Vet says romaine? No grassland pellets?

[Myrandarin_oranges]

I want to start by saying I've had my boy for about three years now, and I've really tried my best to do best by him. When I first took him to the vet, she gave me an instructional sheet on how to care for him, and in diet, it said day- to -day should be dark leafy greens and it gave the example of romaine lettuce. She said to use romaine and not iceberg because iceberg is primarily water. That is what his diet mostly consists of. I also use a calcium supplement, although it's very difficult to get him to consume it. He HATES cuddle bones and has gone as far as to shake/throw his food to dislodge calcium powders. I've also tried feeding him the grassland tortoise pellets, but he REFUSES to eat them. He will actually literally starve himself rather than eat them. I talked to the vet about this, and she said that I shouldn't be feeding those to him, because they're not good for Russians. I've been doing that for most of his time with me now, but I'm seeing a lot of conflicting information on this site, and now I'm getting scared I've been making a terrible mistake.

I had his enclosure built by a carpenter, so it's about 5 feet by 6 feet (roughly the size of an American full sized mattress). It has a second story that's about two feet. He does have constant access to water and he has heat and UV bulbs. I put slates underneath the heat lamp because he really seems to enjoy vegging out on them (it's in the 90ish F range). I use hay for his substrate because I have a problem with him trying to eat... everything. My carpet? Bite. Ants outside? Delicious. Dirt or rocks? Great. Mom's toes? Looks like a tomato to me. There was a major issue when I tried to use woodchips as bedding because he actually ate one (and one very expensive vet bill later) he finally pooped it out. After that the vet suggested rabbit food pellets as bedding, but then he couldn't burrow and it made him so sad. So now we're at hay.
I thought he was just a silly boy but now I'm starting to worry that maybe the vet hasn't been telling me the correct information? If this is the case, please be gentle with me. He's my whole world and I only want to do what's best for him and I'm so scared I've been accidentally abusing him.
Also if anyone happens to know anything about if he appears wild caught or his age, I would be interested in knowing something like that as well. Does he still look healthy? I would really appreciate any information on what I could be doing better. I would like to enjoy his company for the rest of my life.

 

[MichaelL]

Some of the vets info is on the right track, but also wrong. Here are some key things to know:

• First, the main diet should be weeds and flowers, supplemented with dark leafy greens. The vet is right in that iceberg has very little nutrients. But romaine should never be a staple. Barely any fiber, and not covering all his nutritional needs.
• Contrary to what you think, he won't starve himself before he eats the pellets. They are not bad for him, and do have a lot of fiber. That said, mine hate it too and I have given up on feeding it because they already have a healthy diet and it's not a necessity.
• If you're not able to switch the diet to weeds/flowers, buy a different green every time you go to the store (I've heard endive and escarole are most like weeds), and you'll need to start having him eat pellets that have lots of fiber. Grocery greens may have lots of nutrients, but not the fiber a tortoise essentially needs. Try slowly introducing it with a tiny amount of the pellet one time, then a tiny bit more the next week. It takes time, patience, and stubbornness. Your tortoise can go months without food. You may even have to skip food days until he starts tolerating the pellets.
• Also, change the substrate. The vet recommended rabbit pellets which is probably the worst substrate, so glad you didn't listen to that. As well, you should probably use cypress mulch. It is better for stability walking, burrowing, and overall great for a russian in general.
• He is wild caught, almost full grown, and probably around 10 years old, I'm guessing.
• One thing I noticed is that his shell is growing slightly unevenly, more towards the back, and barely any between the scutes and towards the front. This is probably because the overall poor diet. If that diet continued, he would have a lot of uneven growth and not live the long life they usually live. If the diet is changed, it will most likely smooth out over time.
• He looks overall healthy, minus the slightly uneven growth.
• Don't worry, you are caring for him better than many people I've seen. Many have kept them in much smaller enclosures, feeding just fruits and veggies, way worse off than you. You're not abusing him, just giving him his favorite food all the time like giving a toddler dessert all the time. They won't grow well or get their dietary needs, but at least for them they're enjoying it lol.
• For calcium, just leave some eggshells or a cuttlebone in the enclosure, and you don't have to dust the food. They know when they need it, and will eat it when desired.
• Thank you for being ready for advice.

