How to get my baby Hermann to eat fresh greens again?

[reptire]

He has MBD and I'm doing everything I can to cure him. That also means a special dry food (that I have to soak in water) that contains many good vitamins and minerals.

Now it became a problem. He doesn't want to eat anything else apart from that. Since he is sick and doesn't even eat much, I don't want to starve him for days for the vague possibility that he would try fresh greens again.

Any tips on what I should do?

Thank you in advance!

 

[wellington]

Chop greens up really small. Wet them and mix in with the food he will eat. He will have to eat greens to get the other stuff. Then slowly reduce the amount of good stuff you mix into greens, until he is eating the greens on their own.

 

[Breezy]

My vet had me put the greens and water into the blender and make a "smoothie" out of them and then use that to make the prescription food. It worked, my guy is eating his greens, and now I just sprinkle the prescription food onto his salads.

 

[reptire]

Chop greens up really small. Wet them and mix in with the food he will eat. He will have to eat greens to get the other stuff. Then slowly reduce the amount of good stuff you mix into greens, until he is eating the greens on their own.

I shall do this. Thank you!

 

[reptire]

Okay, it's official. Empirically tested and all that. He even refuses LETTUCE, doesn't eat anything except for the brown stuff. He would rather starve to death than eat anything else. What should I do? The before mentioned tactic doesn't work, he leaves the greens out and even when he doesn't, it's not a big amount he eats of them...

 

[JoesMum]

Just keep going and be strong. When he is hungry, he will eat what is available.

If you keep giving in, he is getting his own way. He can go a couple of weeks without eating and not come to any harm. Think like a parent of a fussy child who wants only to eat candy! Tough love is required.

You must soak for a good 20 minutes daily while food is being refused though. They can go without food, but not water.

 

[reptire]

Just keep going and be strong. When he is hungry, he will eat what is available.

If you keep giving in, he is getting his own way. He can go a couple of weeks without eating and not come to any harm. Think like a parent of a fussy child who wants only to eat candy! Tough love is required.

You must soak for a good 20 minutes daily while food is being refused though. They can go without food, but not water.

I do soak him twice daily.
He can go that long without food even if he has MBD and is less than a year old? The fact that he is sick is the only reason I give in...

 

[JoesMum]

Re: RE: How to get my baby Hermann to eat fresh greens again?

Just keep going and be strong. When he is hungry, he will eat what is available.

If you keep giving in, he is getting his own way. He can go a couple of weeks without eating and not come to any harm. Think like a parent of a fussy child who wants only to eat candy! Tough love is required.

You must soak for a good 20 minutes daily while food is being refused though. They can go without food, but not water.

I do soak him twice daily.
He can go that long without food even if he has MBD and is less than a year old? The fact that he is sick is the only reason I give in...

How quickly do you give in? If you give in every day, you are not helping. Torts are very stubborn

 

[reptire]

Just keep going and be strong. When he is hungry, he will eat what is available.

If you keep giving in, he is getting his own way. He can go a couple of weeks without eating and not come to any harm. Think like a parent of a fussy child who wants only to eat candy! Tough love is required.

You must soak for a good 20 minutes daily while food is being refused though. They can go without food, but not water.

I do soak him twice daily.
He can go that long without food even if he has MBD and is less than a year old? The fact that he is sick is the only reason I give in...

How quickly do you give in? If you give in every day, you are not helping. Torts are very stubborn

Well, daily, yeah... I figured eating something is better than not eating at all. How often should I give in then? Every 3 days?

 

[JoesMum]

Keep an eye on his weight. As long as it doesn't take a big dip, hold out for as long as you can. My bet is that he'll give in after three or four days at most.

Try soaking first thing in the morning before he's warmed up properly and feed straight after the soak. That's when Joe was most likely to eat when he was sick.

 

[Millerlite]

Chop the veggies up and mix it into that dry food mix, like above said. He will either pick out the dry and not eat te green, eat it all, or not eat. If this is still not working, offer him greens leave it and go away doesn't eat it then take it away, try again the next day. Eventually he's going to have to eat and if its edible he will eat it. I would t worry about starving your tortoises, they can go a long time without food, mbd or not. He will eat them eventually. Also try calcium blocks in te enclosure he might nibble it every now and again

 

[reptire]

Keep an eye on his weight. As long as it doesn't take a big dip, hold out for as long as you can. My bet is that he'll give in after three or four days at most.

Try soaking first thing in the morning before he's warmed up properly and feed straight after the soak. That's when Joe was most likely to eat when he was sick.

Yeah, he too learned to always eat after soaking. Okay, I'll try not to give in for a few days at a time then. It's just so hard, seeing that he is not eating and stuff...
He put on some weight though, so that's lucky, he was 40gramms about two weeks ago and is now 43gramms (the vet takes his weight). His shell (on his belly, so down, I don't know any english terms for that) is getting softer and softer though, which is a bad sign according to the vet and well, logic.

 

[JoesMum]

It sounds like your tort is simply refusing to eat the right things.

If he is weak and unable to move properly, baby food soaks are the way to go to build him up. Literally soak him in the food puree. Obviously temperatures in the enclosure must be correct for your tort to eat. If he's too cool, he won't eat.

 

[reptire]

It sounds like your tort is simply refusing to eat the right things.

If he is weak and unable to move properly, baby food soaks are the way to go to build him up. Literally soak him in the food puree. Obviously temperatures in the enclosure must be correct for your tort to eat. If he's too cool, he won't eat.

Nah, the temps are fine, he ate perfectly before, he just got hooked on this food. Like a drug. :/

Edit: Also, he is able to move around properly and he is just a little bit weak (his weakness didn't get worse since I bought him).

How is it that my snakes (1 yo corn and 4 yo yellow rat) never have any problems but my tort has a lot of them? :/

 

[JoesMum]

Joe gets fixated still on certain foods. When our cherry tree is dropping fruit, he won't eat anything that isn't red and round. We have a battle with him every year and I spend a couple of weeks every year trying to pick up all the cherries because fruit is not good for Greeks; they can't digest the sugars properly.

 

[reptire]

Joe gets fixated still on certain foods. When our cherry tree is dropping fruit, he won't eat anything that isn't red and round. We have a battle with him every year and I spend a couple of weeks every year trying to pick up all the cherries because fruit is not good for Greeks; they can't digest the sugars properly.

You are a wonderful pet owner. I pray my Hermann's won't die... If he does, I will be very sad and I will only stick to snakes then. He was sick when I bought him, I spent a lot of money on him since but he just seems to get worse.

 

[JoesMum]

Re: RE: How to get my baby Hermann to eat fresh greens again?

You are a wonderful pet owner. I pray my Hermann's won't die... If he does, I will be very sad and I will only stick to snakes then. He was sick when I bought him, I spent a lot of money on him since but he just seems to get worse.

It's not your fault he was sick when you got him. You have done your best for him and hopefully he will make a full recovery. If he doesn't, please don't blame yourself.

I have my fingers crossed for both you and your tort. Let us know how you get on

 

[Pokeymeg]

I am going through the exact same battle, Reptire - Stay strong! My Dante started eating only Mazuri after he got better a couple of months ago and gorges himself on it, but will not touch anything else. Now that he IS better, I'm trying to switch him to greens.

The blending of greens with the Mazuri (or whatever dry food you're using) that someone mentioned is a great trick - One that I'm using as well.