What IS IT about Lettuce?

[zolasmum]

Yes I don’t think of chicory as lettuce and he likes it,long with other bitter things. So why that translates into liking boring red leaf I’m not sure..

Zola loves radicchio, and always has. We have to make a long journey every few weeks to get it for him, as locally it is only available in packets of assorted "salad mix". Fortunately it keeps well ! !
Angie

 

[_The_Beast_]

Fezzik’s favorites are endive and radicchio, both of which are quite bitter. I had assumed they *liked* the bitter taste.

He still won’t touch mulberry leaves and tho on rare occasion will eat cactus mostly he’s a nope.

I understand cucumbers if you need to get moisture in but I would think as a vegetable they are not good to feed?

Walter LOVES radicchio and endive (though sometimes he decides endive is unacceptable), with bok choy being his absolute favourite bitter green.

For the cucumber, I tried putting some in his outdoor enclosure on a couple hot days recently as it doesn't dehydrate as quickly as his other food, but he's never bothered with it I thought if he liked it it could be a good 'treat' but nope. His Majesty refuses such paltry offerings.

 

[RosemaryDW]

I thought if he liked it it could be a good 'treat' but nope. His Majesty refuses such paltry offerings.

Tortoises: they do what they want, when they want.

 

[tummylove]

So conventional wisdom I have seen on this site is that tortoises like lettuce, despite being nutritionally poor for them, because often that is what they are raised on or given in uninformed homes, so that's why they cling to eating it. Not talking about endive, radicchio, etc, but iceberg/red leaf/green leave/romaine type lettuce.

Until this week I have never fed lettuce, but I happened to have some left over red leaf lettuce from a BBQ and I tossed him a couple of pieces to see how he would react. My guy is PICKY and rarely just eats new stuff thrown down -- occasionally a few flowers will catch his fancy right away, but mostly he likes what he likes and that's all he wants to eat.

Y'all - he DEVOURED that lettuce even though he certainly has not had any in a minimum of 3 years and very possibly 6. I feel like there must be "something about it" they like. Why do so many tortoises eat fruit even tho their digestive systems are not built for it? We assume because sugar is as yummy/good smelling/addictive to them as it is to us. But why lettuce? Its not high in sugar (i don't think??), so what draws them?

Here is Fezzik's potential lettuce eating life history as a case in point: He's a wild caught Russian, so lets presume he lived on the steppes of Uzbekistan or wherever for 10+ years clearly NOT eating lettuce. His trajectory then was: caught in the wild, contained in his home country until shipped, put in a shipping container overseas and survived the journey, lived at a brokers with a zillion other Russians, was sent to Petco, purchased by his previous owners and lived in a backyard in Culver City CA for 3 years mostly to fend for himself, then ended up with me.

I guess for some of those intermediary steps he was fed lettuce if fed at all (makes sense, its cheap and they don't really care if its nutritious), and I don't really know how long the process is from "picked up off the plains" to "lands in a fish tank in Petco", but is that really enough to give them a lettuce addiction?

It just seems like there must be something else about them that draws them to it...

Thoughts?

Ready for a fresh change/variety & you just happened to toss him something that attracked him. Just yesterday Mr. Willy's vet., who focuses on nutrition said that any lettuce is fine & great for hydration, as long as it doesn't become a "staple"... Our tortoise, Mr. Willy loves micro greens (sprouts of multi greens)! ;-) but of course, his staple diet is grass & weeds... dandelions!!!

 

[Big Charlie]

I don't think we can assume that what tastes sweet or bitter to us tastes like that to them. They probably don't have the same types of taste buds that we do.