how to change diet

[jags8307]

When we got ours they told us to feed it Spring Mix. Apparently that's what they fed theirs. I found this forum and tried to change ours and he refused to eat anything but the spring mix. Any ideas? About the only think I can get him to eat is prickley pear but I don't give him that all the time. I am not sure where my son bought him but he is only the size of my palm and was told he was around a yr old.

 

[Yvonne G]

Spring Mix isn't all bad. Next time you go to the store, buy a head of something else, like maybe turnip greens. The put some chopped up turnip greens down first and some spring mix on top of it. Then the following week, buy something different and do the same thing. Each time you can put a little less of the Spring Mix and more of the other food. But really, spring mix is ok. You just need to add some weeds and grass from the garden to it.

 

[Tom]

When we got ours they told us to feed it Spring Mix. Apparently that's what they fed theirs. I found this forum and tried to change ours and he refused to eat anything but the spring mix. Any ideas? About the only think I can get him to eat is prickley pear but I don't give him that all the time. I am not sure where my son bought him but he is only the size of my palm and was told he was around a yr old.

Tortoises don't like change. They want to eat what they are used to eating. Finely chop up a small amount of new stuff and then throughly mix it in with a much larger amount of finely chopped spring mix. Start with less than 5% of the new stuff and gradually add more over many days and weeks. Eventually the tortoise will get used to the new stuff and the new stuff won't be "new" anymore.

Here is a diet sheet to give you some ideas:
http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/for-those-who-have-a-young-sulcata.76744/

 

[Levi the Leopard]

Gradual diet changes can work and so can stopping cold turkey. It's up to you.

In one case I had a romaine lettuce addict (an adult CDT) and I simply stopped offering lettuce...period. Can't eat what isn't offered within 2 weeks he was grazing on grass and weeds, never had a problem after that.

I personally liked the shot gun approach. Now, I have only used it with tortoises who lived outside in sunny SoCal and had unlimited access to the grass. If your Sulcata is small or lives indoors the gradual method might be better.

Let us know how it goes