He used to eat the grass pellets from zoo med (soaked, of course) and now he refuses to eat them. I tried the mazuri pellets (I don't know if they are different or not, but people recommend that) but he still won't eat it. I hid some in his apple (I am trying to change his diet, if you can't tell by now) but he just ate around it. Any recommendations?
Getting my tort to eat mazuri
- Thread starter Tortski
- Start date
Wait till he's more hungry. I find torts quite stubborn and narrow minded.....literally lol. Or chop up romaine or dandelion greens and mix it up with mazuri. It's almost irresistible for them
Thanks, I'll see if I could do that. As for the chopped up stuff I tried that with the other pellets and he wouldn't even touch it. I added dandelion greens, lettuce, apples, and peppers and it still wasn't "up to par"
I have mixed the zoo med grassland tortoise food and the mazuri and ground them up in a coffee grinder. Then just sprinkle it on whatever food you’re eating.
I will have to try, but I doubt it will work. I have a feeling he can smell when I'm trying to "poison" him and he refuses to eat
Chizbad
Active Member
Which Mazuri do you have? There seems to be at least two kinds, an “LS” version and some other more dog food looking version. From what I have gathered on these forums is that the “LS” version is usually not liked by tortoises. However, my new baby sulcata will eat both versions if soaked and made into mush. Sprinkle some chopped up grass in that mixture and you should be on the right path
Looks like it's the ls. I think the one I was going to order was the right stuff, but my mom changed it because it's cheaper and because of his track record
Looks like he is refusing to eat them when not in my hand. I tried putting it in a plate instead of the bowl and he still won't try it. I also tried putting it in a squash, but he only took a few nips at the squash itself. I would hand feed him, but he kept trying to eat my fingers and not the mix (he succeeded once, and now I remeber how bad his bites are).
Your tortoise is doing a good job of training you 
when he gets hungry he’ll eat.
when he gets hungry he’ll eat.
- Joined
- Apr 3, 2013
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Try soaking Mazuri in Apple juice. The tort will smell apples .
Yes, he is. My parents already gave in to his constant scratching and fed him lettuce (If you have two people with chronic headaches in the house, then someone is going to give in at some point)Your tortoise is doing a good job of training you
I will try tomorrow. He's not a huge fan of apples so I don't know how well it will work, but I will try.
Mine is still in the process of transitioning.
8yr old 50lbs
I have regular mazuri and not the ls.
First tried it dry with no luck.. Then tried it wet with tap water on top of his greens. Didnt like that. Figured I was using too much mazuri and he didnt like the smell maybe along with the chlorine in the water too..(he always drinks pure water) So then i soaked the mazuri in pure water not tap cuz of the chlorine.. I would mash up the wet mazuri with endive. Kinda shreaded the endive a bit. Mixed it real well with maybe 5-10 pieces of mazuri with half a head of endive. He tried to only eat the endive the first couple times but did eat some of the Mashed up mazuri and endive, also leaving a good amount behind. Mostly the endive that had the mazuri on it. After the fourth or fifth day or so of only doing a small amount of mazuri to endive ratio, he started to eat more of the mix and not really leaving any..I started to add more mazuri. Some days he wouldnt touch it and i knew i addeded too much mazuri to the mix. Now about 3 maybe 4 weeks later of slowly adding more mazuri I mean slowly, he's up to about 3 cups of mazuri to a half a head of endive. now he sees a glob of Mashed mazuri and just eats it.. patients is a virtue. Still won't touch the dry stuff or if it is wet by itself. He still needs it mixed up..hopefully one day I'll be like Kennan from kamp kennen and will be only feeding it dry and make life easier! Thought I should share what I did! Best of luck!
Thanks. Today he just got a few peppers and his leftover dandelion greens from last night over his mix of pellets. He hasn't gotten up to eat yet, probably because his day lamp doesn't reach the side of the cage he's facing, but I fixed it and now he's waking up. So we will have to see how it does soon.
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Sent from my VS987 using Tortoise Forum mobile app
Wait I got confused there..hasn't gotten up? is he indoors? If he wasn't I was gonna say he should already be up. Mine doesn't get up until 9-10 am and doesn't start eating till 11 or so but he's outside. Grazes all day n puts himself to sleep now around 5
Yeah, he's indoors, but we are trying to get him out. He's awake and happily eating now, so it looks like it was just the way the lamp was positioned. Also it's a little colder today, so that could be a factor.
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oramarco
New Member
- Joined
- Jun 20, 2017
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- 4
I compared Zoo med grassland against Mazuri. Zoo med's seems to have a better Fiber/protein ratio. If so, why is Mazuri more popular? Check below:
Zoo med Grassland Guaranteed Analysis
Crude Protein (min) 8.5%
Crude Fat (min) 1.9%
Crude Fiber (max) 22.0%
Mazuri Guaranteed Analysis
Crude protein (min) 15.0%
Crude fat (min) 3.0%
Crude fiber (max) 18.0%
Hey, not sure about the grasslands, but the Mazuri has cane molasses in it. Thst nice sugary taste must be liked by torts! I sure know the ants like it as well.
Chizbad
Active Member
Any more thoughts regarding zoo med vs mazuri? Also, what are the differences in the two types of mazuri? LS vs “Normal kind”
Zoo med seems to look a lot like the LS version of Mazuri
Zoo med seems to look a lot like the LS version of Mazuri
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