Mine won't really touch either one, looks at it like "what the #&*% is this $#@^?" LOL and does a masterful job of eating around it and separating it when you mix it with greens. Mine is only few months old, just wondering how many of your young totoises will take it.
When did your juvie start eating Grassland or Mazuri?
- Thread starter Robber
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You've got to be patient. Tortoises are creatures of habit. If they weren't introduced to some foods soon after hatching, it can take a while for them to try new things. It helps if you finely chop up all the greens and only mix in a tiny amount of the new stuff. Gradually, over a period of weeks or months, up the ratio of new stuff to old. Don't be afraid to let them get hungry during this progress. A picky tortoise today = a hungry tortoise tomorrow.
Tom said:
Yeah, I'm trying to mix very small amounts, will keep trying. I have thought about trying a little tough love as you're saying, thinking it would prompt him to try it a little more. Might be easier in the winter too when he's not outside grazing throughout the day.
I've run into similar habitual issues with leopard geckos, when acquiring an adult animal that has not been fed a particular food item will be reluctant to eat it. Almost all hatchlings I raise will eat anything as I introduce them to a variety from the get go.
Thanks for the response.
Since day one. They love the stuff and can smell it when I place it in their enclosure, they come running.
Did you forget to pay the water bill?
Mazuri dry? Ewww. That's like corn flakes without milk? X the dry, I think. Your torties are smarties.
I read somewhere, sorry can't remember where, that tortoises take at least 2 months to adjust to change in diet. As soon as I remember where that was from I will share.
I read somewhere, sorry can't remember where, that tortoises take at least 2 months to adjust to change in diet. As soon as I remember where that was from I will share.
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Took about a month to get my Benny eating mazuri. He hated it! And would give me the Wtf look.
Mixing was the key and making mush basically. I made tortoise mazuri balls, something I read here on the forum and that was what finally got him eating it.
Now when it goes on the plate and the water gets added he's running for it. I hate to admit it but he likes it better than fresh foods most of the time.
Mixing was the key and making mush basically. I made tortoise mazuri balls, something I read here on the forum and that was what finally got him eating it.
Now when it goes on the plate and the water gets added he's running for it. I hate to admit it but he likes it better than fresh foods most of the time.
Mine started eating it a few days after introducing it - which was when he was about 10 months old.
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Yeah. Tiny hates it too. I keep it in there and have been doing some tough love too. Hope s/he learns to like it soon.
Mine is 5 months old and loves it. The breeder introduced him to it and I think that might have been the bigger bulk of his meals because he definitely prefers Mazuri over weeds and leaves. I have to sneak in the leaves and flowers. If I don't help walk away from them unless he's starving. Like someone mentioned earlier, my little guy can smell the Mazuri and runs over to eat it whenever I give it to him.
My rf are all about mazuri, didn't take any effort to get them to eat it, my Russians however won't touch it.
To be honest, if your tortoise isn't addicted to it it's probably a good thing. Fresh weeds, flowers and grasses are better. When I can't find any weeds and we've run out of shop stuff, I sometimes feed mine zoo med forest-which has better ingredients at least on paper than mazuri/nutrazu- but that is a last resort. If you can find fresh weeds it is a good thing so I wouldn't worry about him not eating it.
I mix moist mazuri with the Oxbow Salad Style Grass Hay Blend about half and half and my sulcata eats it all! [TURTLE][TURTLE][TURTLE]
My post was meant to say 18* months, not 10 months, wouldn't let me edit it though xD
FLINTUS said:
Yeah, I will probably never have to offer a meal of it by itself with all of the other stuff I stock/grow, but I 'm hoping to at least get it to where he will readily eat a mix of it for the variety. I haven't really found anything green he won't eat. Seems like escarole might be his favorite, but he likes lots of different things.
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I have had mine since May and about a month later he started eating all his grasses instead of just his cactus and flowers. I also have grasses only days with him/her and when it is hungry enough he/she eats all of it.
I agree as it has been stated before, Grassland and Mazuri are good supplemental foods as part of a good variety of foods they get. I try to offer 5-10 different things daily. I slap chop it together with my as seen on tv one or with multi blade scissors. Mixing things in like that seems to help mine from being picky eaters. My one Greek loves carrots over anything else so I grate a little and mix and he/she will eat everything. I try to be sure they get a rainbow or two a day, color wise. Like us peeps are also suppose to eat. A rainbow or two a day of veggies!
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For 4 years my leopard was fed on an awful diet of baby corn, green beans and spring greens. It has taken me a little over 2 months to get him to eat a combination of fresh weeds and grass along with dried orchard/timothy hay, I started by finely cutting the orchard and timothy hay (a rather laborious task but well worth it) the smaller the better, then dust the weeds and fresh grass with timothy/orchard (imagine it as a seasoning like adding pepper to your own food) then gradually increase the size of the cuttings added to fresh grass and weeds. Mine still won't touch dry hay but when chopped up and moistened and mixed up it wolfed it down. (Rank subject but it's stools have changed from runny to fibrous like horses poop)
