Spoiled tort?

[TommyZ]

So, I think I may have spoiled my tortoise, is that even possible? For some reason everytime I feed him he comes running over daily like he should, however if I put down any greens regardless of what it is dandelions, green beans, spring mix, mushrooms, any thing that is not Mazuri, he seems not interested in. If I put down some nice wet Mazuri he literally attacks it and eats till it's gone, his greens and veggies he takes very little interest in. Have I created a typical American fast food monster? If so how do I correct it, just abstain from the Mazuri for a while? Here is a picture of the culprit himself being a bratso... A big plate of nice fresh food behind him and you see him looking at me with those wanting eyes saying "papa where's my Missouri"?

 

[theelectraco]

I would stop feeding the mazuri and get it used to fruits and veggies. Then when u feed the mazuri mix it into the fruits and veggies.


0.0.1 Red Foot
0.0.1 Crested Gecko
0.1.0 Dachshund

 

[Zabbi0]

No fruits....
But yes I would say just stop with the mazuri completely. He will eat before he staved himself.


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Try offering some kale or collard greens. I've found most torts go for these two pretty quickly. GL


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[clucey]

Papas a sucker!!!! There are other posts that suggest refraining from the fast food all together and transitioning to a healthy varied diet then introducing the yummies as treats. Littl guy ... I cant even resist that cute little face.

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[JoesMum]

This is where you have to apply tough love. A child will hold out for candy rather than eat their greens and your tort is doing the same.

A healthy tort can go weeks without food, but not water. So, stop feeding the stuff you don't want to feed and only offer the healthy stuff. There will be a few sulks, just like the child who can't have candy, but your tort will get hungry and will give in.

Soak daily until normal eating resumes to make sure he stays hydrated.

YOU have to be strong, but your tort will not starve and if you need moral support come and talk to us... many of us have been through it with either picky torts, picky children or both!

 

[TommyZ]

Re: RE: Spoiled tort?

Papas a sucker!!!! There are other posts that suggest refraining from the fast food all together and transitioning to a healthy varied diet then introducing the yummies as treats. Littl guy ... I cant even resist that cute little face.

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LOL, yeah i am, hard not to be a sucker when he gives me that face....but, ill lay off the mazuri for a spell, ill just keep changing veggies everyday like ive been. He always liked squash and hasn't even been eating that lately, so I'll try that tomorrow.

 

[FLINTUS]

No fruits....

Bad advice. Reds need a fair proportion of fruit in their diet. In the wild, 70% fruit wet season, 40% dry season. The rest of it is mainly composed of flowers, funghi and carrion-they are not big weed and leaf eaters unless they are broad leaved.

 

[JoesMum]

Re: RE: Spoiled tort?

No fruits....

Bad advice. Reds need a fair proportion of fruit in their diet. In the wild, 70% fruit wet season, 40% dry season. The rest of it is mainly composed of flowers, funghi and carrion-they are not big weed and leaf eaters unless they are broad leaved.

Agreed. I missed that

 

[Jacqui]

He can only eat what you offer him. If you don't want him to eat so much Mazuri, then simply do not give him it.

 

[wellington]

You can also do it the not so tuff way of smearing a little Mazuri on the greens, where if he wants the Mazuri, he has to eat the greens and fruit, etc to get it. Then you just use less and less Mazuri until he is only eating he better stuff. Then you can put the Mazuri back in once in a while the same way as above.

 

[Andy_Panda]

I would stop feeding mazuri as well check out this thread and see my research on the product

http://www.tortoiseforum.org/thread-11645.html

 

[GeoTerraTestudo]

No fruits....

Bad advice. Reds need a fair proportion of fruit in their diet. In the wild, 70% fruit wet season, 40% dry season. The rest of it is mainly composed of flowers, funghi and carrion-they are not big weed and leaf eaters unless they are broad leaved.

Yep, redfoots are some of the more omnivorous tortoises. Leafy greens are fine, and so is Mazuri, but they also need a host of other things, including fruit, fungi, and some meat.

Keep the diet varied, and mix foods when you offer them. Give your tortoise red fruits to attract her attention. Once she has a wider range of things to eat, she will be more accepting of different food items.

