commercial foods?

[burtandurny101]

i bought a bag of comm toroise food long ago but my russian wont touch the stuff. is there any way ya'll know of to get him to eat it. i have him on a stable diet of greens but i would very much like him to eat thew comm stuff.

 

[Yvonne G]

Some tortoises just don't like it and never will eat it. If you would like for him to become accustomed to the pelleted food, then you would moisten it, break it up into small pieces and mix it in with the greens. He will get used to it that way.

Yvonne

 

[Crazy1]

What type of commercial food is it? when did you buy it?

 

[burtandurny101]

it is "Healthy Herps large tortoise food."
it just hit me that cause my russian is small, comparatively speaking, that may be the main issue with it. i sprayed it down with water and mixed it in with his veggies, i was watching him and when he got to some of it his beak couldn't break it.
i think the next feeding i will crush it up more and soak it a bit more with water.
i looked at the ingredients and there is no soy, corn, or alfalfa, which i hear is no good for tortoises. it consisted of fruit and other good stuff for herps. nothing that i know of containing oxalic acid. i heard about its evils as well.
any other recommendations for me? short of buying a new bag of food, i want to get rid of the one i have first.

P.S. I have found that it works great for cricket food. they seem to love the stuff. always a mound of them on it

 

[Maggie Cummings]

sounds to me like it needs to be more soaked in water. When you feed Mazuri it needs to be wet down first so maybe this stuff you have is the same...

 

[Yvonne G]

Did you say fruit? If you want to feed a pelleted food to a russian, you need to find one for "grassland" tortoises. Russians shouldn't have too much fruit...not more than 10% of their diet. Then when you find the right food, you soak it in water until its soft, drain off the excess water and feed. Feed this bag to your crickets!

Yvonne

 

[Jentortmom]

Another suggestion is to grind up the tortoise food in a coffee grinder and sprinkle it over the greens like you would the calcium. I agree with Yvonne if you want to use a commercial food then use one that is designed for grassland/ grazing tortoises. But whatever you decide to feed either soak it until you can mash it up or grind it,

 

[burtandurny101]

the food is not entirely fruit, the ingredients say: Oats, being the first ingredient, and listed twice, they are the main component of this food, raisins, coconut, papaya, apricot, banana, sweet potato, apple, pineapple, spinach, broccoli, carrots, dates, and corn. and a bunch of vitamins and other nutrients. and excuse my error, but it is "pretty pets" brand not healthy herp.
i really like the grinding up idea. seems a lot less messy and way easier to deal with than soaking the food before i feed him
i would still have to provide a lot of veggies, which, i have been doing for years so it is really not to much of an issue, just gotta remember to get them when i go shopping.
so, do you think this is good for my little guy?

 

[tortoisenerd]

If you look on a care sheet for russians, such at www.russiantortoise.org, you will not see any of those ingredients listed as suggested foods. Personally I would not feed that food to my russian tort. Not even as a treat or supplement. A food such as Mazuri is recommended by some here as a supplement; there are many many threads on Mazuri you can find with the search function.

I would recommend reading the information on russiantortoise.org. Fruits are not recommended as any significant part of the diet because they can cause parasite blooms in the tort's system among other problems.

What kind of veggies so you feed?

I wish all the best for you tort--maybe there is a reason the tort doesn't find it appealing?

I agree that with a pelleted food it does need to be moistened and grinded or made smaller. The tort cannot take a bite and chew such as we can--what they can bite all has to go down. Once a food is moistened it also needs to be eaten right away as it will dry back up. I have a hatchling which I feed a little Mazuri to once in awhile. I have to soak it, microwave it, and pick it apart into little bites. A grinder or food processor would be preferable but I don't have one, and I just give him part of a pellet once a week at his size. For me, it's more of a supplement and emergency food to have on hand.

 

[Macheteslaststep]

the food is not entirely fruit, the ingredients say: Oats, being the first ingredient, and listed twice, they are the main component of this food, raisins, coconut, papaya, apricot, banana, sweet potato, apple, pineapple, spinach, broccoli, carrots, dates, and corn. and a bunch of vitamins and other nutrients. and excuse my error, but it is "pretty pets" brand not healthy herp.
i really like the grinding up idea. seems a lot less messy and way easier to deal with than soaking the food before i feed him
i would still have to provide a lot of veggies, which, i have been doing for years so it is really not to much of an issue, just gotta remember to get them when i go shopping.
so, do you think this is good for my little guy?

Out of 14 ingrediants 8 of them are fruit. I have never heard of a tortoise eating coconut either? Spinach and broccoli should also be fed in small quantities and not a regular basis because they do not have a good Cahos ratio. IMO I would not feed this type of pellet to my tortoises, especially a grassland species. As mentioned before, Mazuri is a very good commercial diet and as a "fruit" treat I add Repcal pellets every once in a while to their diet. To me this "Pretty Pets" food is geared more towards a pocket pet (hamster, guinea pig, etc) than a tortoise.

Sara

 

[Crazy1]

Just for your information, so that you can make an informed decision.
http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/pr...catid=6447 click on more information button
http://www.mazuri.com
http://www.zoomed.com/db/products/EntryD...oiMCI7fQ==
above are some links to Mazuri, Grassland and Pretty Pets.
I originally asked how long ago you purchased the bag because the dry commercial food does go bad, especially if not refrigerated or frozen.
Just My humble opinion: Out of the three listed above my suggestion is using Mazuri or Grassland. Pretty Pets has also gained the nick name in some circles as fruity pebbles, due to the high fruit content and color. I know it is hard to just throw away something that seems perfectly fine but in this instance it may be the better thing to do for your tort.