Changing to a more natural diet

Gareth Ralph

New Member
Joined
Jul 12, 2020
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2
Location (City and/or State)
Maidstone
Hi all.
I recently got a 2 year old Hermann's from a pet shop who have been feeding her pea shoots and spring greens along with pellets which I know is far from ideal. I have tried multiple different foods but all I have seen her eat so far is pea sprouts (I didn't want to change her diet completely in case she didn't eat anything), romaine lettuce, lambs lettuce, rocket and watercress. I have tried to give her weeds/flowers and have an app that helps me identify what is safe to give her but is not interested in any of them atm.

Does anyone have any tips on how to get her to eat a more natural diet and if I can't get her to eat what I want her to, are the above items enough variety/sage long term?

Would she eat what she is given if there is no other choice?

Thanks in advance.

Thanks in advance.
 

Tom

The Dog Trainer
10 Year Member!
Platinum Tortoise Club
Joined
Jan 9, 2010
Messages
63,264
Location (City and/or State)
Southern California
Hi all.
I recently got a 2 year old Hermann's from a pet shop who have been feeding her pea shoots and spring greens along with pellets which I know is far from ideal. I have tried multiple different foods but all I have seen her eat so far is pea sprouts (I didn't want to change her diet completely in case she didn't eat anything), romaine lettuce, lambs lettuce, rocket and watercress. I have tried to give her weeds/flowers and have an app that helps me identify what is safe to give her but is not interested in any of them atm.

Does anyone have any tips on how to get her to eat a more natural diet and if I can't get her to eat what I want her to, are the above items enough variety/sage long term?

Would she eat what she is given if there is no other choice?

Thanks in advance.

Thanks in advance.
Hello and welcome.

Get some of the new food and mince it up super fine. Chop up the old favorite and wet it. Mix in a tiny tiny amount of the new stuff, so that it sticking to the old favorite and can't be eaten around. Sometime it helps to blend up some cucumber to mix in too. Gradually over time, you can add more and more of the new stuff. Keep doing this for weeks or months until the new foods are slowly accepted. Soak daily during these months so that the tortoise remains hydrated on days that it choose to not eat much. A hungry tortoise is not a picky tortoise.
 

Gareth Ralph

New Member
Joined
Jul 12, 2020
Messages
2
Location (City and/or State)
Maidstone
Hello and welcome.

Get some of the new food and mince it up super fine. Chop up the old favorite and wet it. Mix in a tiny tiny amount of the new stuff, so that it sticking to the old favorite and can't be eaten around. Sometime it helps to blend up some cucumber to mix in too. Gradually over time, you can add more and more of the new stuff. Keep doing this for weeks or months until the new foods are slowly accepted. Soak daily during these months so that the tortoise remains hydrated on days that it choose to not eat much. A hungry tortoise is not a picky tortoise.

Thanks very much. I have tried cutting up small a few times and shes not interested so guess I just need to stick with it for longer as she won't starve herself if there is food in front of her even if she doesn't like it that much surely.
 

Tom

The Dog Trainer
10 Year Member!
Platinum Tortoise Club
Joined
Jan 9, 2010
Messages
63,264
Location (City and/or State)
Southern California
Thanks very much. I have tried cutting up small a few times and shes not interested so guess I just need to stick with it for longer as she won't starve herself if there is food in front of her even if she doesn't like it that much surely.
You have to start with a tiny tiny small amount at first. You can't just mix in a whole handful the first time. Use so few pieces that its almost like some dust blew onto the food. 1% of the volume for the first few feedings. Its so little, you almost feel like you are wasting your time. Feeding on a bed of hay also helps with this. Sometimes that alone does it. They just accidentally, incidentally ingest some of the hay and start to recognize it as food.
 

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