Picky Juvenile Cherry Head

[dwright27]

Hi everyone,
I have seen a few threads on picky eating, but they seem to be about adults. My little dude is only (almost) 7 months old and he's already picky. I've learned that he doesn't want anything to do with swiss chard, and only slightly interested in chicory/endive. He likes buttercrunch lettuce from my garden but we don't have much of that left.. I left it too long and everything is starting to bolt.. I know it becomes inedible to people at that stage.. I wonder if it's still fine for torts?
He likes romaine as well but I think he's supposed to have "better" stuff than that, no?
I took him outside today and he ran around the front yard but had no interest in any weeds or grass. I've got some Timothy and clover growing in my living room so hopefully he'll take to that but argh.
Basically all he wants to eat is romaine, buttercrunch lettuce, cucumber, banana, blueberry, and Mazuri. (I only give him Mazuri once or twice a week) I'm sure he would be a fan of all sorts of fruits but I don't want to get him in the habit of waiting to eat until he sees the fruit.
Oh and he does like meal worms but again that's only once a week. (hey, does anyone know how long a "Can 'O Worms" is good for in the fridge once it's been opened?)
Anyway.. like I said I don't want him to *not* eat (double negatives ftw) while he's waiting for his favoured foods, since he's so young and still growing.
Hopefully this post hasn't been too scattered.. lol

 

[immayo]

I would just keep trying a wide variety of foods. They all are going to have things they don't care for. If greens are what you're having trouble with mine absolutely love dandelion greens. You can also throw in spring mix, kale or I sometimes give green leaf lettuce. I also just wanted to point out to you that bananas and cucumbers aren't something you should be giving your tort often. As far as fruits different melons and berries are great for them.

A great way to get him on a schedule to make sure he eats a variety is offer foods in this manner:
Day 1: Greens
Day 2: Fruits
Day 3: Greens
Day 4: Fruits
Day 5: Greens
Day 6: Veggies
Day 7: Protein

 

[dwright27]

I would just keep trying a wide variety of foods. They all are going to have things they don't care for. If greens are what you're having trouble with mine absolutely love dandelion greens. You can also throw in spring mix, kale or I sometimes give green leaf lettuce. I also just wanted to point out to you that bananas and cucumbers aren't something you should be giving your tort often. As far as fruits different melons and berries are great for them.

A great way to get him on a schedule to make sure he eats a variety is offer foods in this manner:
Day 1: Greens
Day 2: Fruits
Day 3: Greens
Day 4: Fruits
Day 5: Greens
Day 6: Veggies
Day 7: Protein

I've only given him banana once, and it was a very tiny amount, but he gobbled it up like he'd never eaten in his life lol. The cucumber I've given to him twice, when I was frustrated that he wouldn't eat the leafy stuff. So in your feeding schedule you've got more fruits than veggies? I thought it was the other way around.
I got some collard greens today so I'm going to try him on some of that tomorrow. Something tells me he's going to turn up his nose though.

 

[Redstrike]

There are plenty of feeding regimes, personally I don't offer fruits often. Once a week at most but it's usually more like once every couple weeks.

1. I have one that is extremely picky and I'm trying the "tough love" method. Essentially, you don't give in the the tortoises bad habits. If they won't eat the weeds/greens you provide, they can go hungry. It's not easy.

2. An alternative approach is to mince together the preferred food(s) with those they don't like, slowly reducing the amounts of food items they like and increasing the ones they previously did not prefer. You're transitioning them into the new foods slowly.

I'm not sure which works better... If I do break down, I'll try approach #2 on my picky eater.

 

[dwright27]

But.. is it okay to let a juvenile go hungry like that?
I just found out he's got parasites too so maybe that's why he's only eating a little bit.. *sigh*

 

[Redstrike]

Get the parasites taken care of and go from there.

Tortoises have much slower metabolic rates than us, so they really don't have to eat every day. Once mine turn a year old, I skip feeding them 1-2 days per week.

 

[dwright27]

Yeah he's got three types, but they're all protozoans so luckily just one medication for 7 days. Looks like he's gonna be getting more banana for the next week so I can get the medication into him. I'm gonna go look at the parasite threads again as well.

 

[Redstrike]

What did they prescribe you?

 

[dwright27]

Metronidazole. The smallest possible dosage lol.. but now I'm running into the problem of him being too smart.. taking a bite of fruit that he normally loves, tasting the metro and spitting it out.

 

[FLINTUS]

Have you tried putting a fruit puree on top of his greens? Do remember in the wild, 40-70% of their diet would be composed of fruits, so if you can get lots of low sugar fruits that would be good.

 

[Redstrike]

Is the medication in a syringe? If not, you can pick some up online for cheap (http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000FMYDLU/?tag=exoticpetnetw-20

My approach is to get them to take a few bites of the food, then shove the syringe in their mouth on the 3-4 bite and shoot the medicine down their throat. It takes some practice but it's very effective once you get the hang of it. You want to be quick and gentle, but you need to get in there far enough that they can't spit it back out.

Good Luck!!!

 

[dwright27]

Yeah the fruit puree is what I tried this morning.. but he wasn't having it.

I already bought the medication, it's in a little bottle and they gave me a tiny syringe with it. If he were bigger I would try your method of administering it but I'm so worried of hurting him when he's so tiny.. I don't want to choke him

 

[Redstrike]

Yeah the fruit puree is what I tried this morning.. but he wasn't having it.

I already bought the medication, it's in a little bottle and they gave me a tiny syringe with it. If he were bigger I would try your method of administering it but I'm so worried of hurting him when he's so tiny.. I don't want to choke him

You don't have to choke them out with the syringe, I'd give it a try if he keeps refusing the medicated food.

Have you tried getting some mazuri and "lacing" that with the meds? Most tortoises can't resist the stuff!

 

[dwright27]

I'll try the mazuri tomorrow. He normally can't resist the fruit either lol..