Also, I'm going to tag @Tom just in case any of the stuff I said is not true or can be contradicted. Or if he needs to add on. He is very helpful too.

 

[Myrandarin_oranges]

Some of the vets info is on the right track, but also wrong. Here are some key things to know:

• First, the main diet should be weeds and flowers, supplemented with dark leafy greens. The vet is right in that iceberg has very little nutrients. But romaine should never be a staple. Barely any fiber, and not covering all his nutritional needs.
• Contrary to what you think, he won't starve himself before he eats the pellets. They are not bad for him, and do have a lot of fiber. That said, mine hate it too and I have given up on feeding it because they already have a healthy diet and it's not a necessity.
• If you're not able to switch the diet to weeds/flowers, buy a different green every time you go to the store (I've heard endive and escarole are most like weeds), and you'll need to start having him eat pellets that have lots of fiber. Grocery greens may have lots of nutrients, but not the fiber a tortoise essentially needs. Try slowly introducing it with a tiny amount of the pellet one time, then a tiny bit more the next week. It takes time, patience, and stubbornness. Your tortoise can go months without food. You may even have to skip food days until he starts tolerating the pellets.
• Also, change the substrate. The vet recommended rabbit pellets which is probably the worst substrate, so glad you didn't listen to that. As well, you should probably use cypress mulch. It is better for stability walking, burrowing, and overall great for a russian in general.
• He is wild caught, almost full grown, and probably around 10 years old, I'm guessing.
• One thing I noticed is that his shell is growing slightly unevenly, more towards the back, and barely any between the scutes and towards the front. This is probably because the overall poor diet. If that diet continued, he would have a lot of uneven growth and not live the long life they usually live. If the diet is changed, it will most likely smooth out over time.
• He looks overall healthy, minus the slightly uneven growth.
• Don't worry, you are caring for him better than many people I've seen. Many have kept them in much smaller enclosures, feeding just fruits and veggies, way worse off than you. You're not abusing him, just giving him his favorite food all the time like giving a toddler dessert all the time. They won't grow well or get their dietary needs, but at least for them they're enjoying it lol.
• For calcium, just leave some eggshells or a cuttlebone in the enclosure, and you don't have to dust the food. They know when they need it, and will eat it when desired.
• Thank you for being ready for advice.

Also, I'm going to tag @Tom just in case any of the stuff I said is not true or can be contradicted. Or if he needs to add on. He is very helpful too.

Thank you.

 

[Yvonne G]

I love that you've given him such a nice big enclosure!

Get rid of the hay and use either cypress mulch, fir bark or coco mulch/bark.

 

[Sa Ga]

If he eats stuff, use the Eco Earth (coconut fiber). He can pass that
Cypress is wood and if he eats it, he will cost you another pretty set of pennies!

 

[Myrandarin_oranges]

If he eats stuff, use the Eco Earth (coconut fiber). He can pass that
Cypress is wood and if he eats it, he will cost you another pretty set of pennies!

Thank you! Do your Torts still like burrowing in it?

 

[Myrandarin_oranges]

I love that you've given him such a nice big enclosure!

Get rid of the hay and use either cypress mulch, fir bark or coco mulch/bark.

Thank you! Do your torts still like burrowing in it? Do yours ever try to eat it? Mine...I don't know. He will try to eat ANYTHING. I had a log for him to hide under and he would just eat the bark off of it. Like strip it. I had to take it away from him and buy a plastic one and even that he will still bite from time to time. He just loves exploring wit his mouth I guess.

 

[KarenSoCal]

I think that when his dietary needs are met he may stop trying to eat everything. He's craving nutrients he is not getting.

I believe you should find a new vet. She has led you wrong more than once.

