Tort dude
Member
why wont my russian eat maruzi tort food. what can i do to make him like it.
Mazuri
- Thread starter Tort dude
- Start date
Did you buy the LS version? Most torts seem to hate it with a passion.
Try mixing it with things he likes.
I have 8 or 10 different species of tortoise. Some will eat it readily to the exclusion of other foods, some will eat it along with other foods and some look at me like I'm offering them poison, and won't touch it. My russians are in that last category. Since they live in a well-planted, weed infested yard, I don't worry that they won't eat Mazuri.
Which of your two Russians doesn’t like it?
MickeyMouse
New Member
My tortoise just liked mazuri a bit when I got it, but then I offered more greens (leaves) and she really prefer greens and don't eat full mazuri.
The solution I found to complete her diet with the mazuri is to soak the pellet a bit in water to soften it, then I crush it with my fingers and mix it with the leaves, so he eat the mazuri with the leaves.
The solution I found to complete her diet with the mazuri is to soak the pellet a bit in water to soften it, then I crush it with my fingers and mix it with the leaves, so he eat the mazuri with the leaves.
My Russian won't eat it either. I have tried several times in several ways. He just doesn't like it so I don't give it to him.
I’ve seen it online, but nowhere else. I think you have to order it.
Do you have a link for it? I’m always scared I’ll get the wrong stuff online. Some I’ve seen doesn’t look like it comes in original packaging.
I thought I saw it for cheaper once, but I would just look around for “original tortoise mazuri”
https://m.ebay.com/itm/1-5-lbs-Mazu...458702?hash=item3f7e92544e:g:I1sAAOSwX9FZOAkY
Greetings here is a link to the Mazuri Reptile Tortoise chow (#5M21)
http://www.mazuri.com/mazuritortoisediet.aspx
http://www.mazuri.com/mazuritortoisediet.aspx
- Mazuri® Tortoise Diet is a high fiber diet designed for dry land herbivorous tortoises such as gopher, sulcata and Galapagos tortoises. This diet may be used with other herbivorous reptiles as well.
2 of my 3 torts eat it. It is the LS mazuri stuff. My russian and smaller sulcata love it. But my bigger sully will walk over it if i try to have her eat it. She wont even smell it.
MireyaMurphy
New Member
My Greek tortoise used to HATE Mazuri. We tried both the original and the LS. He would ignore it. So, we continued to feed him a varied diet of different things recommended here on TortoiseForum. One day, we tried it again. "Buddy" began eating it as though he had always been eating it.
We purchased Mazuri from Amazon. They typically came in a black resealable bag with a label on it. However, one shipment arrived from a seller on Amazon that was in an unmarked metallic-colored bag. I was worried about feeding Buddy something from a third-party seller on Amazon. After some research, I discovered that Mazuri doesn't sell smaller bags of the original anymore (whether black or metallic bag colors). They only sell the LS Diet. Regardless, all of their consumer bags have a similar look to them.
I contacted Amazon who placed me on a three-way call with the seller. It turns out that this seller (a popular seller on Amazon from Illinois) claims that he buys large bags and then separates them himself into small bags that he sells on Amazon (at a big markup). He claims that this is legitimate business practice and that he is an "authorized vendor" for Mazuri (yet he changes his company name on Amazon periodically).
I contacted Mazuri. They said that this was unethical and a violation of any proper practice. They warned against purchasing from third party vendors who claim to open large bags and repackage them into smaller bags. Mazuri claimed that this could potentially lethal for a tortoise -- because you can't be entirely certain what is in the bag. They had heard stories about people selling cheap dog food as "Mazuri." Others had stated that their Mazuri arrived moldy.
Amazon refunded my money. However, the vendor was irate.
Mazuri actually called back and checked to see how Buddy was doing. I thought that this was very nice of them. They recommended the Tortoise Diet LS for Buddy. We were a bit worried because many people seemed to say that it wasn't as good as the "regular" or say that their torts didn't like the LS. So, without any legitimate regular Mazuri, we bought the LS.
Buddy LOVED it. It was almost like crack to him! lol
We still offer Buddy a varied diet of appropriate greens and weeds. However, he loves the Mazuri LS more than anything else.
We purchased Mazuri from Amazon. They typically came in a black resealable bag with a label on it. However, one shipment arrived from a seller on Amazon that was in an unmarked metallic-colored bag. I was worried about feeding Buddy something from a third-party seller on Amazon. After some research, I discovered that Mazuri doesn't sell smaller bags of the original anymore (whether black or metallic bag colors). They only sell the LS Diet. Regardless, all of their consumer bags have a similar look to them.
I contacted Amazon who placed me on a three-way call with the seller. It turns out that this seller (a popular seller on Amazon from Illinois) claims that he buys large bags and then separates them himself into small bags that he sells on Amazon (at a big markup). He claims that this is legitimate business practice and that he is an "authorized vendor" for Mazuri (yet he changes his company name on Amazon periodically).
I contacted Mazuri. They said that this was unethical and a violation of any proper practice. They warned against purchasing from third party vendors who claim to open large bags and repackage them into smaller bags. Mazuri claimed that this could potentially lethal for a tortoise -- because you can't be entirely certain what is in the bag. They had heard stories about people selling cheap dog food as "Mazuri." Others had stated that their Mazuri arrived moldy.
