Leopard Meal Prep

[CarterEvan]

Hello!

My tortoise Caesar usually doesn't eat a ton and i have always wondered why. Usually i see bites taken out of the leaves in his dish, and then he leaves it alone. I notice sometimes he can't seem to snag a bite out of the big leaves and it looks like he gets annoyed and then stops. I usually just throw more food in there to try and compensate for the food left over once he gives up on trying to eat. (Hopefully this makes sense lol )

My actual question is... should i chop all of his food up into bite-sized pieces to make it easier on him? or is the struggle of trying to tear at the leaves good for him?

I am thinking that if his food is cut up a lot, he will be able have an easier time biting into it.


if this doesn't make sense let me know and i'll try and clarify more thoroughly!

Thanks!!

 

[Linhdan Nguyen]

I believe i understand what you are talking about.
How big/old is your tortoise? Any pictures?
One of my russians also had a hard time biting into the bigger leaves before. It was something about him not opening his mouth wide enough too. I would cut food up, not too small but a decent size to where he could eat them if he struggled a little. He was okay with it, though he literally would be in his food dish for 2-3 hours. Now hes absolutely fine with biting into bigger leaves. And eats much faster now. So i dont cut anything smaller for him anymore.

 

[JoesMum]

Can you post a picture of his head so we can see his beak? That may be a problem.

You should not have to chop food up small. Tearing at food helps with beak maintenance.

If the beak is OK, then your tort may not be warm enough to be interested in food (what are your temperatures?) ... or it may just be picky - in which case you will need to get tough.

 

[cmacusa3]

I chopped it up for my leopard while she was still small and fed her on a flat rock and it worked out great.

 

[CarterEvan]

Can you post a picture of his head so we can see his beak? That may be a problem.

You should not have to chop food up small. Tearing at food helps with beak maintenance.

If the beak is OK, then your tort may not be warm enough to be interested in food (what are your temperatures?) ... or it may just be picky - in which case you will need to get tough.

I believe his beak is fine but if you still would like to see it after this response i will gladly show you. i mainly meant that he will try and fit too big of bites from the leaf into his mouth etc. Like he doesn't bite from the edges and tries to eat the leaf from the side where there isn't anything to bite down on! hopefully that made sense haha


also i feed his food on a terra-cotta saucer so that should also help with beak maintenance

The temps hover around 90 degrees daytime with 80 percent humidity

 

[CarterEvan]

I chopped it up for my leopard while she was still small and fed her on a flat rock and it worked out great.

Thanks! i might give that a try

 

[CarterEvan]

I believe i understand what you are talking about.
How big/old is your tortoise? Any pictures?
One of my russians also had a hard time biting into the bigger leaves before. It was something about him not opening his mouth wide enough too. I would cut food up, not too small but a decent size to where he could eat them if he struggled a little. He was okay with it, though he literally would be in his food dish for 2-3 hours. Now hes absolutely fine with biting into bigger leaves. And eats much faster now. So i dont cut anything smaller for him anymore.

My tortoise is around 9 months old and is very small. He is around 40g and Ive just recently corrected the errors in his diet and habitat. I think because he is so small that's why he is having trouble biting. Do you think i should cut the pieces smaller until he grows to a decent size?


Also ill post pictures whenever i get back to my house!

 

[Jodie]

I chop food for my tortoises. In part to mix stuff in that would rather not eat, for babies, I chop it fairly small.

 

[CarterEvan]

I chop food for my tortoises. In part to mix stuff in that would rather not eat, for babies, I chop it fairly small.

Thanks so much!

 

[Nmcgowan]

When I first got mine I went out and bought a food chopper just for her because she definitly couldn't handle the larger leaves. Now that she is 5 months old and around 4 inches long I don't need to use it anymore. She pins the leaves down with her legs and rips them apart. I would consider chopping the food.

 

[CarterEvan]

Thanks everyone for their input! I'm going to chop up the leaves until he grows bigger and I'm confident he can rip apart even the biggest baddest leaf! haha

 

[Robber]

I believe his beak is fine but if you still would like to see it after this response i will gladly show you. i mainly meant that he will try and fit too big of bites from the leaf into his mouth etc. Like he doesn't bite from the edges and tries to eat the leaf from the side where there isn't anything to bite down on! hopefully that made sense haha

Just cut them into thin strips, but leave them attached on one side(don't cut all the way across) so he has edges to grab onto, but then they will break off easily. That will also keep them from drying out as quickly.

 

[Pearly]

For small baby chop/blend to ground or even puree consistency. Some babies take a while to get the mechanics of eating down. I have one of those that was just not very good at eating. He wanted to eat, but was very awkward with food. Things would often fall out of his mouth. For him I started this entire feeding crusade. Chopping, blending, soaking Mazuri and other commercial tort pellets and mixing with fresh food. Anything to get my little dide to eat! And he finally did! Here're some viduals cactus and tiny piece of mango this is chopped cactus, so finely it let the slimy juices out adding leafy greens, soaked Mazuri and tiny bit of cucumber for added enticement all mixed together, ready to serve with sprig of parsley and leaf of escarole or endive or whatever I have that day. My thing is: to do whatever it takes to get them to eat. Good luck to you