Any tips for a picky eater?

[Jessica5]

Hello!

My Golden Greek named Franklin is a picky eater and I was just wondering if there are any tips anyone has to get him to eat A better variety of foods? I always make sure to give him a variety of endive, green leaf lettuce, boc choy, squash, prickly pear fruit, hibiscus flowers, sedums, carrots, weeds, and dry supplements, etc. but he only seems to go for the lettuce and carrots...

 

[Tom]

Chop up the favorite foods super fine and spray them with water. Then, chop up a tiny tiny amount of the new and better foods, like less than 1% to start with, and mix it all in together. There will be no way to eat around the new stuff. Gradually add more and more of the new stuff over a period of weeks or months. In time, your tortoise will get used to all the new stuff and start eating everything. Don't be afraid the let the tortoise go hungry if it chooses not to eat your mix. A hungry tortoise is not a picky tortoise. Picky tortoises that come to me don't stay picky for very long.

If the tortoise does decide to skip eating from time to time during this long process, be sure to soak more than normal to ensure good hydration and keep the GI tract moving, will will also increase the desire to eat.

 

[Jessica5]

Chop up the favorite foods super fine and spray them with water. Then, chop up a tiny tiny amount of the new and better foods, like less than 1% to start with, and mix it all in together. There will be no way to eat around the new stuff. Gradually add more and more of the new stuff over a period of weeks or months. In time, your tortoise will get used to all the new stuff and start eating everything. Don't be afraid the let the tortoise go hungry if it chooses not to eat your mix. A hungry tortoise is not a picky tortoise. Picky tortoises that come to me don't stay picky for very long.

If the tortoise does decide to skip eating from time to time during this long process, be sure to soak more than normal to ensure good hydration and keep the GI tract moving, will will also increase the desire to eat.

Great, thank you so much Tom for the information!

 

[Pure Tortoise Power]

He isn't eating anything that i see, if he is eating anything when im not looking it is very tiny

If he DOES at least eat a little, it's just a behavioral problem, like humans. In this case you need not worry too much

But for the second case, loss of appetite. There are a lot of causes on this. Main ones are inadequate heat, hydration, sunlight. You mentioned you do soak him and check temps. What are the temps in the enclosure may I ask? And do you sunbathe him every so often?
Stress can also be a factor. Stress can be inflicted if he's held too much, sudden change of environment etc.
Worst case scenario, he's sick. Especially mouth rot. If you don't know how mouth rot looks like, you can compare pics found on Google to your tort.
I've also heard seasonal/climate change can also diminish tort's appetite? I'm not sure about this last one.

Anyway, can you also post pics of your enclosure?

 

[Pure Tortoise Power]

If he DOES at least eat a little, it's just a behavioral problem, like humans. In this case you need not worry too much

But for the second case, loss of appetite. There are a lot of causes on this. Main ones are inadequate heat, hydration, sunlight. You mentioned you do soak him and check temps. What are the temps in the enclosure may I ask? And do you sunbathe him every so often?
Stress can also be a factor. Stress can be inflicted if he's held too much, sudden change of environment etc.
Worst case scenario, he's sick. Especially mouth rot. If you don't know how mouth rot looks like, you can compare pics found on Google to your tort.
I've also heard seasonal/climate change can also diminish tort's appetite? I'm not sure about this last one.

Anyway, can you also post pics of your enclosure?

Aw poop I posted on the wrong page lol. My bad. You can ignore this XD