Help! We have a picky eater!

halw

New Member
Joined
Dec 3, 2020
Messages
2
Location (City and/or State)
WI
Hi everyone!

I've had my Russian Tortoise for about a year now, and so far everything has been fine. She was a rescue, so we don't know much about her other than she's between 7-14 years old, and had a poor diet with previous owners, as a small part of her shell is malformed. We've done our best to give her a varied diet with different leafy greens and veggies, but as we've come to find out, she's a VERY picky eater. She'll pick around and refuse kale, mustard greens, chard, collards, you name it she probably won't like it. As of right now, we can only get her to munch on spring mix, dandelion leaves, carrots, bell peppers, and cucumbers as a treat. We do give her calcium supplement with the greens, too, which doesn't bother her.

What can I do to try and introduce more variety into her diet? Any tips or tricks that will get her to eat? The vet has said she's healthy and is at a good weight, but we've agreed that she needs some different kinds of leafy greens. Thanks in advance for your help.
 

zovick

Well-Known Member
10 Year Member!
Joined
Nov 17, 2013
Messages
3,388
Hi everyone!

I've had my Russian Tortoise for about a year now, and so far everything has been fine. She was a rescue, so we don't know much about her other than she's between 7-14 years old, and had a poor diet with previous owners, as a small part of her shell is malformed. We've done our best to give her a varied diet with different leafy greens and veggies, but as we've come to find out, she's a VERY picky eater. She'll pick around and refuse kale, mustard greens, chard, collards, you name it she probably won't like it. As of right now, we can only get her to munch on spring mix, dandelion leaves, carrots, bell peppers, and cucumbers as a treat. We do give her calcium supplement with the greens, too, which doesn't bother her.

What can I do to try and introduce more variety into her diet? Any tips or tricks that will get her to eat? The vet has said she's healthy and is at a good weight, but we've agreed that she needs some different kinds of leafy greens. Thanks in advance for your help.
You could try giving the tortoise some thawed out frozen mixed vegetables (a mix of corn, beans, peas, carrots). A number of my tortoises liked them. If the tortoise likes those, mix in other greens you want to introduce to see if it will eat some of them along with the vegetables.

Do you use Mazuri Tortoise Diet? If not, I would suggest trying that to see if the tortoise will eat it. Here I mean the original formula, not the LS as many tortoises don't go for the LS. Almost all tortoises gobble up the original type, though. Soften a couple pellets in water for a few minutes and see if your tortoise will eat them. If so, then you can crumble up the softened Mazuri pellets onto the foods you want it to eat, and usually they don't pick too much at the food covered with Mazuri, they just eat it along with the Mazuri. Once you get the tortoise to eat that way, you can gradually decrease the amount of Mazuri if you wish to get the tortoise to eat more of the other food items.
 

halw

New Member
Joined
Dec 3, 2020
Messages
2
Location (City and/or State)
WI
You could try giving the tortoise some thawed out frozen mixed vegetables (a mix of corn, beans, peas, carrots). A number of my tortoises liked them. If the tortoise likes those, mix in other greens you want to introduce to see if it will eat some of them along with the vegetables.

Do you use Mazuri Tortoise Diet? If not, I would suggest trying that to see if the tortoise will eat it. Here I mean the original formula, not the LS as many tortoises don't go for the LS. Almost all tortoises gobble up the original type, though. Soften a couple pellets in water for a few minutes and see if your tortoise will eat them. If so, then you can crumble up the softened Mazuri pellets onto the foods you want it to eat, and usually they don't pick too much at the food covered with Mazuri, they just eat it along with the Mazuri. Once you get the tortoise to eat that way, you can gradually decrease the amount of Mazuri if you wish to get the tortoise to eat more of the other food items.

I'll certainly look into both of those options you listed! I've heard of the Mazuri, crumbling it on the food though I wasn't aware of. Thanks so much for your advice and help!!
 

zovick

Well-Known Member
10 Year Member!
Joined
Nov 17, 2013
Messages
3,388
I'll certainly look into both of those options you listed! I've heard of the Mazuri, crumbling it on the food though I wasn't aware of. Thanks so much for your advice and help!!
My tortoises always liked to eat tomatoes, apples, and grapes also. Some people will say not to feed those things to your tortoise, but I kept tortoises for 60+ years and never had a problem feeding them those fruits and cherries, too. You just need to be sure the tortoise is kept warm enough to digest those food items since they have sugars which can ferment in the gut if the tortoise is too cool. Also don't feed those fruits constantly, just do so once or twice a week.

You could also try feeding zucchini and yellow squash. My tortoises liked them also.
 
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