Only eats hand fed. tough-love failed.

[wosman]

Hi again everyone

So a while back I was having issues with my tortoise not eating anything other than romaine. I did the tough-love thing and only tried feeding him other stuff like arugula, collards, endive. eventually it worked and he ate it, but only from my hand. Note: he only ate it when the food was wrapped with romaine.

This is kind of an issue in itself because every meal he ever has now must have romaine otherwise he won't eat.

The next issue is, he will only eat if hand fed! he will never ever eat from a tray. ive tried switching to different feeding dishes, different places to put the dishes. nothing works. finally i thought 'back to tough love.' so i ust left the food there.

I finally saw him eating...the substrate. he would rather eat his substrate than have to eat his real food from a tray.

what options do i have left? thanks in advance everyone!

 

[ascott]

Please don't take what I am going to say in a bad way...okay...because I do not mean any bad

I went and read a couple of your prior posts and you said in the one about her (him) grazing in your back yard....and in that post you said that she eats all that you put in her food dish . So here comes the part I don't want you to take wrong.....I think you wussed out a little too soon on the tough love....also, tough love does not mean hand feeding, as now you have two issues to let your tortoise work through, you know?

I would suggest you offer up some organic spring mix with a "pinch" of romaine...and to chop the romaine up even smaller than the spring mix...then toss it like a salad...then put it in the dish...spritz it with water as this makes the food stick together some which makes it hard to pick through...then...GO AWAY . Do not peek in...do not offer even a single bite by hand.....then just leave the food until the evening and if not eaten....take the dish out (be sure to try to make feeding time on schedule and in same spot) and then do the same thing again each day (don't put alot on the dish for the first weeks try) and you have to be the strong one....the little bugger has you trained and it takes us humans 14 days to break a habit....so you have to know you are doing this for the good of your tortoise.....it is up to you...we can suggest alot but if you don't TRULY try the suggestions then I don't know what else to say, you know?

YOU ........can do it

 

[Heliopteryx]

Try chopping romaine lettuce and other kinds of food in to little pieces, and mixing them all up?

 

[Laura]

is his eyesight ok?
have you tried colors to entice or a scent?
how long did you try the tough love? it may take at least a week..
its tough... on YOU.. ;-0

 

[JoesMum]

I agree with ascott. Do as instructed in that post - chop food small and add a bribe of finely chopped red pepper (the little bugger can't pick put the nice red stuff then)

Never mind holding out for a week; they are quite capable of holding out for 3!

YOU can succeed. Your little darling has you wrapped round a claw - it's painful, but be strong

 

[pdrobber]

It is difficult to do, there's a certain good feeling you get seeing them eat, but you need to put that aside and see the greater benefit of a varied diet. It can take a few weeks of not eating until the tortoise will break down and think, hm maybe there isn't a hand with romaine coming to feed me...

Putting the food in the enclosure, sitting nearby, and constantly checking doesn't do any good, trust me I know. You can do it!

 

[wosman]

Thanks to all the replies. Sorry I did not get a chance to see these until now.

I usually cave now when he starts eating his sand.
This is the major issue right now. If i leave food for him and ignore it I start to hear nibbling and think 'perfect.' when i go to check I see he is mowing down on his substrate. How do I get him to stop that? If I just leave him to eat sand and coco coir wont that cause compaction and kill him?

Thanks again everyone!

edit: i should mention how amazed I am these guys can go weeks without food. jeez, everyday he's fed a buffet of mixed stuff, like 30 grams worth. that pig.

 

[pdrobber]

are you feeding on the substrate or on a piece of stone, slate, in a bowl? You could always change the substrate...is he eating the substrate near the food, like he's missing the food (having trouble coordinating or seeing?) or is he just preferring the substrate. Sorry if you've described your enclosure already but are you using a colored (red, blue) bulb? sometimes that will trigger tortoises into eating their substrate, possibly thinking it's something else.

Could there be a chance he is lacking something and trying to compensate with eating substrate? Is there enough calcium in his diet? A cuttlebone or powder supplement available? Has he been tested for worms (don't know if or how that could be related but just an overall well check of him)

 

[JoesMum]

Another solution to the substrate problem is to put him on a neutral substrate for a few weeks... newspaper, or a piece of pond-liner, something he can't eat!

 

[ada caro]

I a familiar problem and I put hay and grass so he could burrow in it and he stopped.

---

I hada familiar problem and I put hay and grass so he could burrow in it and he stopped.

 

[wosman]

are you feeding on the substrate or on a piece of stone, slate, in a bowl? You could always change the substrate...is he eating the substrate near the food, like he's missing the food (having trouble coordinating or seeing?) or is he just preferring the substrate. Sorry if you've described your enclosure already but are you using a colored (red, blue) bulb? sometimes that will trigger tortoises into eating their substrate, possibly thinking it's something else.

Could there be a chance he is lacking something and trying to compensate with eating substrate? Is there enough calcium in his diet? A cuttlebone or powder supplement available? Has he been tested for worms (don't know if or how that could be related but just an overall well check of him)

The food is placed on a piece of stone and he tends to eat the substrate under the heat lamp. My guess is the heat is giving off a scent he likes?

As for calcium, I sprinkle some Ca powder on his food + a vitamin powder (about once a week). he soaks almost daily, since it's essentially his toilet.

He's been tested for worms. and his weight is pretty constant at 470 grams.

I could also try the newspaper idea so he doesn't eat the sand

 

[ascott]

I do not like the use of sand in an enclosure...very easy for impaction to result.....sand settles differently in the gut than does dirt/soil....it has a way of settling and stacking on itself until there is a problem....I would suggest removing sand regardless of him munching on purpose or not That is just my feelings about sand

 

[wosman]

I do not like the use of sand in an enclosure...very easy for impaction to result.....sand settles differently in the gut than does dirt/soil....it has a way of settling and stacking on itself until there is a problem....I would suggest removing sand regardless of him munching on purpose or not That is just my feelings about sand

any recommendations as to what I could use instead?
I tried to put a layer of coco coir on top of the sand but he became lethargic and would hardly eat anything for weeks. As soon as I moved the coir to one side of the enclosure and left sand on the other he was perfectly back to normal.

 

[Madkins007]

That is an odd thing to happen- it makes me wonder if there is something else happening here. The problem we often have here is that we almost never have all the info we need to help as much as we would like.

I'd recommend double checking EVERYTHING in your habitat- temps, humidity, lighting, etc. Actually test the temps in several locations. Change the substrate if possible, at least stir it well if not. Consider laying a flat basking stone under the heat lamp.

Some sand in the substrate is not an issue for most keepers, although I know there are some who are completely against it- but it also sounds like there may be a LOT of sand in yours- can that be changed?

Finally- stop hand feeding it. At least tie a bundle of greens together and hang them from a hook or clip.

 

[wosman]

haha this is embarrassing. So it's been two days since I legitimately stopped feeding him and didn't cave in. aaand he ate his food out of a tray without any romaine in it. Although he did push anything coloured out of the way, it's still quite a victory.

edit: also..yeaa ascott was right, I do cave in way too fast.
To stop him from eating the substrate I put some thin sheets of wood over top the area of substrate he tends to eat.


Thanks for the help everyone!

 

[ascott]

LOL I knew you two could do it....good job !!!!!

 

[pdrobber]

well done! see, it really does work! haha

 

[JoesMum]

Well done! You know you can do it now

 

[Jessie]

I'm having the same problem. Glad I'm not the only one. And hopefully everybody's advice will help me too.

 

[JoesMum]

Good luck Jessie. Hang on in there! You CAN win this battle