What IS IT about Lettuce?

[SinLA]

So conventional wisdom I have seen on this site is that tortoises like lettuce, despite being nutritionally poor for them, because often that is what they are raised on or given in uninformed homes, so that's why they cling to eating it. Not talking about endive, radicchio, etc, but iceberg/red leaf/green leave/romaine type lettuce.

Until this week I have never fed lettuce, but I happened to have some left over red leaf lettuce from a BBQ and I tossed him a couple of pieces to see how he would react. My guy is PICKY and rarely just eats new stuff thrown down -- occasionally a few flowers will catch his fancy right away, but mostly he likes what he likes and that's all he wants to eat.

Y'all - he DEVOURED that lettuce even though he certainly has not had any in a minimum of 3 years and very possibly 6. I feel like there must be "something about it" they like. Why do so many tortoises eat fruit even tho their digestive systems are not built for it? We assume because sugar is as yummy/good smelling/addictive to them as it is to us. But why lettuce? Its not high in sugar (i don't think??), so what draws them?

Here is Fezzik's potential lettuce eating life history as a case in point: He's a wild caught Russian, so lets presume he lived on the steppes of Uzbekistan or wherever for 10+ years clearly NOT eating lettuce. His trajectory then was: caught in the wild, contained in his home country until shipped, put in a shipping container overseas and survived the journey, lived at a brokers with a zillion other Russians, was sent to Petco, purchased by his previous owners and lived in a backyard in Culver City CA for 3 years mostly to fend for himself, then ended up with me.

I guess for some of those intermediary steps he was fed lettuce if fed at all (makes sense, its cheap and they don't really care if its nutritious), and I don't really know how long the process is from "picked up off the plains" to "lands in a fish tank in Petco", but is that really enough to give them a lettuce addiction?

It just seems like there must be something else about them that draws them to it...

Thoughts?

 

[SinLA]

Video because he’s adorable

 

[Megatron's Mom]

Maybe due to its high water content?

 

[zovick]

Maybe due to its high water content?

Exactly what I was going to say.

 

[_The_Beast_]

So conventional wisdom I have seen on this site is that tortoises like lettuce, despite being nutritionally poor for them, because often that is what they are raised on or given in uninformed homes, so that's why they cling to eating it. Not talking about endive, radicchio, etc, but iceberg/red leaf/green leave/romaine type lettuce.

Until this week I have never fed lettuce, but I happened to have some left over red leaf lettuce from a BBQ and I tossed him a couple of pieces to see how he would react. My guy is PICKY and rarely just eats new stuff thrown down -- occasionally a few flowers will catch his fancy right away, but mostly he likes what he likes and that's all he wants to eat.

Y'all - he DEVOURED that lettuce even though he certainly has not had any in a minimum of 3 years and very possibly 6. I feel like there must be "something about it" they like. Why do so many tortoises eat fruit even tho their digestive systems are not built for it? We assume because sugar is as yummy/good smelling/addictive to them as it is to us. But why lettuce? Its not high in sugar (i don't think??), so what draws them?

Here is Fezzik's potential lettuce eating life history as a case in point: He's a wild caught Russian, so lets presume he lived on the steppes of Uzbekistan or wherever for 10+ years clearly NOT eating lettuce. His trajectory then was: caught in the wild, contained in his home country until shipped, put in a shipping container overseas and survived the journey, lived at a brokers with a zillion other Russians, was sent to Petco, purchased by his previous owners and lived in a backyard in Culver City CA for 3 years mostly to fend for himself, then ended up with me.

I guess for some of those intermediary steps he was fed lettuce if fed at all (makes sense, its cheap and they don't really care if its nutritious), and I don't really know how long the process is from "picked up off the plains" to "lands in a fish tank in Petco", but is that really enough to give them a lettuce addiction?

It just seems like there must be something else about them that draws them to it...

Thoughts?