For some folks, if a tortoise is refusing food, they just keep offering only that food until the tortoise becomes hungry enough to eat it. This can work, but it's often easier to just mix the foods up so it can't pick and choose. That helps it get used to the less preferred item.

 

[abclements]

Re: RE: Spoiled tort?

I would stop feeding mazuri as well check out this thread and see my research on the product

http://www.tortoiseforum.org/thread-11645.html

I would agree with you if we weren't talking about a red foot. I too have looked into both of those for my red foot. The thing about redfoots is that they need more protein than the average tort. Most people use a protein day every week, where they feed boiled chicken, high quality dog food, or something to that effect. I choose to use Mazuri as my protein source so I use it 3 times a week because it is still not as high in protein as actual meat. Then I do fruit and veggies the other 4 days. Just my 2 cents.

Sometimes he won't eat his fruits or veggies so he just gets a day less of Mazuri that week and I repeat the meal he skipped the next day. It usually works well and he only skips a day or two tops.

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[Yvonne G]

The redfooted tortoises in my care seem overly fond of the Mazuri Tortoise Diet too. Of all the tortoises I have, they really dig into a pile of Mazuri with gusto. I see nothing wrong with that. Evidently there's something lacking in their regular diet of weeds and plants that they are finding in the Mazuri. Most of the pictures N2TORTS posts for our viewing pleasure show happy, healthy redfooted tortoises with Mazuri smeared all over their faces.

 

[Zabbi0]

Oh duh. Whoops. That was careless on my part. I didn't look at the photos to see it was a red. My fault!


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[TommyZ]

Thank you all for the replies, i was a bit concerned. I will give him a bit of cat food once a week now. Also, being that he is a hatchling, is it advisable to feed him an earth worm? Im on my patio now watching the night crawlers mate (no not in a creepy way, lol), so im thinking of grabbing one for the tort.

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Also, ill try a few more red fruits, i know for sure the lil guy loves raspberries. Is there any fruit i should NOT feed? Ive read bananas should be avoided.

 

[Mgridgaway]

You can feed him bananas in moderation. Basically, the higher the sugar content, the less you should give it. Bananas are probably the "worst" in this regard and should only be given a few times a month. Grapes are pretty high up there too. Berries are pretty low on the list, I believe. I also don't feed my any of my reptiles citrus. Most reptile owners don't recommend it. Not sure why.

Also, I wouldn't cut out Mazuri. It's great for filling out any dietary shortcomings in your meals. I give mine Mazuri twice a week and they love it, but they also have no problem eating their regular diet (and once your redfoot gets growing, it'll eat everything in sight, mazuri or not).

 

[GeoTerraTestudo]

Thank you all for the replies, i was a bit concerned. I will give him a bit of cat food once a week now. Also, being that he is a hatchling, is it advisable to feed him an earth worm? Im on my patio now watching the night crawlers mate (no not in a creepy way, lol), so im thinking of grabbing one for the tort.

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Also, ill try a few more red fruits, i know for sure the lil guy loves raspberries. Is there any fruit i should NOT feed? Ive read bananas should be avoided.

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You can occasionally offer cat food to omnivorous tortoises and box turtles, but make sure it's not a beef cat food. Chicken, turkey, rabbit, and venison are all okay. Being from South American floodplains, redfoots can also eat fish from time to time. However, beef is too fatty, and not good for the liver or kidneys of a turtle.

As for earthworms, my box turtles loved them, but my redfoot did not. I've heard that from some other redfoot owners, too. Perhaps earthworms are not common in the areas where redfoots are from, because although they are omnivorous, their prey drive does not necessarily kick in when they see earthworms. Snails and slugs, however, are a great choice. My redfoot loved these (like a box turtle), and not only do they provide protein, but snail shells also provide valuable calcium. Just make sure the slugs and snails have not been feeding on plants sprayed with herbicides or pesticides, because that could make your tortoise sick.

Redfoots are nuts about bananas! You can offer them sometimes, but as Mgridgaway said, not that often. Actually, because bananas are so high in potassium, it's good to sprinkle some calcium (+ vitamin D3) on it to help balance out the Calciumhosphorus ratio. Other good fruits to feed them are tomatoes, strawberries, raspberries, and grapes. They also love mangoes, papayas, and kiwi. As for citrus, I tried offering it to my redfoot, but she didn't want it. Not sure why. Maybe it's too acidic.

