I have a horse field tortoise that is about 6 years old, he only is ever really interested in eating his pellet food which is komodo dandelion pellets. i have changed his food around a couple times to see if he enjoys anything else but he’s not interested in anything, am starting to get worried now. he spends most of his time (only when good weather in uk so most of summer) outside which he loves as he gets the run of the garden and can eat whatever he pleases but he just doesn’t eat any veg, he’s quite active and hates being in his home when he comes in for the winter. any advice ??
ONLY EATS PELLETS
- Thread starter annie17
- Start date
Have you tried to mix pellets with greens ? Maybe cut the greens in small pieces or run them trough a mixer.
thank you for replying yeah i think i’ll try that
I think it is worth to try. When all food is mixed well he can`t pick out only the pellets. Good luck !!
Tortoises can get very fixated on a food, especially if they were raised on it.
Take a new food and chop a little bit of it very fine; mix it into some dampened pellets, similar to what Bee62 mentioned above. He’ll get a taste of the new stuff; over time you can increase the new food(s) and decrease the pellets.
If he’s been doing this for six years it will probably take some time to get him to change over. My tortoise took five months to entirely transition off grocery store foods and she was outside all that time. Your tortoise might need longer than that.
He won’t starve himself; he can go a very long time without eating. Since. you’re the one providing the food you’ll need to be more patient/stubborn than he is. He isn’t buying those pellets himself, after all.
It’s hard on us owners to see our tortoises turning up their noses, I know. Stay strong and give it time.
Take a new food and chop a little bit of it very fine; mix it into some dampened pellets, similar to what Bee62 mentioned above. He’ll get a taste of the new stuff; over time you can increase the new food(s) and decrease the pellets.
If he’s been doing this for six years it will probably take some time to get him to change over. My tortoise took five months to entirely transition off grocery store foods and she was outside all that time. Your tortoise might need longer than that.
He won’t starve himself; he can go a very long time without eating. Since. you’re the one providing the food you’ll need to be more patient/stubborn than he is. He isn’t buying those pellets himself, after all.
It’s hard on us owners to see our tortoises turning up their noses, I know. Stay strong and give it time.
Benjallina
New Member
I got my little one recently - the pet shop said they feed them lots of different greens (could only see dry pellets in the vivarium). I’ve noticed that mine doesn’t even know what to do with leaves etc - it’s like he’s never seen them.
I want to get him off of the pellets and onto lots of different greens and I just had a bit of success by soaking the pellets and drizzling the pellet-infused water all over his greens like a tortoise-restaurant-salad dressing. He loved it and immediately started to chomp away! Might take a bit of time but I think patience will be key with him 🐢 Maybe give that a try too?
I want to get him off of the pellets and onto lots of different greens and I just had a bit of success by soaking the pellets and drizzling the pellet-infused water all over his greens like a tortoise-restaurant-salad dressing. He loved it and immediately started to chomp away! Might take a bit of time but I think patience will be key with him 🐢 Maybe give that a try too?
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It's an old post. But it's still great information.
An otherwise healthy tortoise will not starve itself. They will ALL eat those greens when they get good and hungry. Then you can gradually add a few pellets back into the diet.
Keep in mind that pellets are totally unnecessary. They should never be the staple food.