Amazon refunded my money. However, the vendor was irate.
Mazuri actually called back and checked to see how Buddy was doing. I thought that this was very nice of them. They recommended the Tortoise Diet LS for Buddy. We were a bit worried because many people seemed to say that it wasn't as good as the "regular" or say that their torts didn't like the LS. So, without any legitimate regular Mazuri, we bought the LS.
Buddy LOVED it. It was almost like crack to him! lol
We still offer Buddy a varied diet of appropriate greens and weeds. However, he loves the Mazuri LS more than anything else.
Many third party sellers buy the 25 pound bags of Mazuri and then package it into smaller quantities to re-sell it. Its pretty common practice. Someone with a single tortoise would never get through a 25 pound bag. I have 25 adult tortoises and a 25 pound bag lasts me a month or two. I've never seen it lead to any problems and most people are very ethical, but I can see the potential for abuse or problems that you were warned about. Buy from someone you trust. We have several reputable sellers here on the forum that I would trust without reservation. Tyler and Sarah over at Tortoisesupply.com are personal friends and very good people. I've done business with John at Coastal, and he was excellent to dal with too. I'm sure there are more here in our little tortoise community, but I haven't personally done business with all of them.
Glad your tortoise decided to like the Mazuri. Its a good dietary supplement and quite handy when other things run out.
MireyaMurphy
New Member
Thanks for the feedback!
I don't doubt that most resellers are simply attempting to offer the same product at a much more reasonable size. My issue is that there is (unfortunately) little way to distinguish between the good and bad products from people who engage on this "repackage into smaller bags" via Amazon. Since we love our tortoise ("Buddy"), we want to make sure that we are feeding him the right things.
There are a few cautionary tales that I've read about moldy Mazuri or even tortoises getting sick from repackaged Mazuri purchased online. I'm not sure that there would even be a shelf life for Mazuri.
In fact, I wasn't even aware that the product that I was buying via Amazon was repackaged in the first place. It even included an expiration date. The only way that we discovered that it was repackaged was when we were sent a different type of bag with a less-ornate label that didn't include an expiration date. It also had a slightly different look and smell too from the same product purchased from a different seller on Amazon.
When I contacted the new seller, he assured me that it was safe. He said that Mazuri never expires and that EVERYONE who sells Mazuri via Amazon is doing the same thing that he does (selling smaller bags that they've personally repackaged from the 25 lb bulk bags).
When I called Mazuri, they stated explicitly that they don't permit sales of "repackaged" products (which is a contradiction to what the seller from Illinois implied). They were especially concerned that it was sold as "new." The customer service rep from Mazuri was the person who said that it was "unethical" to do this and sell it as "new."
Of course, we were primarily concerned about how consistently safe such products would be. My husband recently bought some "Gillette" razors on Amazon shipped and sold from Amazon under a seller called "Gillette." The razors looked just like the real thing but still turned out to be fakes (and were terribly abrasive to my husband's face). I'd hate to feed something to Buddy that isn't the real deal.
As you said, a normal person with a single tortoise wouldn't want/need a 25 pound bag of Mazuri. It would be ideal for Mazuri to sell smaller bags of the regular Mazuri tortoise diet to customers (just as they do the Mazuri LS Diet). Since I suspect that most customers only own one tortoise, a 25 lb bag seems like overkill anyway. I would gladly buy a 2 lb bag of the same product -- even if it costs considerably more per ounce.
Thankfully, our tortoise loves the Mazuri LS Diet. Since we can pick it up at local pet stores, this isn't an issue anymore. Buddy is a finicky eater too (he dislikes some of the items listed on the Greek tortoise care sheet here). We've raised him from a baby. In August, it'll be two years that we've had him.
And so we have another junk food buyer not interested enough to buy real food and feed a more natural diet
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Malarky. Its not junk. Its an effective way to deliver balanced nutrition and make sure there are no "gaps" in a more natural diet. It is an excellent supplemental food.And so we have another junk food buyer not interested enough to buy real food and feed a more natural diet
And unless you are traveling to the tortoise's native habitat and collecting native plants grown in the native soil, then you aren't feeding a "natural" diet either.
I believe that the right weeds, grasses, leaves and succulents are the best thing to be feeding our tortoises, but Mazuri is not "junk food" and people who feed it don't do so because they "aren't interested enough to buy real food". Frankly, if you are buying food at the grocery store, you are the one feeding junk food and you are the one that needs to re-examine his tortoise's diet. I'm surrounded by weeds, grasses and all sorts of "natural" foods that I go to great lengths to plant, cultivate and grow all over my ranch. With the exception of bales of grass hay and Mazuri, I don't buy any of my tortoises food. I grow it. I feed Mazuri because it ensures my tortoises are getting complete nutrition.
If you haven't tried it, you are missing out on a good source of supplemental nutrition. Please don't discourage others from using it because of your unfounded bias. I have no problem if you don't want to use it, but mislabeling it as junk food, and insulting the people who have chosen differently than you is just bad form.
Jay Bagley
Well-Known Member
Junk? Is that an acronym for....just unsurpassed nutritious kibble.[emoji6]And so we have another junk food buyer not interested enough to buy real food and feed a more natural diet