This is our care sheet for Russian tortoises. Read it carefully. It has good, reliable info, and will help you identify what needs changed. And don't feel bad...you were given bad info from the start. It's good you came here for help.

Russian Tortoise Care Sheet

Russian tortoises have great personalities, are very hardy, tolerate a wide variety of enclosure parameters, stay small, and are generally a good "starter" tortoise in my opinion. Here is how I like to set them up: Indoor Enclosure type and size: Most people want to know the minimum size...

tortoiseforum.org

 

[Sa Ga]

Thank you! Do your Torts still like burrowing in it?

Definitely. If Morla couldn't burrow, I think she'd get really anxious.

 

[Yvonne G]

If he eats "anything" you may need to supplement his minerals. I use a product called Miner-All. It's manufactured by Sticky Tongue Farms and provides more minerals that may be missing from his diet. Just a little pinch between thumb and index finger about three times a week over the food.

 

[Tom]

Oh boy. This one's a doozy!

@Myrandarin_oranges you've done an excellent job trying to care for this tortoise. I wish everyone put in so much effort. Unfortunately, you've discovered how much misinformation is out there in the world, and some of it coming from the veterinarians that we all trust so much.

All good advice from all the other posters. The main points I would argue with are change that substrate (But not yet...), and improve the diet (ASAP on this one).

Let me offer some explanation about what is going on with the "eat everything" problem: When their dietary needs aren't being met, either because of nutrient, protein, trace element, or fiber deficiency, their body tells them to; "FIND THESE MISSING ELEMENTS ANYWHERE AND EVERYWHERE!!!" In the wild they would simply walk around eating an assortment of dozens or hundreds of different species of wild growing weeds, leaves and flowers. When you feed them nothing but lettuce or other store bought groceries, as your vet advised, you are not meeting their nutritional needs, you are causing these deficiencies, and your tortoise is trying to correct the desperate situation by eating the wrong stuff.

Your vet is correct that Russians are not grass eaters, but the ZooMed Grassland diet is a great way to add fiber and variety to grocery store greens. Had you spent the time introducing that food to him, you might have avoided this problem. So sad your vet advised you to NOT do the thing that would have helped your tortoise...

Tortoises are creatures of habit. They eat what they've eaten before. In dozens of attempts, I've never seen any tortoise of any species just walk up to a plate of the ZooMed stuff and start munching away. Like any new food, you have to spend time, weeks or months in some cases, introducing the new food. Start with a tiny broken pice of one pellet. Soak it in a bottle cap with a little water. Then chop up a pile of your tortoises favorite food and mix in your tiny amount of the ZooMed pellet. Mix it in very thoroughly so your tortoise can't eat around it. Keep doing this daily until the tortoise is reliably eating it like normal. Over time, increase the amount of ZooMed stuff as your tortoise accepts it.

You'll have to do this with all new foods. What to feed? Here is more on that reprinted from a care sheet I recently typed up:
"So much contradictory info on this subject. Its simple. What do they eat in the wild. Grass, weeds, leaves, flowers, and succulents. Feed them a huge variety of these things, and you'll have a healthy tortoise. All of these species are very adaptable when it comes to diet and there is a very large margin of error, and many ways to do it right. What if you don't have this sort of "natural" tortoise food available for part of each year because you are in the snow? You will have no choice but to buy grocery store food. What's wrong with grocery store food? It tends to lack fiber, some items are low in calcium or have a poor calcium to phosphorous ratio, and some items have deleterious compounds in them. All of these short comings can be improved with some simple supplementation and amendments. A pinch of calcium two times per week will help fix that problem. You can also leave cuttle bone in the enclosure, so your tortoise can self-regulate its own calcium intake. What about fiber? Soaked horse hay pellets, soaked ZooMed Grassland pellets, Mazuri tortoise chow, "Salad style", "Herbal Hay" both from @TylerStewart and his lovely wife Sarah at Tortoisesupply.com, or many of the dried plants and leaves available from Will @Kapidolo Farms. If you must use grocery store foods, favor endive and escarole as your main staples. Add in arugula, cilantro, kale, collard, mustard and turnip greens, squash leaves, spring mix, romaine, green or red leaf lettuce, butter lettuce, water cress, carrot tops, celery tops, bok choy, and whatever other greens you can find. If you mix in some of the aforementioned amendments, these grocery store foods will offer plants of variety and fiber and be able to meet your tortoises nutritional needs just fine. I find it preferable to grab a few grapevine or mulberry leaves, or a handful of mallow and clover, or some broadleaf plantain leaves and some grass, but with the right additions, grocery store stuff is fine too. Grow your own stuff, or find it around you when possible. Tyler and Sarah also sell a fantastic Testudo seed mix that is great for ALL tortoise species and also super easy to grow in pots, trays, raised garden beds, or in outdoor tortoise enclosures. When that isn't possible, add a wide variety of good stuff to your grocery store greens to make them better.

