Too late. Already Spoiled. Now what?

[W Shaw]

I adopted a severely malnourished Russian a bit over a month ago, At first he would plow through almost anything, but had some favorites. I've indulged him a lot because he was so underweight. If he wouldn't eat what was on his plate, I'd give him whatever he would eat, in order to get some calories with him. But now he's become incredibly finicky. This morning his breakfast plate consisted of wheat grass, fresh hibiscus blossoms, shredded zucchini, diced butternut (the vet recommended this for weight gain), collard, watercress and a few pieces of radicchio to get him to the dish. All of them are things he's eaten readily, except the hibiscus which he's only recently encountering and only nibbles cautiously. He examined the entire plate , ate the radicchio and then came to be begging for more. He'll eat all the radicchio I'll give him but it's obviously not a good basis for his diet. If he were normal and healthy, I'd just stop giving it to him at all and figure he'd eat the other stuff when he got hungry, but because he came to me so underweight and malnourished, I can't afford to let him go without eating.

I've ordered a nutritional supplement from a place called Carolina Pet, but it's been over 2 weeks since I ordered it and they're not returning my calls, so I probably got scammed there. Also got some Mazuri to try. He eats that -- if it's smeared on radicchio.

Anyone else dealt with a tortoise on a one-food-only strike? Any useful tips for breaking the obsession?

 

[Yvonne G]

You just have to be patient. Carolina Pet Supply is a reputable, well-known dealer, but not real good at speedy filling of orders.

If he will eat the Mazuri on the radicchio, then feed him that. Try rolling it up burrito style.

 

[MPRC]

You can also trying adding a little bit of this or that to the 'burritos' to vary his diet. I can sneak a few things into Vern's food without him noticing. If I do too much though I get the dirtiest look as he stomps all over his food and refuses to eat it.

 

[W Shaw]

You just have to be patient. Carolina Pet Supply is a reputable, well-known dealer, but not real good at speedy filling of orders.

If he will eat the Mazuri on the radicchio, then feed him that. Try rolling it up burrito style.

Burritos! I love it! I'll give that a try. Kind of a blast from the past... When I would have 5 chimps all to myself for a weekend shift, I'd buy a bunch of breakfast burritos and we'd have a burrito party

Thanks for the reassurance on Carolina. When they wouldn't return my calls I relegated it to the "live and learn" bin.

 

[W Shaw]

You can also trying adding a little bit of this or that to the 'burritos' to vary his diet. I can sneak a few things into Vern's food without him noticing. If I do too much though I get the dirtiest look as he stomps all over his food and refuses to eat it.

Yeah that's pretty much what I'm getting. "We are not pleased with this peasant fare. We would prefer radicchio." Yesterday I resorted to spoon feeding him cooked pumpkin on little radicchio spoons.

 

[MPRC]

Been there, done that....as recently as this morning. I blend mazuri, dried grape leaves, sweet potato & turkey baby food and some shredded pumpkin and spread it on his greens. Usually after I feed him a couple he will eat on his own.

 

[W Shaw]

Been there, done that....as recently as this morning. I blend mazuri, dried grape leaves, sweet potato & turkey baby food and some shredded pumpkin and spread it on his greens. Usually after I feed him a couple he will eat on his own.

That's a cool idea! If it's all blended up he can't help but get variety.

 

[destortoise]

I have been getting pretty creative myself with this. I have a stubbornly picky red-foot tortoise, so I typically blend my 20% fruit mix (apples, kiwi, banana, whatever I have around) and then smear it across whatever 80% greens I have in store for Squash. Then he can't resist!

 

[Alaskamike]

Chopping everything up together on a butcher block has worked for my little Redfoot. She just eats it all.

 

[W Shaw]

I have been getting pretty creative myself with this. I have a stubbornly picky red-foot tortoise, so I typically blend my 20% fruit mix (apples, kiwi, banana, whatever I have around) and then smear it across whatever 80% greens I have in store for Squash. Then he can't resist!

Cool! I wish Ronan could eat fruit. I suspect it would make him easier to tempt. But Russians aren't supposed to have any fruit at all. I'm making a temporary exception for squash, since the vet says it's safe in the short term to get his weight up.

 

[W Shaw]

Chopping everything up together on a butcher block has worked for my little Redfoot. She just eats it all.

Thanks! When I got Ronan, I chopped everything up into baby bites for him - he's LITTLE, right? -- But I hand fed bigger pieces to keep my finger tips intact (He's very gentle now that he understands, but when I got him he would just grab). He seemed to enjoy the activity of tearing up the big pieces, and it finally clicked. He's not an infant, and in the wild, no one would mince up his grass for him. Now I go both ways. When I'm a little short on his favorites I make chopped salads, but some days I don't cut it up and instead make separate piles in different locations so he can forage, and so I can get a better idea of what he's eating and what he's not. Then recently he's been on this little radicchio obsession.

