Concern? Maybe?

[Lucas791]

I have a 4 inch in shell hermanns tortoise. When I feed him his usual, romaine, kale, cucumber combo he only eats the lettuce, should I be worried? Throughout the day I catch him nibbling on his orchard hay and cactus, sometimes he eats the rosemary and parsley sprouts I have. Should I be worried? Thanks.

 

[Tom]

If your tortoise is not eating enough of the right foods, then yes, you should worry. Sometimes it helps to get them eating other stuff if you finely chop or mince it all up and mix it, so that he can't eat around the stuff he doesn't like. Sometimes mixing it all up in a Mazuri mush will help too.

Here are some ideas for other, better things to feed:

Mulberry leaves
Grape vine leaves
Hibiscus leaves
African hibiscus leaves
Blue hibiscus leaves
Rose of Sharon leaves
Rose leaves
Geraniums
Gazanias
Lavatera
Pansies
Petunias
Hostas
Honeysuckle
Cape honeysuckle
Leaves and blooms from any squash plant, like pumpkin, cucumber, summer squash, etc...
Young spineless opuntia cactus pads

Weeds:
There are soooooooo many...
Dandelion
Mallow
Filaree
Smooth Sow thistle
Prickly Sow thistle
Milk thistle
Goat head weed
Cats ear
Nettles
Trefoil
Wild onion
Wild mustard
Wild Garlic
Clovers
Broadleaf plantain
Narrow leaf plantain
Chick weed
Hawksbit
Hensbit
Hawksbeard

Other good stuff:
"Testudo Seed Mix" from http://www.tortoisesupply.com/SeedMixes
Pasture mixes or other seeds from http://www.groworganic.com/seeds.html
Homegrown alfalfa
Mazuri Tortoise Chow
ZooMed Grassland Tortoise Food

 

[Yvonne G]

Your tortoise's diet is certainly lacking in variety of good tortoise food items. Pick some from Tom's list and quit offering romaine and cucumber. Another good baby tortoise food is a packaged lettuce called Spring Mix. I usually pick out quite a bit of the spinach as too much spinach isn't good either. Occasionally you can even offer zucchini. Its a good filler and gives the tortoise something of substance to bite on.