Supplements:
I recommend you keep cuttle bone available all the time. Some never use it and some munch on it regularly. Some of mine will go months without touching it, and then suddenly eat the whole thing in a day or two. Sulcatas and leopards grow a lot. This requires a tremendous amount of calcium assimilation over time. A great diet is paramount, but it is still a good idea to give them some extra calcium regularly. I use a tiny pinch of RepCal or ZooMed plain old calcium carbonate twice a week. Much discussion has been given to whether or not they need D3 in their calcium supplement. Personally, I don't think it matters. Every tortoise should be getting adequate UV exposure one way or another, so they should be able to make their own D3. I also like to use a mineral supplement. "MinerAll" is my current brand of choice. It seems to help those tortoises that like to swallow pebbles and rocks. It is speculated that some tortoise eat rocks or substrate due to a mineral deficiency or imbalance. Whatever the reason, "MinerAll" seems to stop it or prevent it. Finally, I like to use a reptile vitamin supplement once a week, to round out any hidden deficiencies that may be in my diet over the course of a year."

More immediately, order up some MinerAll from Stickey Tongue Farms. Its a balanced mineral supplement and it usually helps curb this "stuff" eating habit. Use it every other day at first, and then taper off to once or twice a week when you see the problem behavior subsiding.

Adding calcium to the diet will often make this problem worse. Calcium interferes with the absorption of other important nutrients, minerals and trace elements. If your tortoise is shaking calcium off of the food, that means you are adding way too much. Only use a tiny pinch, and mix it in thoroughly throughout the pile of food.

To recap:

1. Do change your substrate, but wait until you get the junk eating problem under control.
2. FInd or grow an assortment of broadleaf weeds to feed to your tortoise. Post pics here, or take samples to a local nursery for ID help to make sure you've got the right ones.
3. Find or grow other good stuff like mulberry leaves, grape vine leaves, rose of sharon leaves and flowers, roses and rose leaves, geraniums, gazania, lavatera, etc... The list of possibilities is endless. Realize that your tortoise will shun ALL of this good stuff at first, and you'll have to mix it in with the other foods to get them used to it and eating it.
4. Get some of the stuff from Will or Tyler mentioned above to start mixing in with the romaine now. Romaine isn't bad, it just doesn't provide everything they need. You can use the romaine as a delivery vehicle to get the good stuff introduced and into the tortoise.

 

[Myrandarin_oranges]

Oh boy. This one's a doozy!

@Myrandarin_oranges you've done an excellent job trying to care for this tortoise. I wish everyone put in so much effort. Unfortunately, you've discovered how much misinformation is out there in the world, and some of it coming from the veterinarians that we all trust so much.

All good advice from all the other posters. The main points I would argue with are change that substrate (But not yet...), and improve the diet (ASAP on this one).

Let me offer some explanation about what is going on with the "eat everything" problem: When their dietary needs aren't being met, either because of nutrient, protein, trace element, or fiber deficiency, their body tells them to; "FIND THESE MISSING ELEMENTS ANYWHERE AND EVERYWHERE!!!" In the wild they would simply walk around eating an assortment of dozens or hundreds of different species of wild growing weeds, leaves and flowers. When you feed them nothing but lettuce or other store bought groceries, as your vet advised, you are not meeting their nutritional needs, you are causing these deficiencies, and your tortoise is trying to correct the desperate situation by eating the wrong stuff.

