Going to try something

[Seiryu]

So Thor has eaten grass (finely chopped) 4 times now for me. Usually only a few pieces, but still some. He does attempt to pull off grass from the ground, but just isn't big enough yet.

I do give him Mazuri (1 pellet) once a week for a little extra fiber too. His poop is slightly runny, but when I took him to the vet a few days after I got him, there was nothing wrong except slightly dehydrated from the trip. So I think it's partly due to him not getting enough fiber.

So I tried the whole thing where you finely chop the grass onto the greens and what not and he was pretty good at spitting them out most of the time. And he'd just eat around it.

I also tried making a "salad" for him in the same type of saucer I use for his water in hopes he would just dig in and not pay attention to what he was eating since it was all mixed and smaller pieces. However, he ended up flipping himself and out that went. I think the lip was slightly bigger (like maybe 0.5cm) than the one I use for the water.

So I thought, what about mooshing up zucchini, watermelon or butternut squash and mixing in the finely chopped grasses there. I think the temptation of the flavor of them would outweigh him actually eating the grasses and trying to spit out.

Any reccomendations if I should cook first or just moosh it up raw? Which is the "healthier" choice for a Leopard? He hasn't had any fruits since i've had him and it won't be much. I just want to see if it'd work to get a little extra fiber in him.

 

[Crazy1]

I'd try the zucchini first nuke it a bit, let it cool or try giving him some baby food butternut squash with the grass mixed in.
I'd stay away from fruit once they get the taste of sweets that's all they want, kinda like kids.

 

[spring pace]

couldnt tell if you had a sulcata or not, but id use the "dust" from the hays at first sprinkled on his favorite foods, then slowly introduce longer pieces and grasses and let him graze for as long as you can every day. even that small they have the power to rip and tear if only a little bit at a time dehydration is a dangerous thing to a small tort and getting the grasses and weeds and even hibiscus flowers and leaves into their diet before dehydration becomes a major problem. soaking helps, but its not the cure, hydrating needs to come from the inside to be the most helpful. torts need long grasses and weeds to eat because theyre metabolism is so slow, they gleam what they need from their foods in days of digestion, not hours like a mammal. the more fiber the better and from what ive read in other posts, mazuri doesnt have enough fiber to be useful to a tort, it may fill him up and good in a pinch or helping a sick tort into eating again, but unnecessary for a healthy tort. also vegies give desert torts the runny poops, just like too much nopales pads or their fruits. always give sparingly. thats my opinion. big smiles from galileo & spring

 

[Seiryu]

couldnt tell if you had a sulcata or not, but id use the "dust" from the hays at first sprinkled on his favorite foods, then slowly introduce longer pieces and grasses and let him graze for as long as you can every day. even that small they have the power to rip and tear if only a little bit at a time dehydration is a dangerous thing to a small tort and getting the grasses and weeds and even hibiscus flowers and leaves into their diet before dehydration becomes a major problem. soaking helps, but its not the cure, hydrating needs to come from the inside to be the most helpful. torts need long grasses and weeds to eat because theyre metabolism is so slow, they gleam what they need from their foods in days of digestion, not hours like a mammal. the more fiber the better and from what ive read in other posts, mazuri doesnt have enough fiber to be useful to a tort, it may fill him up and good in a pinch or helping a sick tort into eating again, but unnecessary for a healthy tort. also vegies give desert torts the runny poops, just like too much nopales pads or their fruits. always give sparingly. thats my opinion. big smiles from galileo & spring

Hello, I have a Leopard as stated in my original post. He was only dehydrated for the day or 2 after I got him (from the trip) and is doing just fine. Dehydration wasn't my issue, but thanks for the other information. He drinks water at least 4 times a day and I soak him at least 3 times a week.

And as I said as well, it won't be even an every week thing with the zucchini. He hasn't had any since i've gotten him. This is just to get some fiber into him. My guy cannot tear pieces off of the grass I have so that isn't true for every animal or species.

As far as the Mazuri goes in my original post, I said I use it once a week, 1 pellet. So it's not overdoing it. And it DOES give more fiber than the weeds/greens/lettuces he's eating.