The idea of Fezzik, of all torts, getting hyped up over lettuce is hilarious and adorable. I wonder about this as well and thought maybe it was the water content, but I haven't seen that hold true across other foods. Romaine is 94-95% water and cucumber is 95% as well, but Walter completely ignores cucumber while acting like romaine is his long lost love

 

[The_Four_Toed_Edward]

The idea of Fezzik, of all torts, getting hyped up over lettuce is hilarious and adorable. I wonder about this as well and thought maybe it was the water content, but I haven't seen that hold true across other foods. Romaine is 94-95% water and cucumber is 95% as well, but Walter completely ignores cucumber while acting like romaine is his long lost love

Edward is the opposite, for him it is cucumber all the way over iceberg salad.

 

[Tom]

I'm not much of a veggie eater, but I sample the things I feed to my tortoises, just to see what they taste like, and also so I will know what to eat in the event of an apocalypse. Most of their favorite things like lettuce, mallow, mulberry leaves, African hibiscus leaves, etc... have a very mild flavor or very little flavor at all. Some of the recommended "better" foods can be quite bitter and have a strong flavor or smell. I think lettuce is the pizza of the tortoise world. Everyone loves it and its just delicious, even though it isn't really the most nutritious food to be eating.

The one that surprises me is grass. Now all of my tortoises eat grass because I introduce it from day one, but it's surprising to me how many tortoises of grass eating species don't want to eat it at first. When I hand cut the grass to mix in to their food buckets in the spring time, that tender freshly sprouted grass smells to sweet and delicious. I've tasted it, and the smell makes me want to eat a meal of it.

Anyhow, you can use their affection toward lettuce to get them eating all sorts of good stuff. I use lettuce as a "base" or "delivery vehicle" and add in dried leaves from Kapidolofarms.com, soaked horse hay pellets, Arcadia Optimized 52, soaked Zoomed pellets, Food Fixer and Herbal Hay from tortoisesupply.com, weeds, grass, flowers, and whatever other good stuff I can scrounge up. They will eat just about anything mixed in with chopped lettuce. This really helps get me through fall when the mulberry trees have dropped their leaves and my cactus have gone dormant, but the winter rains haven't come yet and brought the weeds.

 

[Anastasia 22]

I'm sure my Russians would exchange me for a bag of Romaine lettuce.....

 

[RosemaryDW]

It *is* sweeter, the bitterness has been bred out of it. Do most people prefer the bitter chicories, like radicchio, or do they reach for romaine and butter lettuce?

Fezzik also ate lettuce in the wild: a very bitter wild chicory. Moving to candy lettuce was not a huge adjustment for him!

 

[RandyTortoise]

I'm not much of a veggie eater, but I sample the things I feed to my tortoises, just to see what they taste like, and also so I will know what to eat in the event of an apocalypse. Most of their favorite things like lettuce, mallow, mulberry leaves, African hibiscus leaves, etc... have a very mild flavor or very little flavor at all. Some of the recommended "better" foods can be quite bitter and have a strong flavor or smell. I think lettuce is the pizza of the tortoise world. Everyone loves it and its just delicious, even though it isn't really the most nutritious food to be eating.

The one that surprises me is grass. Now all of my tortoises eat grass because I introduce it from day one, but it's surprising to me how many tortoises of grass eating species don't want to eat it at first. When I hand cut the grass to mix in to their food buckets in the spring time, that tender freshly sprouted grass smells to sweet and delicious. I've tasted it, and the smell makes me want to eat a meal of it.

Anyhow, you can use their affection toward lettuce to get them eating all sorts of good stuff. I use lettuce as a "base" or "delivery vehicle" and add in dried leaves from Kapidolofarms.com, soaked horse hay pellets, Arcadia Optimized 52, soaked Zoomed pellets, Food Fixer and Herbal Hay from tortoisesupply.com, weeds, grass, flowers, and whatever other good stuff I can scrounge up. They will eat just about anything mixed in with chopped lettuce. This really helps get me through fall when the mulberry trees have dropped their leaves and my cactus have gone dormant, but the winter rains haven't come yet and brought the weeds.

My leopards love optimized52. I mix it with cactus pads, but have been cutting back on the cactus pads and now they eat optimised52 right out of my hand (soaked of course). They love it. I do too actually. It smells great in the bag and filled with dry flowers and all kinds of stuff!