Your vet is correct that Russians are not grass eaters, but the ZooMed Grassland diet is a great way to add fiber and variety to grocery store greens. Had you spent the time introducing that food to him, you might have avoided this problem. So sad your vet advised you to NOT do the thing that would have helped your tortoise...

Tortoises are creatures of habit. They eat what they've eaten before. In dozens of attempts, I've never seen any tortoise of any species just walk up to a plate of the ZooMed stuff and start munching away. Like any new food, you have to spend time, weeks or months in some cases, introducing the new food. Start with a tiny broken pice of one pellet. Soak it in a bottle cap with a little water. Then chop up a pile of your tortoises favorite food and mix in your tiny amount of the ZooMed pellet. Mix it in very thoroughly so your tortoise can't eat around it. Keep doing this daily until the tortoise is reliably eating it like normal. Over time, increase the amount of ZooMed stuff as your tortoise accepts it.

You'll have to do this with all new foods. What to feed? Here is more on that reprinted from a care sheet I recently typed up:
"So much contradictory info on this subject. Its simple. What do they eat in the wild. Grass, weeds, leaves, flowers, and succulents. Feed them a huge variety of these things, and you'll have a healthy tortoise. All of these species are very adaptable when it comes to diet and there is a very large margin of error, and many ways to do it right. What if you don't have this sort of "natural" tortoise food available for part of each year because you are in the snow? You will have no choice but to buy grocery store food. What's wrong with grocery store food? It tends to lack fiber, some items are low in calcium or have a poor calcium to phosphorous ratio, and some items have deleterious compounds in them. All of these short comings can be improved with some simple supplementation and amendments. A pinch of calcium two times per week will help fix that problem. You can also leave cuttle bone in the enclosure, so your tortoise can self-regulate its own calcium intake. What about fiber? Soaked horse hay pellets, soaked ZooMed Grassland pellets, Mazuri tortoise chow, "Salad style", "Herbal Hay" both from @TylerStewart and his lovely wife Sarah at Tortoisesupply.com, or many of the dried plants and leaves available from Will @Kapidolo Farms. If you must use grocery store foods, favor endive and escarole as your main staples. Add in arugula, cilantro, kale, collard, mustard and turnip greens, squash leaves, spring mix, romaine, green or red leaf lettuce, butter lettuce, water cress, carrot tops, celery tops, bok choy, and whatever other greens you can find. If you mix in some of the aforementioned amendments, these grocery store foods will offer plants of variety and fiber and be able to meet your tortoises nutritional needs just fine. I find it preferable to grab a few grapevine or mulberry leaves, or a handful of mallow and clover, or some broadleaf plantain leaves and some grass, but with the right additions, grocery store stuff is fine too. Grow your own stuff, or find it around you when possible. Tyler and Sarah also sell a fantastic Testudo seed mix that is great for ALL tortoise species and also super easy to grow in pots, trays, raised garden beds, or in outdoor tortoise enclosures. When that isn't possible, add a wide variety of good stuff to your grocery store greens to make them better.

Supplements:
I recommend you keep cuttle bone available all the time. Some never use it and some munch on it regularly. Some of mine will go months without touching it, and then suddenly eat the whole thing in a day or two. Sulcatas and leopards grow a lot. This requires a tremendous amount of calcium assimilation over time. A great diet is paramount, but it is still a good idea to give them some extra calcium regularly. I use a tiny pinch of RepCal or ZooMed plain old calcium carbonate twice a week. Much discussion has been given to whether or not they need D3 in their calcium supplement. Personally, I don't think it matters. Every tortoise should be getting adequate UV exposure one way or another, so they should be able to make their own D3. I also like to use a mineral supplement. "MinerAll" is my current brand of choice. It seems to help those tortoises that like to swallow pebbles and rocks. It is speculated that some tortoise eat rocks or substrate due to a mineral deficiency or imbalance. Whatever the reason, "MinerAll" seems to stop it or prevent it. Finally, I like to use a reptile vitamin supplement once a week, to round out any hidden deficiencies that may be in my diet over the course of a year."

