Weight gain

[Slow60]

@Slow60
Hello! One thing wasn't mentioned yet - the diet: what do you feed your tortoise? What about her appetite?

Redfoots diet consists of 30-60% fruit, 10-20% animal protein and mushrooms and the rest is leafy greens (proportions aren't strict and can vary with seasonal availability of foods, age and just from week to week). For baby redfoots protein intake is more important.

I offer her moistened Flukers pellets daily but she only eats a thimbleful. She loves blueberries and carrots every other day and she eats a few live dandelions, Johnson grass, and Asian ponyfoot in our pasture when i take her outside. Occasionally she will eat bits of corn. She will ignore everything else including kale, mushrooms, bell pepper, turnip greens, mustard greens, animal protein, blackberries and alfalfa.

 

[mojo_1]

I offer her moistened Flukers pellets daily but she only eats a thimbleful. She loves blueberries and carrots every other day and she eats a few live dandelions, Johnson grass, and Asian ponyfoot in our pasture when i take her outside. Occasionally she will eat bits of corn. She will ignore everything else including kale, mushrooms, bell pepper, turnip greens, mustard greens, animal protein, blackberries and alfalfa.

You will need to mix in new foods little bits at a time with what she will eat. If that doesn't work you will need to give the tough love and just put greens she doesn't eat but should in the enclosure and eventually she will eat it. A tortoise won't starve itself just because it's not the stuff it prefers to eat. You also might have more success mixing in new foods with the pellets, if you switch to Mazuri pellets for redfoots. Mojo is a little piggy on pellet days. Here's a list of other things redfoots can eat as well.

 

[Alex and the Redfoot]

I offer her moistened Flukers pellets daily but she only eats a thimbleful. She loves blueberries and carrots every other day and she eats a few live dandelions, Johnson grass, and Asian ponyfoot in our pasture when i take her outside. Occasionally she will eat bits of corn. She will ignore everything else including kale, mushrooms, bell pepper, turnip greens, mustard greens, animal protein, blackberries and alfalfa.

She is as picky as mine was. Try some very ripe fruit - papaya, mango or figs.
What animal protein did you offer? She might refuse mealworms but go crazy for a boiled egg, for example.

Do you use any supplements - food toppers, calcium powder, multivitamins?

 

[The_Four_Toed_Edward]

I offer her moistened Flukers pellets daily but she only eats a thimbleful. She loves blueberries and carrots every other day and she eats a few live dandelions, Johnson grass, and Asian ponyfoot in our pasture when i take her outside. Occasionally she will eat bits of corn. She will ignore everything else including kale, mushrooms, bell pepper, turnip greens, mustard greens, animal protein, blackberries and alfalfa.

This article helped me introduce new foods to my picky Russian:

Introducing a Healthier Diet

Introducing a Healthier Diet

www.thetortoisetable.org.uk

 

[Julius DaVinci]

Humidity!!!....in the pictures looks really dry. I made the same mistakes and receive the same support and advices, I was you like 3 months ago.....don't feel bad. You already are in the correct space to ask and fix anything...one step at the time.
Follow the recommendations and your RF is going to be fine they are design to survive. Keep it hydrated!
Hope your baby start gain weight soon! Hibiscus leaves are the favorite of mine.
Lego says hi!!!

 

[Slow60]

She is as picky as mine was. Try some very ripe fruit - papaya, mango or figs.
What animal protein did you offer? She might refuse mealworms but go crazy for a boiled egg, for example.

Do you use any supplements - food toppers, calcium powder, multivitamins?

I will try boiled egg. I sprinkle calcium on her food weekly but she eats so little. The pellets are fortified but like I said, just a thimbleful.

 

[mojo_1]

I will try boiled egg. I sprinkle calcium on her food weekly but she eats so little. The pellets are fortified but like I said, just a thimbleful.

Get some cuddle fish bone. It's a good source of calcium and they eat it on their own when they feel the need for calcium. On top of the sprinkles of it you provide.

 

[Slow60]

Get some cuddle fish bone. It's a good source of calcium and they eat it on their own when they feel the need for calcium. On top of the sprinkles of it you provide.

I was planning on getting a cuttlebone. Today she ate a little better, especially outside where she can graze dandelions. She won't eat them unless there are growing. If I cut them and bring them in I swear she gives me the side eye . I still have to wake her everyday to eat. I soak her first after warming the water, show her the food. She will wander over and eat. Then I take her outside for sunshine and grazing in a little mobile corral. Once she's done eating she starts circling. Probably looking for a hiding place. I take her back in after an hour or so. We have predatory birds so I stay right there. I put her in and she crosses to her burrow after a drink and that's it. Once I change her crate maybe she will come out to eat on her own.

 

[mojo_1]

I was planning on getting a cuttlebone. Today she ate a little better, especially outside where she can graze dandelions. She won't eat them unless there are growing. If I cut them and bring them in I swear she gives me the side eye . I still have to wake her everyday to eat. I soak her first after warming the water, show her the food. She will wander over and eat. Then I take her outside for sunshine and grazing in a little mobile corral. Once she's done eating she starts circling. Probably looking for a hiding place. I take her back in after an hour or so. We have predatory birds so I stay right there. I put her in and she crosses to her burrow after a drink and that's it. Once I change her crate maybe she will come out to eat on her own.

Once you get temps and humidity correct and stable you should start to see some positive changes.

 

[Littleredfootbigredheart]

I was planning on getting a cuttlebone. Today she ate a little better, especially outside where she can graze dandelions. She won't eat them unless there are growing. If I cut them and bring them in I swear she gives me the side eye . I still have to wake her everyday to eat. I soak her first after warming the water, show her the food. She will wander over and eat. Then I take her outside for sunshine and grazing in a little mobile corral. Once she's done eating she starts circling. Probably looking for a hiding place. I take her back in after an hour or so. We have predatory birds so I stay right there. I put her in and she crosses to her burrow after a drink and that's it. Once I change her crate maybe she will come out to eat on her own.

Im sure once amendments are made indoors, she’ll start to improve, it can take a few weeks once things are fixed as things take time with them, but she’ll get there