In nature, redfoots eat a lot of fruit during the wet season, when trees are dropping ripe fruit on the ground. Then during the dry season, they eat more greens, because the fruits are not available. They'll eat meat whenever they can find it year round. Like us, they have cravings for foods that are valuable but rare in nature, and therefore they can overeat them in captivity. We love salt, sugar, protein, and fat, but too much of them is bad for us, and keeps us from eating fiber, which is also important, but common and less nutritious, so we don't really crave it. Likewise, redfoots crave sugar and protein, but if they get too much of them in captivity, they can grow too fast, develop bone deformities, etc. So, they still need to be eating lots of greens for fiber. Just let them have some fruit and even less protein to help round out the diet.

 

[TommyZ]

Re: RE: Spoiled tort?

Thank you all for the replies, i was a bit concerned. I will give him a bit of cat food once a week now. Also, being that he is a hatchling, is it advisable to feed him an earth worm? Im on my patio now watching the night crawlers mate (no not in a creepy way, lol), so im thinking of grabbing one for the tort.

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Also, ill try a few more red fruits, i know for sure the lil guy loves raspberries. Is there any fruit i should NOT feed? Ive read bananas should be avoided.

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You can occasionally offer cat food to omnivorous tortoises and box turtles, but make sure it's not a beef cat food. Chicken, turkey, rabbit, and venison are all okay. Being from South American floodplains, redfoots can also eat fish from time to time. However, beef is too fatty, and not good for the liver or kidneys of a turtle.

As for earthworms, my box turtles loved them, but my redfoot did not. I've heard that from some other redfoot owners, too. Perhaps earthworms are not common in the areas where redfoots are from, because although they are omnivorous, their prey drive does not necessarily kick in when they see earthworms. Snails and slugs, however, are a great choice. My redfoot loved these (like a box turtle), and not only do they provide protein, but snail shells also provide valuable calcium. Just make sure the slugs and snails have not been feeding on plants sprayed with herbicides or pesticides, because that could make your tortoise sick.

Redfoots are nuts about bananas! You can offer them sometimes, but as Mgridgaway said, not that often. Actually, because bananas are so high in potassium, it's good to sprinkle some calcium (+ vitamin D3) on it to help balance out the Calciumhosphorus ratio. Other good fruits to feed them are tomatoes, strawberries, raspberries, and grapes. They also love mangoes, papayas, and kiwi. As for citrus, I tried offering it to my redfoot, but she didn't want it. Not sure why. Maybe it's too acidic.

In nature, redfoots eat a lot of fruit during the wet season, when trees are dropping ripe fruit on the ground. Then during the dry season, they eat more greens, because the fruits are not available. They'll eat meat whenever they can find it year round. Like us, they have cravings for foods that are valuable but rare in nature, and therefore they can overeat them in captivity. We love salt, sugar, protein, and fat, but too much of them is bad for us, and keeps us from eating fiber, which is also important, but common and less nutritious, so we don't really crave it. Likewise, redfoots crave sugar and protein, but if they get too much of them in captivity, they can grow too fast, develop bone deformities, etc. So, they still need to be eating lots of greens for fiber. Just let them have some fruit and even less protein to help round out the diet.

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Thanks for that, i rarely feed my cats beef, but there is a can or two around so ill be sure to avoid it. The patte kind is best i figure? All mushy and soft...

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Yummy mazuri burrito anyone?? Lol

 

[Madkins007]

There are a lot of opinions about things like Mazuri, cat food, etc. with red-footeds. These guys can eat a lot of different things and be perfectly OK as long as there is balance and variety.

Mazuri is a very sweet food, so a lot of species of tortoise prefer it over 'regular' food. This is absolutely not an issue as long as they get a good diet over time. If you want them to eat something besides Mazuri, just offer the other food first, then drop some dry or slightly dampened Mazuri in later. (Wet Mazuri has had a lot of the water-soluble nutrients soaked out. Mazuri company DOES NOT recommend soaking the stuff.)

As far as cat food- why bother? Live bugs, chunks of chicken, egg, and other stuff is as good or better, without having to worry about fat content and so on. It is fine to use if you have it, but there is almost always a better option available.