Alfalfa as food source for redfoots

[MPRC]

In my ongoing quest to feed my picky male RF Vern a well balanced high variety diet I have taken to using more mazuri than I would like and running the good for him foods through the food processor and mashing everything together and then spreading it on kale, romaine, collard, mustard, etc.
He has started to eat a higher volume of food while still trying to pick around things and this has resulted in a higher volume of tortoise poop...specifically fairly soft not very well formed poop. I know that RFs aren't grass eaters but I was wondering if he may benefit from adding some of my alfalfa pellets that I have for my rat to his mazuri mush. Does anyone have an opinion on this?

 

[ZEROPILOT]

I've never given alfalfa pellets, but inside the sleeping quarters I keep a layer of hay down and it's not uncommon to find one of my RF with a blade of hay sticking out of it's mouth in the morning.
I don't think that hay would benefit a redfoot.
There is a lot of plant matter high in fiber.
Hibiscus leaves come to mind.

 

[MPRC]

This time of year here hibiscus isn't exactly an option. Unless someone wants to mail me a big box of hibiscus and mulberry. I dried what I thought was a TON of grape leaves this fall and I've been grinding them into his mush and I've already exhausted half of my stash. With the pasture under water and freezing regularly I can't even find weeds.

I tried to bring my sad little 12inch 'hearty hibiscus' (as labeled by a local green house who couldn't tell me anything else about it) in for the winter and I left it in Vern's room where it is hot and humid. On the third day he rammed it off it's flimsy shelf and ate all of the leaves and most of the stems, a decent amount of dirt and the roots.

This is my first winter with torts and we are learning as we go.

 

[MPRC]

I'm giving this a bump to see if anyone else has an options on the matter. I added about a teaspoon to 1/4 cup of his mush and he didn't refuse it. - Of course he wouldn't refuse a lot of things, it doesn't mean they are GOOD for him.

 

[Tom]

I have no experience feeding alfalfa to a red foot, but here is some info:

Alfalfa is a legume, like clover, peas or beans. Its not a grass.

I grow my own and feed it to all my species as a small part of a very mixed diet. I've fed small amounts to large sulcatas and its never been an issue. I know a large scale sulcata breeder who drops large bales of alfalfa into his giant enclosures to feed his armies of sulcatas.

I don't think occasionally mixing some alfalfa pellets into your RF's diet will be any problem at all. You could also use blended grass hay or ZoMed Grassland tortoise pellets to do the same thing.

 

[MPRC]

Thanks for the 2 cents. We're working toward finding a good variety of items that he will tolerate because he is really good at spitting things out and hunger striking. I'm assuming he spent the first 8 years of his life eating whatever HE wanted based on the way he acted when he got here.

 

[SteveW]

I've never used the alfalfa pellets, but I add dried supplemental foods to greens all the time. This is my fallback:



It's Timothy, orchard grass, and alfalfa. I feed it regularly, if you'll pardon the pun.

 

[MPRC]

Thanks @SteveW - This is a whole new adventure, I have had reptiles my whole life and tortoises for 6 months. It's hard to be humble and ask for input because I like to think I'm pretty well read on all of the other critters I've kept.

 

[MPRC]

Well, it's been over a month and I have determined that alfalfa isn't an acquired taste for Vern. I know exactly how much ZooMed Forest Tortoise food I can sneak into his mazuri mash and still have him eat it so I think we are just going to remained stalled at 1 tsp. I ran it all through the Cuisinart and just dump it on like seasoning.

 

[Octavious22]

You can use timothy hay instead, you can put it in the food processor to get finely chopped and sprinkle it on your tortoise's food. This is how I do it and I also add calcium to it.

 

[MPRC]

Maybe we will try timothy too, variety is the spice of life.
I haven't been adding extra calcium because he is eating more mazuri than he really should be and I'm under the impression that it should have plenty. Correct me if I am wrong.

 

[Madkins007]

OK, I'm a latecomer to this thread, but...

1. Picky eaters are really annoying, but usually manageable.
2. Mazuri is fine on its own. You do not HAVE to add anything to it. Two caveats- DO NOT soak it- it will loose too many water-soluble nutrients, and do not let it go bad. Oils in the meal will go rancid after about a month (in an opened paper bag) or about three (in the multi-layer plastic/mylar bag). Freezing it helps for a few months.
3. Having said that, supplementing Mazuri with real food is a good idea. Mazuri suggests 10%, others recommend up to 50% of the meal. We do this to provide micro-nutrients and variety. You should not have to supplement with anything else but good sunshine or UVB lighting, and fresh water.
4. One thing that makes a picky eater is an overfed tortoise. Mazuri has guidelines for how much to feed and I often see keepers overdoing it A LOT. The tortoise's stomach is only about the size of its head and I often see very overloaded bowls and people asking 'why isn't it eating more?" They can compress food into the stomach, but the poor tummy can only expand so far since the shell limits it.

Having said that, let's look at the diet you are offering. Can you answer these questions for us?
1. Habitat- briefly describe the habitat, temps, etc.
2. Tortoise- briefly describe the tort- size, approximate age.
3. How much and how often do you feed it?
4. What does a daily meal consist of, both now and before it got picky?

(Just FYI- the Mazuri website has a lot of good info on diet and care, and how to use Mazuri chows. I suspect that many people who use it have never really read the directions carefully based on things I have seen.)