 

[Crazy1]

Rob have you tried puraeing grass to see if he'll eat it. It would still contain the fiber just in very very small pieces. Might want to try putting it in a blender or processer with some of his other greens and see if he will take it. Just a thought.

 

[Yvonne G]

I've heard that some folks put the small grass or hay pieces in a coffee grinder too.

Yvonne

 

[Seiryu]

Thanks I will have to try that.

Oh and Robyn I got my grass/weed seeds today. Hopefully I'll have his grass container (35" x 16" x 6" tall) full of grass and weeds in a couple weeks.

It showed a picture of it just after 10 days and it looks like it was really well grown at that point, so we'll see!

Hoping with all the different grasses he might actually be able to graze on the not so rough ones.

 

[Maggie Cummings]

Hi Rob, I know from reading your posts that you are doing the best you can with this baby. I personally think that drinking 4 times a day is excessive. Is he drinking on his own from a water dish?
If he has runny stool (and that much water would do it) and you want to firm it up, I would take 4 or 5 pieces of Mazuri and moisten it a little and feed him that. Mazuri is great for firming up poop.
Now here's where I walk a fine line. I think that we try too hard to make smaller/young tortoises try to eat grass and hay. I take Spring Mix and add a bunch of different grasses, weeds, leafs, and blossoms to it then I cut it all up to bite sized pieces making it so they can't pull out the favorite pieces. I sprinkle Joe's chopped salad type hay over all that. I also put them outside on the grass everyday. I feed my tortoise salad after I bring them back inside, so they are hungry when I put them outside hoping that they have a tendency to graze more when they are hungry. I raise healthy animals that way. Here's a link if you care to order the chopped hay. It sure makes it better buying it that way. It's chopped really small so in eating the way I have just described they have to eat the hay as well because it is chopped so small. I like Joe's products but he charges too much for shipping IMHO...

http://www.carolinapetsupply.com/catalog/index.php

I almost forgot, I give mine grated zucchini and cooked red or orange squash.

 

[Seiryu]

Hi Rob, I know from reading your posts that you are doing the best you can with this baby. I personally think that drinking 4 times a day is excessive. Is he drinking on his own from a water dish?
If he has runny stool (and that much water would do it) and you want to firm it up, I would take 4 or 5 pieces of Mazuri and moisten it a little and feed him that. Mazuri is great for firming up poop.
Now here's where I walk a fine line. I think that we try too hard to make smaller/young tortoises try to eat grass and hay. I take Spring Mix and add a bunch of different grasses, weeds, leafs, and blossoms to it then I cut it all up to bite sized pieces making it so they can't pull out the favorite pieces. I sprinkle Joe's chopped salad type hay over all that. I also put them outside on the grass everyday. I feed my tortoise salad after I bring them back inside, so they are hungry when I put them outside hoping that they have a tendency to graze more when they are hungry. I raise healthy animals that way. Here's a link if you care to order the chopped hay. It sure makes it better buying it that way. It's chopped really small so in eating the way I have just described they have to eat the hay as well because it is chopped so small. I like Joe's products but he charges too much for shipping IMHO...

http://www.carolinapetsupply.com/catalog/index.php

I almost forgot, I give mine grated zucchini and cooked red or orange squash.

Hi maggie- He is drinking his own water. Most of the time it's just him walking in it, and taking 1 sip. He rarely goes in it and actually sits there and takes in multiple drinks. He does the same with his food. Eats, walks, Eats, Basks etc. My point to spring was that he is not dehydrated now and I only stated it in the first post to say that was the only thing wrong when took to the vet.

His stool isn't really, really runny or anything. It takes form and isn't a pile of moosh (sorry for the graphic picture ). However it does look more moist than I think it should. However that may be because of him eating spring mix and more leafy things.

I will have to try chopping everything up too and see what he does. He is weird that if you chop up the grasses (only way he can currently eat them) he usually won't eat more than a couple pieces or none. But if you pull a longer piece of grass and stick it in front of him, he tries a couple times and then after he realizes he cannot tear a piece he stops. He tries this too while just walking around. So I hope he isn't one of those picky picky tortoises that don't eat chopped things.

Thanks for the info.

 

[spring pace]

hey rob, can we see a closeup picture of his face? galileo & spring big smiles