Tort being picky

[Reptiking94]

Hey, Ive had a russian for about 2 years, he is in an indoor terrarium and is happy and healthy except theres one problem, he is really picky, I know Russians should be fed stuff like dark leafy greens such and dandelion greens but Ive fed him all those things and he dosent eat them so one day I tried romaine and he gobbled it up and the next day I fed him dark leafy greens and he didnt touch them, Ive tried it a few more times and the only ting he touches is Romaine, if I put some powder on it and just give him romaine will it be okay to feed him just that? Thanks in advance, Reptiking.

 

[Stephanie Logan]

Well, I sympathize with you. My (Chaco) Taco is the queen of the picky eaters. Before I adopted her from my daughter last summer, she was fed ONLY Romaine lettuce, and I could not get her to eat anything else--not dandelions, clover, grass, hay, tortoise pellets, NOTHING. There was one weed, Euphobia Maculata (later identified on this web site), that she would eat, but ONLY if she picked it herself, so I'd spend long hours letting her graze in the neighbor's garden or hauling her up and down the street looking for these weeds growing between sidewalk cracks.

The other things Taco would eat are grape and watermelon. So, with the advice of two veteran tort keepers here at TFO, I started feeding spring mix to Taco with a little watermelon or grape cut very small and mixed in. I also use TNT, which is a powdered mix of dried, crushed up weeds and grasses, very nutrient-dense, and/or pure calcium powder. Now I add some squash, mushroom and moistened Mazuri tortoise pellets. Anyway, by "tricking" Taco's picky taste buds, I can now get her to eat a small but significant portion of good food every day. She is gaining weight (though she is still underweight for her size), so we are making progress. You might want to try the same trick--mix other things in with the Romaine and chop it very small, and see if your Suvorov will buy in.

 

[tortoisenerd]

Mix in increasing amounts of good food with the bad food. This will trick the tort and get it used to the good foods. Start with 5% good food, and increase it as slowly as needed to get your tort to eat it. For this you will need to tear up the food and mix it together so your tort can't pick through it as easily. Once your tort is eating all good food, stop chopping it up as it is natural to let the tort tear it.

Your tort needs variety, supplements or not. Spring mix is a favorite of all the Russian torts I know and provides a great start to a varied diet. Some of the types of spring mix have romaine in it. I recommend the organic type. It is very easy to feed as you don't need to chop it up and it is pre-washed. With it you can mix in other greens like turnip, dandelion, collard, mustard, radish, and watercress. I buy spring mix and 1-2 other greens a week, rotating through the list. You can start with the spring mix and see if your tort will eat it (I would be very surprised if it didn't), then add to it if all goes well.

As a treat food, you can feed cactus pads (I will give my tort maybe 10% of his food as cactus for a week or two as it stays fresh and then not feed the cactus again for a month or so). I will cut out the spines but some people burn them off or just feed them as-is. Other healthy treats are butternut squash and pumpkin. You can buy both in organic, pureed in a can at Whole Foods, or get it fresh and cook it and let it cool down (or feed it raw if your tort can manage and likes it that way). About the same frequency as the cactus is what I would recommend.

This is assuming you don't have access to chemical free garden weeds. If you have a chemical free yard, you should consult the lists of safe weeds and greens and feed your tort those. A diet from the garden is ideal, but from what you said I am assuming you don't have access. If at all possible, growing your own weeds from seeds even in a container in your kitchen is the best you can do for your tort. Carolina Pet Supply sells a great Russian Tortoise seed mix. Use organic potting soil, and even cat litter pans or similar trays work great. The little sprouts that come up make great salad toppings for the spring mix & greens if nothing else.

Just a note: Stephanie's tort Taco is a different breed with different dietary requirements, so you can't feed your Russian the same foods but you can use the same method. For example, Russians shouldn't have fruit or mushrooms.

I'm curious--what has the tort eaten these last two years? You say you only recently tried Romaine.

Also, what powder are you referring to? I recommend only pure calcium, no D3, if the tort has UVB or sunlight, as the tort makes its own D3 and it is fat soluble (not water soluble like calcium) so can build up to toxic levels. Also, I recommend only natural supplements like TNT from Carolina Pet Supply if you choose to use it. Vitamin supplements are tricky to know what dose to give, and some vitamins like D3 are fat soluble. A varied diet should provide a tort all the vitamins they need, but if your tort does not get a varied diet yet or you are worried, then also add in the TNT. You can use as much as you want of it because it is just ground up natural stuff. No risk of overdose. But, a varied diet is very important. No amount of TNT that you could put on greens and still have the tort tolerate it could make up for that.

Best wishes.

 

[Reptiking94]

Well I bought him from a reptile specific pet store and when I got him I feed him the stuff you listed because I did some research before I got him, I would OCCASIONALY feed him Romaine if we ran out of the "recommended" stuff until I got some more but now he wont even really eat anything but Romaine.

 

[Yvonne G]

Well I bought him from a reptile specific pet store and when I got him I feed him the stuff you listed because I did some research before I got him, I would OCCASIONALY feed him Romaine if we ran out of the "recommended" stuff until I got some more but now he wont even really eat anything but Romaine.

That's really too bad, because if you can't get him off the romaine he's going to be one sick little puppy. You're going to have to work hard at it. It's not going to be easy. But if you follow the advice given (increasingly smaller amounts of romaine mixed in with the better greens), I promise you, you will succeed. But it takes a very long time.

 

[kimber_lee_314]

You can try my "lettuce burrito" trick that I use for sick tortoises who have been on a terrible diet. I take the good greens and roll them up in a piece of romaine (or iceberg - which is what I'm usually dealing with) and hand feed them. The quickly learn to love the taste of the better greens and soon enough they are eating well. Good luck!

 

[Maggie Cummings]

Do you think you would do alright if all you ate was ice cream? Nope...you need to feed him a varied diet for him to be healthy. Yes, he'll eat romaine but he won't be healthy...