Baby Sulcata only wants lettuce.

[bigtortdaddy]

My baby Sulcata only seems to want to eat lettuce. He will gorge on it, but if i give him grasses/weeds he doesn't seem as interested. Is there anything I can do to help get him to eat more grasses? Should i let things be as he is still so young? Here is an example of his feedings, you can see he is trying to eat around the grass.

 

[tortoisetime565]

There are many things you can try. Chop up the grasses and lettuce really fine but not into mush and mix them. You could try a pellet to mix with the lettuce. Like Mazuri or another grassland pellet.

 

[bigtortdaddy]

There are many things you can try. Chop up the grasses and lettuce really fine but not into mush and mix them. You could try a pellet to mix with the lettuce. Like Mazuri or another grassland pellet.

I've got mazuri mixed with reptical made into a "dressing" on top, so try chopping it smaller then eh?

 

[tortoisetime565]

I would take grass and dandelion greens and various other safe weeds and chop them all fine and mix them up. He is bound to eat something other than lettuce that way. The mazuri will also help.

 

[dmmj]

He likes lettuce because it tastes good, but very low nutritional value. You have 2 options first one is tough love, cut out the lettuce and only feed good greens, or trickery. You cut up the good greens as fine as possible wet it so it sticks to the food, and then over time reduce the amounts of lettuce, and increase the amounts of good greens.

 

[bigtortdaddy]

Could I grow good foods in his coconut coir? And I think I'll try to trick him

 

[yillt]

Could I grow good foods in his coconut coir? And I think I'll try to trick him

You could do that. But if it is hand picked or growing it won't make any difference to if he eats it. But for decoration and if he did eat it that would be great. So you should do it.
Can I see a pic of his enclosure please?

 

[bigtortdaddy]

 

[bigtortdaddy]

We will be nearly closed chamber in a day or so I am building a top that seals around the light fixtures I enjoys looking out as he watches us and our dogs never seems worried about getting through the glass. Hide box is a temporary solution.

 

[Dizisdalife]

I would stop feeding the lettuce now. There are other grocery store greens that can be feed, such as, endive, escarole,kale, turnip, chard, collard, mustard, and more that have higher fiber content and nutrients for your tortoise. Add some grape and mulberry leaves, perhaps some opuntia cactus, then you have the start of a real good diet for this young one. Continue to feed the grass. Use a variety of grasses. Purchase a seed mix or two that has several grasses and weeds and grow them in a flat for your baby. Tortoisesupply.com has several good mixes for babies and adults. I liked the Testudo mix for the variety of plants it has. A couple of small growing flats produces enough for a single baby sulcata.

They can't eat what you don't feed them. An otherwise healthy baby will not starve himself.

 

[Tom]

This all relates to what the breeder did with your baby before you got him. I have seen many breeders just take the easy road and toss some romaine in with their babies. Let me tell you having dozens or hundreds of babies to care for is overwhelming, but those first few days and weeks set the tone for the rest of their life.

Since the breeder apparently didn't do the work, you will have to. Finely chopping everything up and only using a small amount of the new good stuff is the best way I have found. If all of it is minced up and mixed together he can't eat around it. If you use too much new stuff he just won't eat, so start slowly and take at least a month or two to build up to the good stuff. Its okay if this makes him eat a little light for a few days. Hunger is a good motivator, and its his choice to fill his belly or not.

Here are some threads for you:
http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/how-to-raise-a-healthy-sulcata-or-leopard-version-2-0.79895/
http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/for-those-who-have-a-young-sulcata.76744/
http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/beginner-mistakes.45180/

 

[bigtortdaddy]

This all relates to what the breeder did with your baby before you got him. I have seen many breeders just take the easy road and toss some romaine in with their babies. Let me tell you having dozens or hundreds of babies to care for is overwhelming, but those first few days and weeks set the tone for the rest of their life.

Since the breeder apparently didn't do the work, you will have to. Finely chopping everything up and only using a small amount of the new good stuff is the best way I have found. If all of it is minced up and mixed together he can't eat around it. If you use too much new stuff he just won't eat, so start slowly and take at least a month or two to build up to the good stuff. Its okay if this makes him eat a little light for a few days. Hunger is a good motivator, and its his choice to fill his belly or not.

Here are some threads for you:
http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/how-to-raise-a-healthy-sulcata-or-leopard-version-2-0.79895/
http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/for-those-who-have-a-young-sulcata.76744/
http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/beginner-mistakes.45180/

Thanks tom! I'm very excited I showed him his hide again today and he started using it! were night workers so he us on that schedule for now