Do Red foots get picky?

DJ Kirk

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So I'm offering everything to my RF but it seems to only be interested in zucchini. I've tried everything lately - dried and fresh flowers, lettuce/chard/chicory/etc, dandelions, bananas, strawberries, egg, chicken, pre-made pellets - everything under the sun but it picks through the pile and seeks out the zucchini like a guided missile. Is this something they do? It's never done it before. In the past it has eaten everything put in front of it.
 

Relic

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Sometimes changing the appearance of the food helps. Instead of slicing, trying shaving with a potato peeler, or cubing into tiny bits. Soak a chunk or two of Mazuri and smear it all around into everything to get that delicious "aroma of the gods" onto everything. They are an enigma - some eat everything offered, some not so much. Just keep it varied and enjoy the show...
 

willee638

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So I'm offering everything to my RF but it seems to only be interested in zucchini. I've tried everything lately - dried and fresh flowers, lettuce/chard/chicory/etc, dandelions, bananas, strawberries, egg, chicken, pre-made pellets - everything under the sun but it picks through the pile and seeks out the zucchini like a guided missile. Is this something they do? It's never done it before. In the past it has eaten everything put in front of it.
My red foot is a very fussy eater, I have to change her menu each day. She seems to ignore & refuses to eat the same foods just the meal she previously had before, but she will try something new even for the first time like some canned tuna fish in brine & seems to enjoy it immensely. Someone in the forum suggest feeding it for a good source of calcium & protein, I'm sure she won't eat it on her next meal & again wants something different. How often should red foots eat meats?
 

willee638

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That behavior is somewhat common for younger Redfoot.
Adults will vacuum up anything that they find.
I'm entertaining a weird kind of logic by thinking if I introduce another female red foot tortoise to the enclosure of my current female red foot it will some how encourage her to be more active, as I read somewhere younger red foot tortoises in the wild tends to follow an older more amateur tortoise & mimicks them. Can it be my red foot lacks the enthusiasm when everything is plentiful & without competition?
 

willee638

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I wouldn't put 2 together.
The more active one will bully the other.
As peaceful as Redfoot generally are, even they shouldn't be kept in pairs (Twos)
As a new tortoise owner & enthusiast with long time interest in turtles & tortoises this is the painful truth many like myself still find it hard to except, we all want to have another one that's the same spices for them to think they're not alone. If 2 cats or 2 dogs or rabbits can co-exist why tortoises & turtles can't makes us do the wrong things, I watched a YouTube channel that the person said it's ok to keep more than one tortoise but he appears to be a breeder & has a huge yard as an enclosure for his several tortoises to roam & hide under trees & rocks.
 

willee638

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That behavior is somewhat common for younger Redfoot.
Adults will vacuum up anything that they find.
Please give me some advice on what's the better animal protein sources for my baby /yearling red foot tortoise? I gave her a little bit of canned tuna she loves it & I heard chicken is also good, should it be cooked or raw? Are earth worms or snails & meal worms good?
 

DJ Kirk

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Please give me some advice on what's the better animal protein sources for my baby /yearling red foot tortoise? I gave her a little bit of canned tuna she loves it & I heard chicken is also good, should it be cooked or raw? Are earth worms or snails & meal worms good?
I feed my RF dead crickets. Seems to like it. I have also tried boiled egg. But protein is a only a twice a month thing.
 

willee638

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I feed my RF dead crickets. Seems to like it. I have also tried boiled egg. But protein is a only a twice a month thing.
Thanks, my baby red foot seems to try everything for the first time but if given to her later the same day would ignore it. She doesn't eat the Mazuri tortoise pet food anymore if given twice on the same day or consecutively for a few days, she doesn't eat the large quantities other keepers mentioned but small amounts several times in a day. I had to change up the menu & can only repeat the same foods every other day to keep things fresh, it wasn't me who initially did this to spoil her though. I guess the insects is what they'll naturally eat in the wild, would they get pyramiding if given too much proteins?
 

ZEROPILOT

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As a new tortoise owner & enthusiast with long time interest in turtles & tortoises this is the painful truth many like myself still find it hard to except, we all want to have another one that's the same spices for them to think they're not alone. If 2 cats or 2 dogs or rabbits can co-exist why tortoises & turtles can't makes us do the wrong things, I watched a YouTube channel that the person said it's ok to keep more than one tortoise but he appears to be a breeder & has a huge yard as an enclosure for his several tortoises to roam & hide under trees & rocks.
Many in a huge enclosure. Yes.
A pair in almost any enclosure. No.
Pack mentality works for mammals. Tortoises don't make friends. They are solitary animals.
Even keeping many in a huge environment is solely for human convenience or human entertainment. It's still less than ideal for the tortoise.
 

