She will only eat Romain lettuce!

[eriksmom]

I have offered radish tops, she has plants planted in her box, I've also tried dandelions, spinach, But she ignores all of it, and will only eat the lettuce, i sprinkle the calcium powder on it. Any suggestions or is this ok? seems like she would need to eat something else....

 

[kimber_lee_314]

When I get in a rescue that won't eat anything but iceberg, I make a lettuce "burrito". I put the good stuff inside iceberg and then roll it up and hand feed it. After a while, I start making a chopped up salad with less and less iceberg. Eventually, they start liking the taste of the good stuff and they make an easy transition. Good luck!

 

[Fernando]

I've got a friend who is going thru this with his Russian.

You can take Kimber_lee's route or you can do some tough love. I've done this with my Sulcata. Didn't leave anything other then what I wanted him to eat. By the end of 2nd day it was all gobbled up. I can now feed him soaked grassland tortoise food. But don't do this un-supervised because what they might try to do is eat their own poop or substrate rather then eat your yucky food

 

[dmmj]

It needs more variety simply for nutritional needs, you can either do tough love or trick them into eating the good stuff. a lettuce burrito should work like kimber says or you can feed them lettuce with the good stuff finely chopped and wet so it sticks to the lettuce, then gradually reduce the lettuce while adding more good stuff therefore making it eat it with the lettuce, or you can simply give it good stuff and sooner or later it should eat baring any illness. Tough love usually works faster but it is harder to do watching your tort not eat for days or longer, trickery takes longer but it is usually easier to do. what type of tortoise is it?

 

[gmayor]

Yeah im actually the friend that FernandoM is talking about and i had bought my russian from our local reptile store over here and all he feed her was romain and she wouldnt eat anything other then that, i gave her cactus, mazuir, and ex.... but nothing she wouldnt touch so what im actually in the process of doing is taking the route of tough love and the reason being is that i want her to havea varitey of things to eat which will give her a better diet and that will make a healthier tort so i would say go the tough love way and see what happenes she will eat if she needs too she wont let herself die ( i dont think) lol.. good luck with whatever way you choose to go.

 

[Maggie Cummings]

Remember she will only eat what YOU feed her. If you don't feed her Romaine she will have to eat something else.
I would wait for 2 or 3 days then offer her some freshly picked weeds. They are broadleaf weed eaters. So wait for 2 or 3 days and offer her some more weeds and if she doesn't eat them wait 2 or 3 more days then offer her more freshly picked weeds or hibiscus blooms, grape leafs, mulberry leafs, weeds, blooms etc. If you have any squash growing offer her the blooms from them. Pumpkin blooms, there's lots of different stuff you can offer her and see if she will eat them. But don't YOU give in and offer her Romaine leafs. Most of the time they will not starve themselves. It's you who has to be tough.

 

[dmmj]

I would also recommend flowers, especially hibiscus, I have never known a russian to refuse a hibiscus flower.

 

[Fernando]

I would also recommend flowers, especially hibiscus, I have never known a russian to refuse a hibiscus flower.

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