More immediately, order up some MinerAll from Stickey Tongue Farms. Its a balanced mineral supplement and it usually helps curb this "stuff" eating habit. Use it every other day at first, and then taper off to once or twice a week when you see the problem behavior subsiding.

Adding calcium to the diet will often make this problem worse. Calcium interferes with the absorption of other important nutrients, minerals and trace elements. If your tortoise is shaking calcium off of the food, that means you are adding way too much. Only use a tiny pinch, and mix it in thoroughly throughout the pile of food.

To recap:

1. Do change your substrate, but wait until you get the junk eating problem under control.
2. FInd or grow an assortment of broadleaf weeds to feed to your tortoise. Post pics here, or take samples to a local nursery for ID help to make sure you've got the right ones.
3. Find or grow other good stuff like mulberry leaves, grape vine leaves, rose of sharon leaves and flowers, roses and rose leaves, geraniums, gazania, lavatera, etc... The list of possibilities is endless. Realize that your tortoise will shun ALL of this good stuff at first, and you'll have to mix it in with the other foods to get them used to it and eating it.
4. Get some of the stuff from Will or Tyler mentioned above to start mixing in with the romaine now. Romaine isn't bad, it just doesn't provide everything they need. You can use the romaine as a delivery vehicle to get the good stuff introduced and into the tortoise.

Thank you for all of this. I really appreciate it

 

[AllieKat1997]

Okay, breathe, for starters. I know what it’s like worrying over our shelled beloved pets but don’t freak; they’re super hardy. Second, my tortoise hated hated hated pellets too - so I bought different brands until I found the one he liked. Zilla Land and Tortoise food is what he’s on now and he loves it. Third, get out a blender or buy a really cheap one. Stuff it full of the food he absolutely loves, and sneak in a little bit of the food he hates but is good for him (even the pellets yes!) the good food taste outdoes the bad food taste and he should eat it. You might have to play around with ratios. Eventually you want to slowly (could be months could be weeks could be years!) get him to a healthier ratio. My tortoise was extremely picky and addicted to romaine lettuce. He wouldn’t eat anything else. I did this for a few months and now he’s eating a mixed ratio of whatever I put in front of him without complaining at all and without it being blended. Don’t panic and don’t worry. I’m sure we’re all smarter than a tortoise... Hopefully!

 

[Myrandarin_oranges]

Okay, breathe, for starters. I know what it’s like worrying over our shelled beloved pets but don’t freak; they’re super hardy. Second, my tortoise hated hated hated pellets too - so I bought different brands until I found the one he liked. Zilla Land and Tortoise food is what he’s on now and he loves it. Third, get out a blender or buy a really cheap one. Stuff it full of the food he absolutely loves, and sneak in a little bit of the food he hates but is good for him (even the pellets yes!) the good food taste outdoes the bad food taste and he should eat it. You might have to play around with ratios. Eventually you want to slowly (could be months could be weeks could be years!) get him to a healthier ratio. My tortoise was extremely picky and addicted to romaine lettuce. He wouldn’t eat anything else. I did this for a few months and now he’s eating a mixed ratio of whatever I put in front of him without complaining at all and without it being blended. Don’t panic and don’t worry. I’m sure we’re all smarter than a tortoise... Hopefully!

Thank you. The blender is a good idea. I have a bad habit of going from 0 to 100 real fast. I'm trying, I promise! ?

 

[AllieKat1997]

Thank you. The blender is a good idea. I have a bad habit of going from 0 to 100 real fast. I'm trying, I promise! ?

I checked on my tortoise when he was a hatchling every thirty minutes. I was even tempted to by a camera I could view on my phone. I was so panicked he’d flip over and I wouldn’t notice, so I get it! Thank goodness but he’s been alive for almost two years despite my panicking. Being my first reptile ever we had trail and error, but it all works out in the end! Good luck and if you have any more questions the forum is super helpful. Joining the group was probably your best bet!

