Wont eat Mazuri

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dhu2154

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Orson is roughly 4 months old and weighs 62 grams. I know he's under weight so I'm trying to get him to eat Mazuri but he won't!!

He is a big eater. Very active. Very healthy. He eats everything. His favorites are dandelions, romaine and mixed greens (no spinach or iceberg of coarse). I've tried everything to get him to eat it. I've rolled it in romaine, made a romaine and Mazuri "mash" but nothing works. If he even smells it he'd rather go hungry.

What can I do? Why is this little guy so finicky???
 

theTurtleRoom

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One thing I've also done when trying to introduce a new food to a finicky, but established chelonian is the "tough love" approach. Reality is, he can survive a week without eating at this point. So, this is my day-by-day process:

Day 1: Feed a regular meal of your tortoise's favorite food.

Day 2: Just after the lights come on in the morning, place some soaked Mazuri in his/her food dish. Keep a supply in the dish all day. Re-wet it, or place fresh if necessary.

Day 3: If your tortoise hasn't eaten any of the Mazuri from yesterday, remove it and put fresh in. Keep a supply in the dish all day. Re-wet it, or place fresh if necessary.

Day 4, 5, 6, 7: repeat Day 3.

Day 8: If your tortoise has taken to eating the Mazuri regularly, give a small, meal of his/her favorite food and start adding Mazuri into the regular routine. If your tortoise has NOT taken to the Mazuri yet, give a small, well-balanced meal of foods they like and then go to Day 9.

Day 9: Return to Day 2 and continue as previously.



This routine can be used to introduce any new food to your turtle. It is best to only introduce one new feed at a time, so as to not overwhelm them.
 

jtrux

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If he doesn't eat it I wouldn't worry about it personally. I'd try offering more weeds and other natural foods rather than worry about Mazuri. As far as his size is concerned, as long as he is healthy and eating well, the weight shouldn't matter, some grow slower than others.
 

dhu2154

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Thank you so much for the great advice!! I'll jump right on that!! Just trying to make sure he has a well balanced diet with the winter months approaching which means that he can't go outside as often to graze.
 

pennyw

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does he like red foods flowers etc? they make red mazuri maybe you can fool him that way..
good luck!
 

Tortus

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My leopard took to it instantly, but as was said I wouldn't worry much about it. If it's eating natural foods it really doesn't need Mazuri IMO. The main ingredients are corn and soy bean hulls. The same kinds of ingredients that are found as fillers in cheap dog food. I don't believe Mazuri is necessary to maintain a healthy tortoise. I mainly use it because it absorbs so much water and I want to keep my tort hydrated.
 

Baoh

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Some of mine prefer it more or less than others. You have tried blending, which is a good approach. Try starving for a day or two (or three) while providing adequate water and then offering the blend. If you can get it on the blend, that would be a significant hurdle cleared for you. Another option might be the Marion red sticks, but my animals are generally not nearly as fond of them (a number of them will not touch them at all). Some folks mention having good results with them, though.

You mentioned it is underweight. As long as it is otherwise healthy, approaches involving withholding are fine. If there are other health issues, withholding food can put an under the weather hatchling/juvenile in a bad place quickly. If a health issue ever arises, but the animal still eats readily, it is a load off my mind.

For animals that like red stuff to an extreme but are otherwise fussy, I will add a little Reptomin Soft-gel on top of the food. The base, if I remember correctly, is soy protein.
 

TaraDodrill

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I struggled for almost 8 months trying to get my underweight rescues to eat a little Mazuri. A few weeks ago I finally had success and it has really helped their growth already. I chopped up some spring mix very fine and mixed it in with moist Mazuri and just a dab on pumpkin purée. The pumpkin made all the difference in the world. They get it two or three times a week now, I alternate between a smudge of pumpkin and homemade carrot baby food. Barely add anything to it at all anymore
 

dhu2154

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These suggestions are great!! What's funny is that he won't eat red things either. Hibiscus is out!! Roses no way!! Lol!! He likes grass, dandelions, romaine and mixed greens.

I'll def trying the "tough love" approach. He is super active and really healthy. He'll be fine
 

omgdoubletacos

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My little guy sent fond on the mazuri either. I've been trying to get him to eat it since I got him about a month ago. Mixed it with his greens and he pulls the bits of greens out and scrapes the mazuri off with his feet. Might try mixing it with some pumpkin or carrot like some have.
 

cemmons12

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I say just give it time. Sulcata's are such hog's I would think sooner or later your tort will eat it. Both my Sully and Russian love it!
 

Yellow Turtle

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Although I feed mazuri to my torts as supplement, I would actually be happier if they only prefer to eat grass, greenies and flowers.
I get them used to eating mazuri just to prepare for the time when I have low stock of weeds and grass.
All my torts that I own refuse to eat mazuri at first, only my aldabra is a pig and would eat everything I offer to him. I just keep offering mazuri in their plates and stop offering for several days. And when I put them again as part of their dish, they suddenly eat it. Pure luck maybe, but I don't use the tough love method to them.

Nothing beats all natural feed in my opinion, although I see that my torts gets bigger pretty quick if I feed them more mazuri.
Then try to feed them a lot of mazuri if that's the goal :D
 
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