Picky tortoise

[ShellyTheTortoise71]

Hello. My red foot has been picking at her food lately. She tends to only eat the mushy textured food, like bananas and wet pellet food (mazuri and another kind). She also likes rose petals. However, she stopped eating the greens. Is there any tips to get her to eat them? Also, what proteins are safe? I've tried chicken but she won't touch it. Thanks.

 

[JoesMum]

So, I'm not a red foot keeper, but I can get you started

Tortoises are stubborn and frequently behave like a child that only wants to eat chocolate and chips. You are the tort's parent and you're the one who needs to apply some tough love here.

A hungry tortoise will eat.

A stubborn tortoise can hold out for a long time without eating and come to no harm as long as it is well hydrated. You will need to soak your tort thoroughly every day while you assert your parental role!

To introduce the healthy foods:

• Chop the food that your tort will eat up small and wet it.
• Chop up a tiny amount of healthy stuff and mix it with the other stuff. It will stick together.
• Because it's stuck together your tort can't pick out the best bits
• Leave it there all day if necessary
• If your tort doesn't eat it, simply do the same mix next day.
• If your tort does eat it, slightly increase the good stuff and decrease the bad next day.

Gradually over a few weeks you will wean your tort off the the bad stuff.

As I understand it, even though Red Foots can eat fruit, banana is so high in sugar that it should be fed very sparingly so that needs to go... probably very straight away

 

[Yvonne G]

You might be feeding too much. Try skipping a day. It won't hurt her.

 

[JoesMum]

The protein question: I have seen people on here mentioning boiled egg - mash it shell and all. It's good for the calcium too.