 

[Viola B]

Does your tortoise have a water dish in it's enclosure. If not buy a plant saucer, the clay ones. They are easy for a tortoise to get in and out of and drink from. You are trying to do the best for for little one. This is a wonderful forum for learning.
Welcome!

 

[turtlebean]

Oh boy. This one's a doozy!

@Myrandarin_oranges you've done an excellent job trying to care for this tortoise. I wish everyone put in so much effort. Unfortunately, you've discovered how much misinformation is out there in the world, and some of it coming from the veterinarians that we all trust so much.

All good advice from all the other posters. The main points I would argue with are change that substrate (But not yet...), and improve the diet (ASAP on this one).

Let me offer some explanation about what is going on with the "eat everything" problem: When their dietary needs aren't being met, either because of nutrient, protein, trace element, or fiber deficiency, their body tells them to; "FIND THESE MISSING ELEMENTS ANYWHERE AND EVERYWHERE!!!" In the wild they would simply walk around eating an assortment of dozens or hundreds of different species of wild growing weeds, leaves and flowers. When you feed them nothing but lettuce or other store bought groceries, as your vet advised, you are not meeting their nutritional needs, you are causing these deficiencies, and your tortoise is trying to correct the desperate situation by eating the wrong stuff.

Your vet is correct that Russians are not grass eaters, but the ZooMed Grassland diet is a great way to add fiber and variety to grocery store greens. Had you spent the time introducing that food to him, you might have avoided this problem. So sad your vet advised you to NOT do the thing that would have helped your tortoise...

Tortoises are creatures of habit. They eat what they've eaten before. In dozens of attempts, I've never seen any tortoise of any species just walk up to a plate of the ZooMed stuff and start munching away. Like any new food, you have to spend time, weeks or months in some cases, introducing the new food. Start with a tiny broken pice of one pellet. Soak it in a bottle cap with a little water. Then chop up a pile of your tortoises favorite food and mix in your tiny amount of the ZooMed pellet. Mix it in very thoroughly so your tortoise can't eat around it. Keep doing this daily until the tortoise is reliably eating it like normal. Over time, increase the amount of ZooMed stuff as your tortoise accepts it.

You'll have to do this with all new foods. What to feed? Here is more on that reprinted from a care sheet I recently typed up:
"So much contradictory info on this subject. Its simple. What do they eat in the wild. Grass, weeds, leaves, flowers, and succulents. Feed them a huge variety of these things, and you'll have a healthy tortoise. All of these species are very adaptable when it comes to diet and there is a very large margin of error, and many ways to do it right. What if you don't have this sort of "natural" tortoise food available for part of each year because you are in the snow? You will have no choice but to buy grocery store food. What's wrong with grocery store food? It tends to lack fiber, some items are low in calcium or have a poor calcium to phosphorous ratio, and some items have deleterious compounds in them. All of these short comings can be improved with some simple supplementation and amendments. A pinch of calcium two times per week will help fix that problem. You can also leave cuttle bone in the enclosure, so your tortoise can self-regulate its own calcium intake. What about fiber? Soaked horse hay pellets, soaked ZooMed Grassland pellets, Mazuri tortoise chow, "Salad style", "Herbal Hay" both from @TylerStewart and his lovely wife Sarah at Tortoisesupply.com, or many of the dried plants and leaves available from Will @Kapidolo Farms. If you must use grocery store foods, favor endive and escarole as your main staples. Add in arugula, cilantro, kale, collard, mustard and turnip greens, squash leaves, spring mix, romaine, green or red leaf lettuce, butter lettuce, water cress, carrot tops, celery tops, bok choy, and whatever other greens you can find. If you mix in some of the aforementioned amendments, these grocery store foods will offer plants of variety and fiber and be able to meet your tortoises nutritional needs just fine. I find it preferable to grab a few grapevine or mulberry leaves, or a handful of mallow and clover, or some broadleaf plantain leaves and some grass, but with the right additions, grocery store stuff is fine too. Grow your own stuff, or find it around you when possible. Tyler and Sarah also sell a fantastic Testudo seed mix that is great for ALL tortoise species and also super easy to grow in pots, trays, raised garden beds, or in outdoor tortoise enclosures. When that isn't possible, add a wide variety of good stuff to your grocery store greens to make them better.