 

[Tom]

My leopards love optimized52. I mix it with cactus pads, but have been cutting back on the cactus pads and now they eat optimised52 right out of my hand (soaked of course). They love it. I do too actually. It smells great in the bag and filled with dry flowers and all kinds of stuff!

In the wild, leopards eat a lot of succulents. I like to feed them lots of opuntia as a sort of substitute for the wild succulents. My tortoises like the Arcadia food too. Its good stuff.

 

[TammyJ]

On the one hand, we warn against feeding lettuce because it's not rich in nutrients, and then we advocate for it like crazy.
Lettuce not get carried away here.

 

[TammyJ]

On the one hand, we warn against feeding lettuce because it's not rich in nutrients, and then we advocate for it like crazy.
Lettuce not get carried away here.

You did this once already, Tammy, remember?

 

[RandyTortoise]

You did this once already, Tammy, remember?

 

[ND135]

So conventional wisdom I have seen on this site is that tortoises like lettuce, despite being nutritionally poor for them, because often that is what they are raised on or given in uninformed homes, so that's why they cling to eating it. Not talking about endive, radicchio, etc, but iceberg/red leaf/green leave/romaine type lettuce.

Until this week I have never fed lettuce, but I happened to have some left over red leaf lettuce from a BBQ and I tossed him a couple of pieces to see how he would react. My guy is PICKY and rarely just eats new stuff thrown down -- occasionally a few flowers will catch his fancy right away, but mostly he likes what he likes and that's all he wants to eat.

Y'all - he DEVOURED that lettuce even though he certainly has not had any in a minimum of 3 years and very possibly 6. I feel like there must be "something about it" they like. Why do so many tortoises eat fruit even tho their digestive systems are not built for it? We assume because sugar is as yummy/good smelling/addictive to them as it is to us. But why lettuce? Its not high in sugar (i don't think??), so what draws them?

Here is Fezzik's potential lettuce eating life history as a case in point: He's a wild caught Russian, so lets presume he lived on the steppes of Uzbekistan or wherever for 10+ years clearly NOT eating lettuce. His trajectory then was: caught in the wild, contained in his home country until shipped, put in a shipping container overseas and survived the journey, lived at a brokers with a zillion other Russians, was sent to Petco, purchased by his previous owners and lived in a backyard in Culver City CA for 3 years mostly to fend for himself, then ended up with me.

I guess for some of those intermediary steps he was fed lettuce if fed at all (makes sense, its cheap and they don't really care if its nutritious), and I don't really know how long the process is from "picked up off the plains" to "lands in a fish tank in Petco", but is that really enough to give them a lettuce addiction?

It just seems like there must be something else about them that draws them to it...

Thoughts?

LOL I'm guessing the same reason I smackdown a bag of Doritos or a bacon cheeseburger!

Mine is not too picky and does eat a variety of weeds in the summer months and throughout the year he eats good dark leafy greens and some fruits (mine is a red foot), but it is very interesting to see them go for things and how fast they eat the item when its something they like or shouldn't have. So cute!

 

[SinLA]

Fezzik’s favorites are endive and radicchio, both of which are quite bitter. I had assumed they *liked* the bitter taste.

He still won’t touch mulberry leaves and tho on rare occasion will eat cactus mostly he’s a nope.

I understand cucumbers if you need to get moisture in but I would think as a vegetable they are not good to feed?

 

[MaNaAk]

Romaine lettuce is full of calcium!

 

[SinLA]

It *is* sweeter, the bitterness has been bred out of it. Do most people prefer the bitter chicories, like radicchio, or do they reach for romaine and butter lettuce?

Fezzik also ate lettuce in the wild: a very bitter wild chicory. Moving to candy lettuce was not a huge adjustment for him!

Yes I don’t think of chicory as lettuce and he likes it,long with other bitter things. So why that translates into liking boring red leaf I’m not sure..

 

[RosemaryDW]

Yes I don’t think of chicory as lettuce and he likes it,long with other bitter things. So why that translates into liking boring red leaf I’m not sure..

Because it tastes good. That’s it.