ZEROPILOT

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Please give me some advice on what's the better animal protein sources for my baby /yearling red foot tortoise? I gave her a little bit of canned tuna she loves it & I heard chicken is also good, should it be cooked or raw? Are earth worms or snails & meal worms good?
I use what I have handy. Dog food, boiled egg, whatever.
A lot of this protein draws in ants. So don't leave these types of foods in the enclosure for long.
 

DJ Kirk

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I watched a YouTube channel that the person said it's ok to keep more than one tortoise but he appears to be a breeder & has a huge yard as an enclosure for his several tortoises to roam & hide under trees & rocks.

KampKenan right? Some people like that guy but I think he's over-the-top douchy. I admire his mission to protect torts, turtles, reptiles, etc - but he's all about the hits & clicks = $$$. Plus he's not shy about shilling for Flukers or ZooMed. His vids are often commercials.
 

willee638

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KampKenan right? Some people like that guy but I think he's over-the-top douchy. I admire his mission to protect torts, turtles, reptiles, etc - but he's all about the hits & clicks = $$$. Plus he's not shy about shilling for Flukers or ZooMed. His vids are often commercials.
Yes, KampKenan was the first YouTube channel to popup when I searched for tortoises. For a beginner it's was cool to see a guy managing & raising a whole zoo of reptiles, he had a large collection of tortoises red foots, yellow foots, sulcatas etc...he appears to know it all & I can understand his channel needs the support of sponsors to keep going. I guess all the beginners are drawn to these videos because they want to see someone with knowledge & experience in raising the kind of tortoises they have until I joined TortoiseForum with people like myself who are learning from scratch & those with real experiences like yourselves...kudos.
 

willee638

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I use what I have handy. Dog food, boiled egg, whatever.
A lot of this protein draws in ants. So don't leave these types of foods in the enclosure for long.
Thanks, I heard dog food, cat food too. I gave my tort a little piece of high fibre wheat biscuit "McVitie's" wetted with water, I know human food is probably bad & not recommended for animals because they might contain sugars & salt too high for them. But my red foot doesn't like to repeat eating the same foods twice on consecutive days, I'm running out of ideas to keep things fresh for her. Red foots are opportunist eaters but mine just doesn't stick to the same diet long, she would try to eat the soil in a flower pot & bite small pebbles.
 

Toddrickfl1

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Please give me some advice on what's the better animal protein sources for my baby /yearling red foot tortoise? I gave her a little bit of canned tuna she loves it & I heard chicken is also good, should it be cooked or raw? Are earth worms or snails & meal worms good?
Earthworms, pill bugs, scrambled and hard boiled eggs, boiled chicken, shrimp, tuna, salmon, sardines, canned cat or dog food. There's so many options with Redfoots!
 

ZEROPILOT

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Thanks, I heard dog food, cat food too. I gave my tort a little piece of high fibre wheat biscuit "McVitie's" wetted with water, I know human food is probably bad & not recommended for animals because they might contain sugars & salt too high for them. But my red foot doesn't like to repeat eating the same foods twice on consecutive days, I'm running out of ideas to keep things fresh for her. Red foots are opportunist eaters but mine just doesn't stick to the same diet long, she would try to eat the soil in a flower pot & bite small pebbles.
A hungry Redfoot won't starve itself to death.
It'll eventually eat.
Eventually they'll understand that what ever is offered is all that's coming that day.
Being picky is a learned behavior. So is them not being choosy.
Be patient with them.
They'll eat.
 

TammyJ

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So I'm offering everything to my RF but it seems to only be interested in zucchini. I've tried everything lately - dried and fresh flowers, lettuce/chard/chicory/etc, dandelions, bananas, strawberries, egg, chicken, pre-made pellets - everything under the sun but it picks through the pile and seeks out the zucchini like a guided missile. Is this something they do? It's never done it before. In the past it has eaten everything put in front of it.
If he is "seeking out" the zucchini and leaving everything else, I would leave out the zucchini for a while until he starts eating the other foods. He will, if everything else is correct in his enclosure (temperature, humidity level, water, substrate, hides etc.). Then I would "reward" him occasionally with a bit of zucchini.
 

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