only eats live plants!

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flyingsqueak

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So Orrin has basically decided that he will only eat live plants. Since it's almost winter and I live in an apartment it's not exactly possible to let him free graze outside.

He went a week eating almost nothing--I noticed some tiny nibbles once or twice, but nothing I would call a meal. Then, recalling how he voraciously ate the two live plants I put in his enclosure last week I decided to try a live plant again. I gave him the plant yesterday and he immediately ate a hole leaf of it--in front of me! Today, more than half of the plant is gone, and of course his mixed greens are untouched.

So what should I do? I'm growing some dandelions, but they haven't even sprouted yet. Should I buy him a new live plant every other day? Have other people had experience with tortoises refusing fresh but torn-off-of-plants leaves? Is it possible that he is traumatized by the rotten food his previous owner left him with? I've heard that greens start accumulating iodine as soon as they're torn off of plants and continue to accumulate it as they go bad--so could he have gotten violently ill after eating some rotten romaine in the past and now the slight scent of iodine on torn leaves keeps him from eating?

What should I do now?
 

ascott

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Well it is great to know that he will eat weeds and live growing plants.....sometimes that is something that is a struggle for folks to get going....you have the exact opposite problem....I would suggest the same procedure as with introducing any new food item(s).

Start off with majority of your meal with the familiar stuff he likes and mix in with it some of what you want him to learn to accept, cut it all up in such a way that you can "toss" that as a salad, then spray some water over the whole thing and toss it again, this will allow some pieces to stick together so when he goes for the stuff he wants he will get the taste for the other.....

However, if you are at all able to get live things growing in like a plant tray so that he will have fresh food trays to mow down and then you can switch them out every so often....I don't know if that is even an option, so simply suggested it.....:D

As a smart cookie forum member has said before :D they will eat what you give them...essentially they will not likely starve themselves to death (although it is frustrating to you) and will eventually eat.... IMHO :p
 

Edna

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Time for tough love! He will starve himself. Offer him good things to eat and trust that he will eventually cave. When one of mine refuses something, I just mush it up with something they do eat.
 

Redstrike

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You could also try keeping whole leaves suspended from somewhere within his indoor enclosure, this way it may appear more similar to the live plants he's eating...?
 

jbean7916

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Redstrike said:
You could also try keeping whole leaves suspended from somewhere within his indoor enclosure, this way it may appear more similar to the live plants he's eating...?

I was thinking the same thing! Try using something to bind the bottoms together to make it "look" like a live plant. I would use something large and something he couldn't bite through, like a binder clip
 

blafiriravt

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I guess I should feel lucky my tortoise eats EVERYTHING. I've read of a ton of picky eaters
 
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