My tortoise (horsefield) is a diet terrorist. . . (beginner tortoise owner)

Vold-e-torte

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My baby 11mo old Tortoise - Timothy Voldetorte is a little diet terrorist...... When he first came home with me, he refused to eat for four days. I was nearly sick with worry, especially as he was a little light anyway for a Horsfield. In desperation I bought a salad mix from a well known supermarket chain that I was advised contained no bad tortoise things in it. It's called the classic crispy florette salad. So I put a little mix of this out in the hope of stimulating Timothy to eat something. Well, eat he did - all of it, but I knew that lettuce has no nutritional value for tortoises.... So we continued to try and get him to eat his "veggies" in this case a wide variety of weeds to no avail! He became addicted red raddicio lettuce - he would literally trample through all the greens I tried to hide in with the salad mix....

I ended up outwaiting him and made him go cold-turkey, three days later he was eating his greens.... Proud tortoise mom! (and also the most harrowing experience I've ever had - does anyone else worry like this?)

Then, I introduced a new safe food - a fuchsia leaf. He took one bite and spat it out and now refuses to eat his greens again. Has anyone else had this issue?

Please help, he's light.... 60 grams and 6 cm long. I've tried tortoise pellets soaked in just about everything (just to get some kind of nutrition into him) - he loves Romaine Lettuce, which i've tried mixing in incredibly small quantities in with the rest of his greens..... AAAAAARRRRRRGGGGHHHHH

He also got a decent amount of natural light and exercise in the back garden yesterday.... Do I just need to outwait him again?

He poops and wees normally..... His urates are fine, I don't need to bathe him for him to do this... It's just he's a wee bit on the skinny side and will quite happily eat twice the size of his shell in salad but nothing else.

His set up is good, large, I detailed it in depth in my last "Beginner to Beginner" post. Temps are all on point and I have both humidity and temp digital thermometers at both ends... He's active-ish when he's eating. I've also made some upgrades based on great ideas from other Tort-parents. I am going to switch substrates when I've got through the med mix.... Two bags left, so he'll get one more month after I've changed it. Then we'll switch.

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jsheffield

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I think you just need to keep offering him a variety of good foods... dandelions and hibiscus flowers don't miss with any of my torts, so that may be a way to prime the pump.

Good luck!

Jamie
 

Vold-e-torte

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Finally, it’s warm here at the moment..... so some exercise round the garden and his appetite has improved enormously. The picture above is him eating a dandelion- yay!
 

RosemaryDW

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If someone fed me a bag of delicious, sweeter than weeds, spring mix, I’d throw a fit for more as well. It’s better than lots of things he can eat, that’s why it’s recommended. But it needs the extra things you are already working on.

It gets easier, eventually. Sun and exercise are the best stimulants, as you’ve already proven. :)
 

Vold-e-torte

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If someone fed me a bag of delicious, sweeter than weeds, spring mix, I’d throw a fit for more as well. It’s better than lots of things he can eat, that’s why it’s recommended. But it needs the extra things you are already working on.

It gets easier, eventually. Sun and exercise are the best stimulants, as you’ve already proven. :)
I think it’s so hard because he’s skinny. Very light for his shell length. But, we are getting there and he’s eaten a decent amount of greens today. He’s still not perfect, but the good thing is he’s eaten well! And his activity level has been off the charts! Which makes me happy. He loves the garden so much and my word, is so quick! I stay safe distance behind watching for magpies.
 
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