Sulcata won't eat greens only Zilla pellet food

[coltonspidey]

I've had my Sulcata hatchling for almost a month and when I first got him I put him an outside enclosure and he grazed and I occasionally fed him some cactus but even then he never ate it he just nibbled and walked away and I moved him to a temporary inside enclosure and I started feeding him Mazuri and Zilla's Land Turtle and Tortoise pellets and now he won't eat anything else and I don't want to cut him off of it completely because I don't want him to starve or anything so I don't know how to get him on greens?!

 

[coltonspidey]

He prefers Zilla's over Mazuri

 

[coltonspidey]

 

[JoesMum]

A hungry tort won't starve itself. It will eat. They can go a long time without food, but water.

You are the parent of child that thinks food should only be chocolate and chips. It's time to toughen up and point out who is in charge here!

Chop a tiny amount of healthy greens into tiny bits and mix with the pellets. They're wet and the greens will stick. There's no picking out the best bits.

If your tort eats the mix, slightly increase the greens next feed and slightly decrease the pellets.

If your tort doesn't then feed exactly the same proportion next feed.

Gradually, over a few weeks, the greens will increase and the pellets decrease until you only have greens. Job done

It is important to soak daily throughout the process to maintain hydration.

Good luck! We are here to support you when you're feeling bad about doing what's best for your tortoise

 

[coltonspidey]

A hungry tort won't starve itself. It will eat. They can go a long time without food, but water.

You are the parent of child that thinks food should only be chocolate and chips. It's time to toughen up and point out who is in charge here!

Chop a tiny amount of healthy greens into tiny bits and mix with the pellets. They're wet and the greens will stick. There's no picking out the best bits.

If your tort eats the mix, slightly increase the greens next feed and slightly decrease the pellets.

If your tort doesn't then feed exactly the same proportion next feed.

Gradually, over a few weeks, the greens will increase and the pellets decrease until you only have greens. Job done

It is important to soak daily throughout the process to maintain hydration.

Good luck! We are here to support you when you're feeling bad about doing what's best for your tortoise

Thank you so much.

 

[ZEROPILOT]

A have had several tortoises go on hunger strikes because they got spoiled and hooked on certain "treat" foods.
They will eat the good stuff. Keep offering it.
On a related side note....I also had a tortoise that ate NOTHING for three months and lived.

 

[Speedy-1]

Speedy likes his Mazuri , but has figured out that eating what he is given beats going hungry ! Try mixing other things with a small amount of pellet food , it seems once they taste other stuff they grow to like and eat it !

 

[Pearly]

View attachment 176216

I use both plus 3 other brands specific to forest tort species. I rotate them every day of the week adding a little to their fresh food. They love it! Mine love that land tortoise formula as well. I soak those pellets and mix them in with the "salad" of whatever I prepare that day. I used to be appeehensive about the commercial food (the grain content and all the hard to pronouce ingredients) but since having very difficult experience with a non-eating baby who finally started showing interst in food after being introduced to Mazuri, I'm sorry to say: I'm a believer. Tucker (my picky eater) was starving and at the point of making decision for tube feeding which.., I'm not sure if I would have done on a failing hatching. To me it was simply cost prohibitive. Just getting him to be willing to open his mouth and put something in... was huge! But again, like with everything else, that's just my point of view. It works for me and my torts. Commercial diet makes up for about 1/4-1/3 of my babies daily portions and they get different formula every day of the week for breakfast. Dinner is only fresh food. And weekends (Sat or Sun) is our protein (meat, seafood, mushrooms, eggs) + the greens day. Summarizing: I really don't view commercial diet as a bad thing, or something they need to get off of. At least not for now. Also mixing what they love to eat with what's good for them has always worked well gor me

 

[Speedy-1]

I use both plus 3 other brands specific to forest tort species. I rotate them every day of the week adding a little to their fresh food. They love it! Mine love that land tortoise formula as well. I soak those pellets and mix them in with the "salad" of whatever I prepare that day. I used to be appeehensive about the commercial food (the grain content and all the hard to pronouce ingredients) but since having very difficult experience with a non-eating baby who finally started showing interst in food after being introduced to Mazuri, I'm sorry to say: I'm a believer. Tucker (my picky eater) was starving and at the point of making decision for tube feeding which.., I'm not sure if I would have done on a failing hatching. To me it was simply cost prohibitive. Just getting him to be willing to open his mouth and put something in... was huge! But again, like with everything else, that's just my point of view. It works for me and my torts. Commercial diet makes up for about 1/4-1/3 of my babies daily portions and they get different formula every day of the week for breakfast. Dinner is only fresh food. And weekends (Sat or Sun) is our protein (meat, seafood, mushrooms, eggs) + the greens day. Summarizing: I really don't view commercial diet as a bad thing, or something they need to get off of. At least not for now. Also mixing what they love to eat with what's good for them has always worked well gor me

I see nothing wrong with commercial pellet food . In fact , it probably fills in some of the gaps we miss trying to feed them a variety of things ! I know they are selling it , but Mazuri claims that they are the only food your tort will need ! I wouldn't go that far but I think it has its place in a well rounded healthy diet. Speedy gets it every 3rd day , mixed with a pile of pre-soaked hay !