tough love

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taurusgi

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hello! I need some opinions on my "tough love" plan for my Hermann's babies! Shiao-Heh is 21 month old and Panda George is 1 yr old.

Both of my ladies are fed with variety of greens. There are the ones they would eat if it's there: Spring mix, baby bok choy, red dandelion green, dandelion green, red leaf lettuce, arugula, frisee, watercress.

They love romain lettuce, radicchio and dandelion greens. I can tell because they always go for the radicchio first if it's in the food mix I put in their trays. (They don't live together now because I'm waiting for Panda George to grow a bit bigger).

They would eat red boar kale if there is no other food.

Panda George doesn't mind to eat green kale and mustard greens, but Shiao-Heh wouldn't touch these 2 things at all!

I can't get them to eat any chard or red kale so I gave up on that.

Occasionally (2-3 times per month) they would get wheat grass, mallow, stork's bill, plantain, wild flower mix (only the leaves part, I just started growing them in the pots on my balcony this year, so I don't have any flowers yet) and 2 other weeds I grow in the pots but i can't remember what they are called now. They always finished the weeds all every time I give them. Not sure if it's because the weeds are more tender than kale and mustard green?

Here is my question: do you guys think I need to do "tough love" plan on Shiao-heh? I was bothered that she wouldn't eat kale and mustard green while Panda George was like "yum yum yum" eating those! So started from two weeks ago, I set my mind that I would only feed Shiao-Heh kale and mustard green till she eats it! So far she would go with no eating at all for 2 days, then the 3rd day she would take some bites (maybe about 10 bites), and then the next day she wouldn't eat again.

I've tried chopped them up and mixed with radicchio, but she was very smart and picked up the radicchio mostly and only ate some kale/mustard green by accident...

Meanwhile I've been feeding her mineral oil (mixed with mallow or Mazuri or Zoomed pellets) every other day for 2 weeks now since she was having some pooping issue last month (she only pooped once a week this February) and I think she is getting better now (she poops 3 times a week nos). Every time I feed her the mineral oil with treats, she always finished it all like a little monster! so that I know she is not sick, she still has her appetite.

Sorry about my super long post, after doing "tough love" for 2 weeks, all the sudden, I was wondering: maybe she doesn't need this! Do you guys think I feed them enough variety of food, and it's ok if Shiao-heh doesn't eat kale and mustard green?


I mean.... those tortoises in the wild, they probably don't even see kale and mustard green in their whole life, right? :p


Thank you very much for reading my post! Any opinions are welcome and appreciated! :)

kiki
 

dmmj

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I only recommend tough love for adults. In my honest opinion it should not be used for babies, there are other ways to get babies to eat.
 

JoesMum

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I am a little concerned that mineral oil is needed. Constipation and dehydration are often linked - a daily 20 minute soak is a more natural fix.

It doesn't sound like diet is too bad. Tough love is for torts stuck on a single fod item
 

taurusgi

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thank you guys! maybe I'll stop the Tough Love... I started feeling stupid today because I realized Shiao-Heh will probably doing fine without kale and mustard green. (it's like I don't like to eat fish but I'm still doing fine! :p)

I also notice she would go hide behind the fake trees for the whole day after she found no food she likes on the tray... or Sometimes she would come out a little bit a couple hours later to sniff on the food, and then realized "oh still the same lame stuff!" and then go back to hiding again... I'm worried she is getting depressed!!

This morning, she was sniffing on the red kale for almost 1 whole minute, and finally opened her mouth, took about 10 bites, and went hide again... it made me sad seeing her doing that.

I only started the mineral oil because soaking didn't work... :p but I'll stop now since it seems like the mineral oil already cleaned it out! :)
 
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