Picky Eater!

[Ashley Rolison]

Ok we have a little stinker on our hands! Rocky has been moved into his own custom tortoise table that we just finished a couple days ago. He is beyond HAPPY in his new pad. He has been walking around so much, limbs sprawled out when he sleeps and has been just more active in general. Ever since we got him (over 5 years ago) he has been on greens, carrots (every other day), butternut squash ( every once in awhile) and apples ( once ever other week). Recently I've noticed he will only eat what is added into the greens. So he will eat the carrots, squash or apples. I've even gone as far as putting the items that aren"t greens in the center and he will dig until he finds the goods. Again leaving the greens. His greens consists of kale, arugola, dandelion, and other types that our little buddy can eat. We wont give him the same mix all the time. We switch it up every week knowing that they get bored with the same mix. We have started putting a calcium powder on both his food and our Leopard Tort but want to make sure Rocky is getting the adequate nutrition more importantly how do we get him to start eating his greens? Thanks for any thoughts!

 

[dmmj]

you can stop feeding the yummy sweet candy you've been give him and you can just stick with greens until he starts eating the greens again

 

[Ashley Rolison]

Yes I tried that last week for a few days and he didn't eat at all. So starting this past Monday I've just put very little added stuff to the greens. Just the calcium powder and maybe two to three pieces of the shredded carrots. Even changed over the greens. Since posting this I've noticed that he is still walking around exploring his new home. Maybe it was just a combination of stubbornness and him not being happy in his old home.We have built him the Mantions of all tortoies tables so he is now in 7th heaven =) He still has yet to eat his greens but I've replaced with fresh since this morning so fingers crossed =) Thank you

 

[W Shaw]

You might try hand feeding him the greens before you put the other stuff in. My boy really enjoys the social interaction of hand feeding and will take less preferred items hand fed over even his favorites from his dish.

 

[Oxalis]

Would love to see more photos of your "tortoise mansion"!

 

[MPRC]

I grind my greens in the food processor so they stick to everything else for my picky redfoot.

 

[Ashley Rolison]

I grind my greens in the food processor so they stick to everything else for my picky redfoot.

We are in the process of constructing a lid for the table. We have a temporary cover to hold in the heat at night. The lid will be hinged and allow us to leave it open or closed. We will add a couple of windows on top so we can see inside as well. This table started off as a book case. It measures 7 feet long and its Rocky's mansion =) We placed it on casters in order to allow us to put move it outside during the warm months. We love our Rocky but as we all know they are solo torts haha. He doesn't get along with our Leopard Tort and for right now the baby tort fits in here too. This allows both being outside at the same time. Please if you see anything we missed or need to add let us know. This is our first time. Like I said he is such a happy little guy now.

 

[Ashley Rolison]

Would love to see more photos of your "tortoise mansion"!

Would love to see more photos of your "tortoise mansion"!

Ooops I posted the pictures under another members post on this thread. My coffee hadn't kicked in yet! But take a look and let us know if we need to add something or thoughts. This is our first tort table for him.