How to get my picky greek to eat?

[Long Island Greek]

My juvenile greek tortoise Oogway is an extremely picky eater. Every week u buy him collard greens, mustard greens, kale, and romaine lettuce. Also I have just bought for him some Mazuri. My problem is that out of all the options I give him he truly only CHOWS down on the romaine lettuce which out of all the options contains the least amount of nutrition. I have tried grating up the Mazuri, cutting the pellets in half, I frequently spray his greens with a water bottle to prevent them from drying due to his basking light. I have placed a cuttlebone for him and yet he only really eats the romaine and will pick at the mustard green, kale, and collard greens. I have also tried making a romaine burrito with the other options wrapped inside but he has a small mouth and picks out what he likes and doesn't. Also wild flowers like the hibiscus and dandelions he had no interest in when they were in season. My question to everyone is there a trick to make my tortoise eat a healthier variety? I know tough love is important but I would like to try all other suggestions before I potentially put Oogway on a hunger strike. Any help or suggestions at all would be greatly appreciated thank you all in advance.

 

[Yellow Turtle]

I will try to repeat what other senior members have been advising for this condition.
Chopping all the greens into small pieces, mixing them properly and finally wet them down. That will make the greens stick together and your greek will eventually eat some of the other greens he hates. Keep offering them consistently everyday. For mazuri, easiest way is just soak them in water then they are soft and very easy to mix with greens. No need to grate them, it is hard and usually babies and juveniles don't like them hard...

The other way is to do hard love. Remove all romaine and only offer the other greens. Usually he will eventually eat them even it will take days. As this takes times, I believe usually tort owners give up first and getting scared their torts will be starving

Good luck

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Oh another thing, for cuttlebone, not all torts like it. Just leave it there, he might one day decide to eat it. Mines usually just ignore it for weeks and on rare occasion take just small bite on it. You can also grate it into powder and sprinkle it to your greens if you wish to.

 

[Ruchonnet]

Tough love really works! Cut out romaine completely. I was amazed at how many new things mine ate when I cut out his favorite food.

 

[ascott]

I would try to cut the greens you want him to eat into really small pieces and then combine that with the mazuri....see what comes of that...

Tough love is always an option and if you don't offer the undesired food then well, he can not eat it

Romaine is not a bad lettuce as part of a varied diet...it has a great water content and as part of a good diet can be a beneficial food offering...

 

[GBtortoises]

I would recommend expanding his diet greatly and not getting him hooked on Mazuri. It (Mazuri) is fine as a supplement to a good quality varied diet but should be the base or bulk of their food source. If you feel that pellet foods must be fed look into ZooMed Forest or Grassland pellets instead. They're much better nutrionally than Mazuri. But really not commercial foods are necessary at if fed a good quality, varied diet.
Food can consist of, but not be limited to: Dandelion, clover, broad & narrow leaf plantain, chicory, lambsquarter, sow thistle, crown vetch & alfalfa along with several other "wild" weeds, hosta and flowers. Grocery store greens can consist of, but again not be limited to: Dandelion, chicory, endive, escarole, romaine, kale, spinach, beet greens, collard greens, mustard greens, carrot tops, arugula and more. Along with a good quality diet of greens you can feed about 15-20% vegetables including: green & yellow beans, peas, carrot, squashes, pumpkin, corn, sweet potato, occasionally some bell peppers and more.

 

[Long Island Greek]

Thank you everyone for the advice =) I think I am going to do a combination of what everyone said. I truly appreciate your help and hopefully by next week Oogway will be on a better diet =)