Supplements:
I recommend you keep cuttle bone available all the time. Some never use it and some munch on it regularly. Some of mine will go months without touching it, and then suddenly eat the whole thing in a day or two. Sulcatas and leopards grow a lot. This requires a tremendous amount of calcium assimilation over time. A great diet is paramount, but it is still a good idea to give them some extra calcium regularly. I use a tiny pinch of RepCal or ZooMed plain old calcium carbonate twice a week. Much discussion has been given to whether or not they need D3 in their calcium supplement. Personally, I don't think it matters. Every tortoise should be getting adequate UV exposure one way or another, so they should be able to make their own D3. I also like to use a mineral supplement. "MinerAll" is my current brand of choice. It seems to help those tortoises that like to swallow pebbles and rocks. It is speculated that some tortoise eat rocks or substrate due to a mineral deficiency or imbalance. Whatever the reason, "MinerAll" seems to stop it or prevent it. Finally, I like to use a reptile vitamin supplement once a week, to round out any hidden deficiencies that may be in my diet over the course of a year."

More immediately, order up some MinerAll from Stickey Tongue Farms. Its a balanced mineral supplement and it usually helps curb this "stuff" eating habit. Use it every other day at first, and then taper off to once or twice a week when you see the problem behavior subsiding.

Adding calcium to the diet will often make this problem worse. Calcium interferes with the absorption of other important nutrients, minerals and trace elements. If your tortoise is shaking calcium off of the food, that means you are adding way too much. Only use a tiny pinch, and mix it in thoroughly throughout the pile of food.

To recap:

1. Do change your substrate, but wait until you get the junk eating problem under control.
2. FInd or grow an assortment of broadleaf weeds to feed to your tortoise. Post pics here, or take samples to a local nursery for ID help to make sure you've got the right ones.
3. Find or grow other good stuff like mulberry leaves, grape vine leaves, rose of sharon leaves and flowers, roses and rose leaves, geraniums, gazania, lavatera, etc... The list of possibilities is endless. Realize that your tortoise will shun ALL of this good stuff at first, and you'll have to mix it in with the other foods to get them used to it and eating it.
4. Get some of the stuff from Will or Tyler mentioned above to start mixing in with the romaine now. Romaine isn't bad, it just doesn't provide everything they need. You can use the romaine as a delivery vehicle to get the good stuff introduced and into the tortoise.

Tom once again i’m thankful for posts of yours like this one!

 

[Krista S]

Tom, when you talk about using a reptile vitamin supplement, are you referring to the MinerAll or a different product? I ordered the MinerAll on the weekend and it was shipped today. If the vitamin supplement you’re referring to is something different, I’d like to get that as well and would like to know what your product recommendation is.

 

[AllieKat1997]

If you wanted too, what I did for my tortoise who wouldn’t eat pellets, I got a blender and blended the pellets up! Then you just scoop them out if the blender and sprinkle it into their food. It’s so small and evenly chopped they can’t avoid it. Your boy might give you the stink eye like mine did at first, but mine did eat, and he doesn’t seem upset at all anymore. If the food your using is chunky blocks I recommend soaking it before you blend it to save the blender some life. Good luck! And don’t worry, you’ve joined a great forum for tortoises and turtles.

 

[Krista S]

Tom, when you talk about using a reptile vitamin supplement, are you referring to the MinerAll or a different product? I ordered the MinerAll on the weekend and it was shipped today. If the vitamin supplement you’re referring to is something different, I’d like to get that as well and would like to know what your product recommendation is.

Does anyone have recommendations on what kind of reptile vitamin supplements are best to use?