 

[destortoise]

Cool! I wish Ronan could eat fruit. I suspect it would make him easier to tempt. But Russians aren't supposed to have any fruit at all. I'm making a temporary exception for squash, since the vet says it's safe in the short term to get his weight up.

Have you considered using fresh opuntia cactus in place of fruit for your russian? Same idea--blend the cactus to a mush and spread it across whatever other greens you might have

 

[W Shaw]

Have you considered using fresh opuntia cactus in place of fruit for your russian? Same idea--blend the cactus to a mush and spread it across whatever other greens you might have

I'd love to if I could get it, but I haven't been able to find it locally. If I can find a source, I'll definitely try it. How do you go about getting the spines off?

I'm also addressing another issue that I suspect may be contributing.The temps have dropped somewhat suddenly where I live, and while I know his daytime temps are warm enough, I've been concerned that he might be getting too cold at night. I'm waiting for a stronger CHE to arrive, but in the meantime, I've decided to leave one of his day bulbs on at night. I know they like it dark but he sleeps in a burrow anyhow, so I think he'll tolerate it for a couple of nights until the CHE arrives and we'll see if being warmer at night makes a difference.

 

[destortoise]

The night-time temperatures could certainly play a part--and I agree, he can probably tolerate the light lamp for a couple nights. Anyhow, I order my Opuntia from tortoisesupply (http://www.tortoisesupply.com/Cactus) and it's sent right to my doorstep mostly despined. They do have a recommendation at the bottom of the linked page for how to remove the spines:

"Being a cactus, our opuntia does have some small spines remaining, so please be careful while handling them. Tortoises do not have a problem eating these spines (they eat worse naturally), but they can stick human fingers if care is not taken. If you want to try to remove the spines, rubbing them with an old sponge in a circular pattern usually gets most of them out."

 

[W Shaw]

The night-time temperatures could certainly play a part--and I agree, he can probably tolerate the light lamp for a couple nights. Anyhow, I order my Opuntia from tortoisesupply (http://www.tortoisesupply.com/Cactus) and it's sent right to my doorstep mostly despined. They do have a recommendation at the bottom of the linked page for how to remove the spines:

"Being a cactus, our opuntia does have some small spines remaining, so please be careful while handling them. Tortoises do not have a problem eating these spines (they eat worse naturally), but they can stick human fingers if care is not taken. If you want to try to remove the spines, rubbing them with an old sponge in a circular pattern usually gets most of them out."

Thanks so much! I'll see about getting him some. I want him to have as much variety and enrichment as I can provide, since he has to be indoors all winter.

 

[destortoise]

Thanks so much! I'll see about getting him some. I want him to have as much variety and enrichment as I can provide, since he has to be indoors all winter.

I feel your struggle... But hey, one of those cactus pads lasts an eternity!! I know russian torts are suckers for opuntia so I hope he likes it. Tortoisesupply also has an awesome herb mix that I use as well.

 

[W Shaw]

I'll definitely check that company out. I ordered stuff from Carolina pet, but clearly customer service is not a priority for them -- they're taking forever to ship and don't answer their phones or return calls, so I'm looking for a more reliable company. Unfortunate, because I really wanted to order some of their Russian Tortoise grazing mix seeds, but hopefully the Tortoise Supply folks will have something similar.

 

[Tom]

I use Tyler's seed mix and I can't rant and rave enough about how good it is. You won't have any customer service problems either.
http://www.tortoisesupply.com/TestudoMix

They also sell cactus pads.

Its normal for russians to slow down on appetite this time of year. Adding lights and warming up the temps usually will help.

 

[W Shaw]

I use Tyler's seed mix and I can't rant and rave enough about how good it is. You won't have any customer service problems either.
http://www.tortoisesupply.com/TestudoMix

They also sell cactus pads.

Its normal for russians to slow down on appetite this time of year. Adding lights and warming up the temps usually will help.

Thanks Tom!

I'll definitely check out Tortoise supply. I've also been tweaking his set up, and last night when I got off work he'd eaten almost all of his breakfast and was waiting for me to see if he could score some radicchio. I set a big breakfast out for him today, and he looked at it and then came to me looking for hand fed radicchio again (now he only wants the RED part, thank you very much. *sigh*), but I'm keeping my fingers crossed, hoping he'll eat his breakfast again. I also tried smearing apple/carrot baby food on some things, thinking it would be a treat. NOT! Any time the baby food got near him he did that thing with his elbows covering his face which he only does with something truly offensive or terrifying. Just as well, I suppose... too sweet to be good for him anyhow.