How to get my tortoises to eat what they should??!!!

[nicola.g]

Having had our tortoises thrust on us quite recently, gratefully might I add as I always wanted tortoises, by 2 of my partners colleagues who had to return to the UK for work quickly, they were on a basic diet of lettuce, tomato and cucumber with some added supplements such as calcium and high fibre food sticks specifically for tortoises as I knew nothing else. Now having done the research which I wish I'd had chance to do before having them, their diet has been changed to a diet more specific to them thanks to the post on here "Food for desert dwelling type of Tortoises - Desert Tortoises, Marginated, Greeks, Russians, Sulcatas, etc". However they don't seem to be liking it as much as the diet they were previously on and, so far, they only seem to be really enjoying the peaches. The peaches are great in Cyprus but, as it is only supposed to be a small part of their diet, I need to get them eating the other things they are supposed to. I need some ideas on how to encourage them to eat the things they should be eating please

 

[Hybrid]

Hi,

You can leave your tortoise away from food (but still soak them) for a few days to starve them first before giving the proper food to them.

Or you might cut his preferred food and mix with greens and Mazuri (if you have it) altogether so they have a hard time to be picky and just eat them altogether!

 

[nicola.g]

Thank you for your advice there. I'll give the second option a go first I think and then if that fails, try the starving them for a few days option

 

[Tom]

First stop the peaches and any other fruit. That can give them an upset stomach and cause all sorts of digestive issues. Get some of the old food and chop it up finely. Then get a small amount of the new food and chop it up finely. Start with 90% old and 10% new. Mince it all up and mix it well. Continue at this ratio until they begin to eat it all up as if there was no new food. Then gradually add more and more of the new foods. This might take a month or two. Tortoises are creatures of habit and some times don't like any changes or new things. It takes time and patience to introduce new foods to them when they are habituated to something else.

 

[nicola.g]

First stop the peaches and any other fruit. That can give them an upset stomach and cause all sorts of digestive issues. Get some of the old food and chop it up finely. Then get a small amount of the new food and chop it up finely. Start with 90% old and 10% new. Mince it all up and mix it well. Continue at this ratio until they begin to eat it all up as if there was no new food. Then gradually add more and more of the new foods. This might take a month or two. Tortoises are creatures of habit and some times don't like any changes or new things. It takes time and patience to introduce new foods to them when they are habituated to something else.

Thanks Tom... I'll give this a go when I feed them tomorrow... they only had peaches for the first time today after finding out what they can and can't have on that "Food for desert dwelling type of Tortoises - Desert Tortoises, Marginated, Greeks, Russians, Sulcatas, etc" thread and thought I'd give them some to try as they haven't eaten much at all for a couple of days with the new diet. Glad they've eaten something but I realise any fruit should only be 10% of their diet.

 

[Tom]

You don't have desert dwelling tortoises. You have Mediterranean tortoises. Their diet should be primarily broad leaf weeds, certain leaves, occasional flowers, and other leafy greens. Fruit should not be ANY of their diet, in my opinion.

 

[JoesMum]

Tom is absolutely correct.

Mediterranean tortoises, Testudo species, should be eating leafy greens. They cannot digest sugars properly, it gives them gut problems, so fruit, including bell pepper and tomato, and carrots should only be fed sparingly very occasionally. Banana shoukd never be offered as it is virtually pure sugar.

The flowers of the leafy greens are generally fine. Dandelions, hibsicus, clover, etc.

If you wabt to give your tort an occasional fruity treat, buy strawberries. You eat and enjoy the lovely red fruit, not your tort. Feed the green tops that you have removed to your tortoise, they are full of fiber... there will just a tiny amount of yummy sweet fruit attached for your tort to gobble them down!

 

[nicola.g]

You don't have desert dwelling tortoises. You have Mediterranean tortoises. Their diet should be primarily broad leaf weeds, certain leaves, occasional flowers, and other leafy greens. Fruit should not be ANY of their diet, in my opinion.

Thanks for the advice Tom, the title of that thread did include Greek tortoises which is what one of them is so we have been advised but being a newbie to tort keeping any advice to give my much loved tortoises good care is gratefully received

 

[lynnedit]

The title of that thread is kind of confusing, but the diets for those tortoises are quite similar.
Keep bathing them for a few days, then perhaps 1x per week until they start eating more normally.
It won't hurt to clear some of the previous foods out. It might be a good idea to get a fecal sample, too,although if they are active, there probably isn't a rush.

Assuming they will live outside in your wonderful environment? If so, having some edible weeds/greens planted in the soil may prove tempting.

Remember, tortoises can go weeks w/o eating, so it's probably better to play hardball and hang in there with the conversion to a healthy diet.
All good advice above, including the 90/10% mix and gradually switching that over to health weeds/greens. Frankly, it may take a year for your tortoises to start eating healthy foods with gusto.

 

[Yvonne G]

If all else fails, you can puree some peaches until they're liquid, then add it to a bunch of good greens in a bowl and toss it like a salad until all the greens are covered with peach juice. If they eat the greens this way, then, over time, you can decrease the amount of peach juice until you're not using it at all.

 

[nicola.g]

The title of that thread is kind of confusing, but the diets for those tortoises are quite similar.
Keep bathing them for a few days, then perhaps 1x per week until they start eating more normally.
It won't hurt to clear some of the previous foods out. It might be a good idea to get a fecal sample, too,although if they are active, there probably isn't a rush.

Assuming they will live outside in your wonderful environment? If so, having some edible weeds/greens planted in the soil may prove tempting.

Remember, tortoises can go weeks w/o eating, so it's probably better to play hardball and hang in there with the conversion to a healthy diet.
All good advice above, including the 90/10% mix and gradually switching that over to health weeds/greens. Frankly, it may take a year for your tortoises to start eating healthy foods with gusto.

Hi Lynne... Once more thanks for the good advice. Yes they do live outside over here though they will probably be brought in for the occasions when it does rain over winter (God forbid they should drown.. and when it rains over here it pours so the ground doesn't always get chance to soak it up very quickly) but yes the next step is to plant some edible greens in their enclosure which is being expanded in the not too distant future. Our project for when Mark (my partner) is next on leave and I can't wait.
I just wish now like I said earlier, that I'd had chance to do all this research on feeding and living arrangements before we took them on. I think they're great and want the best for them but hey-ho we're getting there and they both seem happy enough for now

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If all else fails, you can puree some peaches until they're liquid, then add it to a bunch of good greens in a bowl and toss it like a salad until all the greens are covered with peach juice. If they eat the greens this way, then, over time, you can decrease the amount of peach juice until you're not using it at all.

So much useful information from so many knowledgeable people on this site.. I love it.
Tomorrow after their soak I am going to try the 90% old diet to 10% new healthy diet gradually decreasing the old diet and see how we get on with that. Then try the other methods if that fails