Don't soak Mazuri or other pellets

[Madkins007]

Many people soak tortoise 'chows' to make them easier to eat, more palatable, or to boost liquid intakes, but soaking dried foods also means that some of the nutrients will leach out into the water, reducing the benefits to the tortoise.

This is what it says on a bag of Mazuri Tortoise Diet:
Feeding Directions
ï‚· Feed approximately 2-4% of body weight. It is not necessary to moisten pellets with water.
ï‚· Feed consumption will vary with environmental temperatures.
ï‚· Feed with good quality grass hay. If desired, feed fresh fruits and vegetables
o At most 5% fruit and 20% vegetables by weight of total diet
ï‚· Always provide animal with plenty of fresh, clean water.

Besides, wet chows quickly become smelly messes and draw pests.

If your tortoise does not seem to eat whole pellets, try these tricks:
- Crush them up and sprinkle on foods.
- Break them up to smaller chunks.
- Mist the pellets, or dunk them just long enough to moisten the outer layer- that is often all they need to start to soften up.
- Remember that lots of us and other keepers use the pellets as is, and lots of tortoises eat them whole and dry. Yours can learn to do so too if you give it time and incentive.

 

[Masin]

I soak mine in just enough water so that it all gets absorbed then mash the greens with them or feed her the mazuri on the side. I hope to get her to eat them dry soon, she's pretty crazy about her mazuri!

 

[sibi]

Good point Mark. I often wondered about soaking these pellets because I found that even my baby runt sully can bite into the pellets if the outer part is moist. She isn't quite use to it yet, but she can...she did today.

 

[Pokeymeg]

Interesting...I had never thought of that! I soak mine, never once thought about soaking out the nutrients. I'll have to change up how I prep these.

Thank you for the heads up!

 

[wellington]

I do the same as Masin. All water is absorbed. Doing it like this, are we still lessening the nutrient value? I assumed not.

 

[jaizei]

Feeding dry also helps with beak maintenance.

 

[dds7155]

I think Madkins007 is wrong on this...I agree with Masin, , i add just enough hot water to soften, then add cut up hay ,mix it really good , you wont lose enough nutrients to matter,this is just my opinion,, you have to use common sense ,,,

 

[Yvonne G]

For my baby tortoises, I put a small handful into a plastic storage baggie, close the bag, then roll over it with a rolling pin. When it's all crushed, I'll sprinkle it over the greens.

 

[cemmons12]

I put just enough water in to make them soft. I cant see, from Cooper's huge size, that it has taken away the nutrients by too much. Everyone has their own way I suppose. Have a great day!

 

[diamondbp]

I soak it until the outside becomes slightly soft. I never let it get to mushy.

 

[mightymizz]

My older tort, is just big enough where he tries to swallow an entire dry pellet...However, the pellets are just too big to be swallowed in one gulp. I am afraid that as he keeps trying, a pellet might get stuck. So I have been soaking them.


1. How about for feeding yearlings who will in no way be able to swallow an entire pellet? I'm not even sure they could break into a dry pellet? I usually only feed Mazuri and not mix it in with greens and the random days I actually feed Mazuri.

2. Any thoughts about feeding yearlings if you don't soak the pellets?

3. Since it says 2%-4% of weight, do most of you guys weigh the tort, then weigh the amount of Mazuri? Or??

THanks!!

 

[HerbsMommy]

Yeah my 7 month old cant break into a dry pellet. I have to soak it. For one pellet all you need is a small spoonful of water. What I do is fill a spoon with water, prop it up so it doesn't spill out, then put the pellet in. It soaks up all the water and my baby loves it

 

[TommyZ]

But...if i dont soak it, how will my torts smear it all over their faces, and drive me nuts when I try and clean them off?...lol... Im not sure how much nutrition is lost, but i know even just blanching veggies to eat for humans causes some nutrient loss, so this makes sense. That, and Mark is a "library"(pun intended), of tort info, so ill rest on his laurels that hes correct. Ill see if the tort will eat them just dunked rather than soaked. Lets see how we do

Sent from my SCH-I535 using TortForum mobile app

 

[cemmons12]

Well Cooper is like 36 pounds or so, but I don't think I give him the 1.44 they recommend. I believe that's what it comes out to. Ill have to weigh it next feeding time now just to see..

Sent from my junk cell phone... D2G

 

[HerbsMommy]

Plus if its not soaked (for hatchlings and little ones, anyway) it will expand in their stomach and can cause severe stomach problems

 

[DeanS]

Plus if its not soaked (for hatchlings and little ones, anyway) it will expand in their stomach and can cause severe stomach problems

I brought that up a few years back when I came up with tortoise lasagna

http://www.tortoiseforum.org/thread-19944.html

...and later tortoise meatballs

http://www.tortoiseforum.org/thread-39021.html

If you do opt to feed dry...you're going to need to soak your torts more often...to encourage them to drink more!

 

[mainey34]

I soak my mazuri and add to my greens. You will not lose any nutritional value if they eat greens and all. Does not make sense to me. Why not soak?

 

[Tom]

If one were to soak a few pellets in a large container of water, and then dump the majority of the water after removing the mushy pellets, well sure, you'd lose some nutrients. If however, the pellets absorb all the water you put them in, and the tortoise eats the whole pellet including the added water, the there can be no nutrient loss. One might argue that some amount of the sticky stuff will remain on the plate, but one could argue that dry pellets will leave a lot of crumbs the same way.

The vast majority of small tortoises are not going to eat dry whole Mazuri pellets. Yvonne's method might work, but I don't see the point, when Masin's method works just fine and dandy.

Yes it does get a little "funky" after a few hours, but I don't leave it for that long anyway. Any that is not eaten within two or three hours gets pulled and fed to the cockroach colonies, or dumped in the trash. The times when I leave it dry, the ants mob it pretty quickly anyway.

I think this thread could use a better title, since there is nothing wrong with soaking pellets, as long as you don't have to dump a large excess of water before feeding it out. Same with the ZooMed pellets.

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Plus if its not soaked (for hatchlings and little ones, anyway) it will expand in their stomach and can cause severe stomach problems

It really doesn't expand all that much, and I highly doubt this would be a problem. If it was, surely Yvonne would have noticed with all her torts and all her years of taking care of them, and feeding them dry Mazuri.

 

[diamondbp]

Plus if its not soaked (for hatchlings and little ones, anyway) it will expand in their stomach and can cause severe stomach problems

I think thats a good point

 

[Tom]

Plus if its not soaked (for hatchlings and little ones, anyway) it will expand in their stomach and can cause severe stomach problems

I think thats a good point

Okay. Fair enough. Have you personally ever seen this happen? Or know of it happening to someone?