growing outside. For a few days she wouldn't eat the greens then voila, she did. Now it seems all she wants to eat is her mazuri. She hardly touches her greens. When I got her in march she weighed 28g and now she's 30g. Should I be chopping up her greens with the mazuri? I'm afraid she'll only eat that and never touch her greens again?!
I would! Chop things up and add soaked mazuri pellets. Now, remember that Mazuri IS NOT BAD for them so we don't havAt first you e to act like we's bribing toddler with candy to get few mites of food. You may want to start with more Mazuri/less greens, or 1/2&½, and then slowly start changing over. I feed Maxuri rotating with other brands of dry commercial tortoise pellets almost daily at breakfast, where it makes up for about ¼ of their feeding portion. My babies are 2 yrs old and i just weighted them today Shellie weighs bit over 3 lbs (approx 1.5kg) and Tucker is little over 2lbs (approx 1kg) and they are 8 and 7 " long carapace respectively, not big but both feel very solid when i pick them up, which tells me I must have done something right in feeding those 2 babies their first 2 yrs of life. My approach is similar to feeding a young child (do whatever it takes to get them to ingest some stuff that their growing body needs as building blocks) and/or principles of nutrition in recovering from major surgery or illness. It all takes time and lot of patience. Kids and animals typically don't like sudden changes so things need to be done gradually over period of time. Play with kinds of foods, consistency (chop, dice, blend even), colors (try adding flowers for visual/olfactory appeal). You are one step ahead already by knowing what your tortie's favorite is! Use it to your advantage. Keeping my fingers crossed for you
 

TempestRising

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As lil toddlers should:) enjoy your little cuties before they get bigger, stinkier, mouthier....
Lol so true as I am learning with my 10 yr old! Also would like to note that Sunni has gone back to eating vigorously and has been very active the last few days. Today was protein day and they had boiled shrimp which they LOVED and prickly pear cactus which they also seemed to enjoy very much! I'll continue to take note of what they like as I add variety and get their menu and schedule more panned out! Thanks again for this thread it was a major help!
 

Pearly

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Lol so true as I am learning with my 10 yr old! Also would like to note that Sunni has gone back to eating vigorously and has been very active the last few days. Today was protein day and they had boiled shrimp which they LOVED and prickly pear cactus which they also seemed to enjoy very much! I'll continue to take note of what they like as I add variety and get their menu and schedule more panned out! Thanks again for this thread it was a major help!
Very very welcome:)
 

TempestRising

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So good news there was some weight gain that I feel means I have a little picky eater on my hands lol. I was really nervous there tho...!

May 28 2017
Sheldyn 60g Sunni 55g
June 4 2017
Sheldyn 67g Sunni 63g
 

Greta16

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I would! Chop things up and add soaked mazuri pellets. Now, remember that Mazuri IS NOT BAD for them so we don't havAt first you e to act like we's bribing toddler with candy to get few mites of food. You may want to start with more Mazuri/less greens, or 1/2&½, and then slowly start changing over. I feed Maxuri rotating with other brands of dry commercial tortoise pellets almost daily at breakfast, where it makes up for about ¼ of their feeding portion. My babies are 2 yrs old and i just weighted them today Shellie weighs bit over 3 lbs (approx 1.5kg) and Tucker is little over 2lbs (approx 1kg) and they are 8 and 7 " long carapace respectively, not big but both feel very solid when i pick them up, which tells me I must have done something right in feeding those 2 babies their first 2 yrs of life. My approach is similar to feeding a young child (do whatever it takes to get them to ingest some stuff that their growing body needs as building blocks) and/or principles of nutrition in recovering from major surgery or illness. It all takes time and lot of patience. Kids and animals typically don't like sudden changes so things need to be done gradually over period of time. Play with kinds of foods, consistency (chop, dice, blend even), colors (try adding flowers for visual/olfactory appeal). You are one step ahead already by knowing what your tortie's favorite is! Use it to your advantage. Keeping my fingers crossed for you
Thanks. For some reason I couldn't get on here yesterday, it just kept saying connecting to server. Anyway. I chopped up her greens with her mazuri yesterday and she didn't touch it. I'm just gonna keep it up everyday! This morning it was raining and I didn't have her stuff already picked and I was late and I've got a bunch of family stuff going on...so I put in some Belgian endive (grocery store crap) to tide her over til I could come home and pick her some stuff.. well, I've never seen her run so fast. Ugghh, she saw those grocery store greens and ran.
 

TempestRising

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I was wondering what you think about this product. I found this on Amazon wondering if it would be something I could add to their diet. It seems really safe plus it takes some time for my Hibiscus to bloom in between feedings. :rolleyes:
 

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Rferrin

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I was given a tort about a year ago, was told it was a desert tortoise, and I was told that I needed to "figure out" what the previous owner fed it.. well, I know he/she will eat corn on the cob, kale, hibiscus but not much more, I have tried the vitamin pellets and those don't seem to work, tried soaking them but still nothing, he/she will eat grass leaves from the bushes and as gross as this is, I found him/her eating dog poop, (that came to an abrupt halt!) and he snuck out and went to visit the neighbors mulberry tree, we have since reinforced his enclosure so he/she doesn't get lost but I'm concerned about the lack of eating
 

TempestRising

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Hi! @Rferrin I'm new here but reading through this thread entirely and trying a few of the ideas really helped my RFs have a more steady and varied appetite. Not sure what type of tort you have (any pics?) Maybe finding out what type of tort you have first will better help you figure out the best diet for him/her. To help with my RFs feedings I had to try a variety of weeds and leafy greens I also added these dry foods on alternate days. Then began to introduce veggies and fruits.
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