 

[Lucky one]

So conventional wisdom I have seen on this site is that tortoises like lettuce, despite being nutritionally poor for them, because often that is what they are raised on or given in uninformed homes, so that's why they cling to eating it. Not talking about endive, radicchio, etc, but iceberg/red leaf/green leave/romaine type lettuce.

Until this week I have never fed lettuce, but I happened to have some left over red leaf lettuce from a BBQ and I tossed him a couple of pieces to see how he would react. My guy is PICKY and rarely just eats new stuff thrown down -- occasionally a few flowers will catch his fancy right away, but mostly he likes what he likes and that's all he wants to eat.

Y'all - he DEVOURED that lettuce even though he certainly has not had any in a minimum of 3 years and very possibly 6. I feel like there must be "something about it" they like. Why do so many tortoises eat fruit even tho their digestive systems are not built for it? We assume because sugar is as yummy/good smelling/addictive to them as it is to us. But why lettuce? Its not high in sugar (i don't think??), so what draws them?

Here is Fezzik's potential lettuce eating life history as a case in point: He's a wild caught Russian, so lets presume he lived on the steppes of Uzbekistan or wherever for 10+ years clearly NOT eating lettuce. His trajectory then was: caught in the wild, contained in his home country until shipped, put in a shipping container overseas and survived the journey, lived at a brokers with a zillion other Russians, was sent to Petco, purchased by his previous owners and lived in a backyard in Culver City CA for 3 years mostly to fend for himself, then ended up with me.

I guess for some of those intermediary steps he was fed lettuce if fed at all (makes sense, its cheap and they don't really care if its nutritious), and I don't really know how long the process is from "picked up off the plains" to "lands in a fish tank in Petco", but is that really enough to give them a lettuce addiction?

It just seems like there must be something else about them that draws them to it...

Thoughts?

Yes I don’t think of chicory as lettuce and he likes it,long with other bitter things. So why that translates into liking boring red leaf I’m not sure..

So conventional wisdom I have seen on this site is that tortoises like lettuce, despite being nutritionally poor for them, because often that is what they are raised on or given in uninformed homes, so that's why they cling to eating it. Not talking about endive, radicchio, etc, but iceberg/red leaf/green leave/romaine type lettuce.

Until this week I have never fed lettuce, but I happened to have some left over red leaf lettuce from a BBQ and I tossed him a couple of pieces to see how he would react. My guy is PICKY and rarely just eats new stuff thrown down -- occasionally a few flowers will catch his fancy right away, but mostly he likes what he likes and that's all he wants to eat.

Y'all - he DEVOURED that lettuce even though he certainly has not had any in a minimum of 3 years and very possibly 6. I feel like there must be "something about it" they like. Why do so many tortoises eat fruit even tho their digestive systems are not built for it? We assume because sugar is as yummy/good smelling/addictive to them as it is to us. But why lettuce? Its not high in sugar (i don't think??), so what draws them?

Here is Fezzik's potential lettuce eating life history as a case in point: He's a wild caught Russian, so lets presume he lived on the steppes of Uzbekistan or wherever for 10+ years clearly NOT eating lettuce. His trajectory then was: caught in the wild, contained in his home country until shipped, put in a shipping container overseas and survived the journey, lived at a brokers with a zillion other Russians, was sent to Petco, purchased by his previous owners and lived in a backyard in Culver City CA for 3 years mostly to fend for himself, then ended up with me.

I guess for some of those intermediary steps he was fed lettuce if fed at all (makes sense, its cheap and they don't really care if its nutritious), and I don't really know how long the process is from "picked up off the plains" to "lands in a fish tank in Petco", but is that really enough to give them a lettuce addiction?

It just seems like there must be something else about them that draws them to it.
Thoughts?

I agree with you on the Lettuce thing. I have a 6 or 7 yr old Desert Tortoise who eats a whole Romane in one sitting. I have tried growing other plants he would like in his pen but with no luck, due to heat in the summer ( southern Nevada ) and possible the terrain. I give her a lettuce every 2nd day and dandelions when available Which she loves. Grape leaves not so much. She bromates in her pen in a self-dug chamber and seems well. I think it could be the water content of lettuce though she drinks sandy or ground water when available.
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