Not eating weeds...

[Greta16]

So I really can't believe I'm starting this thread. Hermie's been a good eater up til now. Just this week I've introduced fresh weeds from my yard. She won't touch them. Takes a sniff and moves on. I've tried cutting them into tiny pieces and spreading them on her grocery store crap. She just goes on to find a bite that doesn't have a bit of the good stuff on it. Any ideas on what I should try?

 

[eric joranson]

So I really can't believe I'm starting this thread. Hermie's been a good eater up til now. Just this week I've introduced fresh weeds from my yard. She won't touch them. Takes a sniff and moves on. I've tried cutting them into tiny pieces and spreading them on her grocery store crap. She just goes on to find a bite that doesn't have a bit of the good stuff on it. Any ideas on what I should try?

just like a child and his veggies; you must be firm. Leave the "good stuff" and he will eventually give it a try before starving. And keep trying other good stuff; till you find one he will eat; this opens the door to trying other foods. Mulberry leaves turned the corner for my sully. Now it will eat almost anything.

 

[Greta16]

So should I forgo grocery store greens all together? That was the plan anyway once I can pick more stuff outside. Should I stop the mazuri too until she starts eating her weeds? After almost 2 months she just started eating that.

 

[Greta16]

I should mention she is 4.5 months old and about 29g. Eastern Hermanns

 

[RosemaryDW]

A week is not a long time to a tortoise.

I just kept trying and was patient (kinda) with my adult tortoise. I don't believe in going cold turkey, just kept offering new things along with decreasing amounts of the old. She moved entirely to "good" foods by month two and mostly weeds by month five. This year she'll try just about anything.

Good foods included nasturtium, squash leaves and stems, okra, cactus, some clovers I grew; sunflower leaves, radish and turnip tops, collards,watercress, grape leaves, dandelions that I found at the farmers market and some grocery stores. Quite a few other things, but those are the ones she went for at first. Weeds got introduced the same way.

But, and this is a big but, I wasn't dealing with a baby. You'll want to hear what a breeder or very exerienced owner has to say. If she was started on a very small list of foods, including Mazuri, it will be harder for her to try new foods.

 

[CalifornianReptile]

Like they said above... I always like to advise people to start their baby tortoises right from the start of their life.

 

[Greta16]

The breeder was good about saying no romaine, no head lettuce etc. I got her in march so I had to buy all my food for her at the grocery store. Breeder said a big part of her diet was dandelion greens, which she has been eating ok from the store, but they're from Texas and look totally different than our. What I've been able to find outside so far this spring (stuff is just starting to grow) is dandelion, plantain, lilac leaves. My aunt down the road has grapes, which I'm going to plant, etc, etc. Like I said it took since March to get her to eat mazuri. I'll have to be patient I guess. Thanks all.

 

[RosemaryDW]

The dandelion greens you may find at the grocery store aren't "true" dandelions. They are chicories and in the same plant family. They are a good food but if they don't look like what you think of as a dandelion, it's because they aren't the same!

Here is a true dandelion, at least it's the kind I'm used to. See how the plant is low to the ground. The leaves aren't that long and together they form a kind of a circle?



Here is what the grocery store calls dandelions. Look how long the leaves are and how the leaves reach up, not out. You can see they both plants have leaves that are notched and the notched sections look a bit like arrows.



Again, they are in the same family and both are good tortoise food. It's just a little confusing, at least it was for me!

Keep up with different foods; it will happen.

 

[Greta16]

Yes, that's what the dandelions in my yard look like. I'm gonna keep trying. A lot of the greens at the grocery store are misleading I've found.

 

[Alicia Hoogstra]

It's so hard to "let life lessons" play out with our torts too! Lolol

 

[Greta16]

Hopefully I can update soon that she's eating the good stuff!

 

[Tom]

I don't mind the "tough love" approach for picky adults, but for babies I prefer to slow introduction of new foods technique. Chop up the favorite foods super fine and spray them with a little water. Then mince up a tiny little amount, less than 2% of the new stuff, and mix it in thoroughly. Keep doing that until the whole pile gets eaten, and then gradually begin to add more. The process will take weeks or months, but eventually your baby will become accustomed to all the foods you have to offer and then you should have decades of non-pickiness.

 

[Greta16]

Thanks Tom. That's what I'm going to keep doing, reducing the grocery store greens a bit everyday.

 

[Greta16]

Guess I had nothing to worry about. I left fresh weeds out this morning. Lo and behold she ate some. I'll keep up with it and slowly introduce new stuff. ☺

 

[Greta16]

Here she is chowing down.

 

[RosemaryDW]

Guess I had nothing to worry about. I left fresh weeds out this morning. Lo and behold she ate some. I'll keep up with it and slowly introduce new stuff. ☺

Welcome to tortoise ownership, lol.

What is that pretty purple flower she's eating? A violet?

 

[Greta16]

Welcome to tortoise ownership, lol.

What is that pretty purple flower she's eating? A violet?

Yes, a wild violet.

 

[Big Charlie]

The dandelion greens you may find at the grocery store aren't "true" dandelions. They are chicories and in the same plant family. They are a good food but if they don't look like what you think of as a dandelion, it's because they aren't the same!

Here is a true dandelion, at least it's the kind I'm used to. See how the plant is low to the ground. The leaves aren't that long and together they form a kind of a circle?

View attachment 207223

Here is what the grocery store calls dandelions. Look how long the leaves are and how the leaves reach up, not out. You can see they both plants have leaves that are notched and the notched sections look a bit like arrows.

View attachment 207224

Again, they are in the same family and both are good tortoise food. It's just a little confusing, at least it was for me!

Keep up with different foods; it will happen.

I have some that grow naturally in my yard that are 3 or 4 feet tall. The leaves sprout off the stems at several places. I assumed they were all dandelions. They get the same type of fluff balls.

 

[RosemaryDW]

I have some that grow naturally in my yard that are 3 or 4 feet tall. The leaves sprout off the stems at several places. I assumed they were all dandelions. They get the same type of fluff balls.

A sow thistle, maybe? They both have yellow flowers and get fluff balls. Also in the same family as dandelions and chicories! And also good tortoise food.

Sow thistles have the leaves that grow at several places along the stalk but also have multiple flowers at the top, while dandelions have only one flower one a long, thin stalk. Sow thistles also get noticeably taller than dandelions.

Smooth sow thistle:

:

 

[Big Charlie]

A sow thistle, maybe? They both have yellow flowers and get fluff balls. Also in the same family as dandelions and chicories! And also good tortoise food.

Sow thistles have the leaves that grow at several places along the stalk but also have multiple flowers at the top, while dandelions have only one flower one a long, thin stalk. Sow thistles also get noticeably taller than dandelions.

Smooth sow thistle:

:View attachment 207446

I think that is it! Charlie likes them.