New mommy needs help changing bad diet!

[VeeM]

I adopted a sweet Greek tortoise 2 months ago named Boris who is at least 15 years old. It turns out the previous owner fed him canned green beans (salt free) regularly. I know green beans are very bad for him so I’m trying to change his diet. I’m having the hardest time getting him to eat other foods. I tried Mazuri tortoise diet and he refused to taste it. He also refuses dandelions, shredded carrot and petunias. He will eat small amounts of Spring Greens (not with spinach) but is really refusing to eat a healthy portion. I feel bad so I give him a few green beans that he eats with delight. I know green beans cause renal failure... but I don’t want to starve him. Any suggestions?

 

[tglazie]

Let the spring mix serve as your crowbar here. Dip the spring mix in some canned green bean juice. This smell may serve as an attractant. If this works, do this gradually with other foods. Eventually, dilute the green bean juice in which you dip the desired food items. If this doesn't work, try mashing up the green beans into a paste and spread it into a mix with other more favorable food items. Gradually reduce the snap content of the food. This isn't an easy thing to do, but if a tortoise is exposed to other food items often enough over a long enough period of time, and so long as they are given ample space to roam and rectify their past experiences, most will recover. Remember, tortoise keeping is about tenacity and patience.

T.G.

 

[VeeM]

Let the spring mix serve as your crowbar here. Dip the spring mix in some canned green bean juice. This smell may serve as an attractant. If this works, do this gradually with other foods. Eventually, dilute the green bean juice in which you dip the desired food items. If this doesn't work, try mashing up the green beans into a paste and spread it into a mix with other more favorable food items. Gradually reduce the snap content of the food. This isn't an easy thing to do, but if a tortoise is exposed to other food items often enough over a long enough period of time, and so long as they are given ample space to roam and rectify their past experiences, most will recover. Remember, tortoise keeping is about tenacity and patience.

T.G.

Thank you so much!