fussy redfoot n wat should he be eating?

[ghost58]

3 weeks ago a got a tortoise from a man, lovely tortoise but a pain to feed!

he will only eat strawberries,bananas n grapes, only eats fine beans if u microwave them, also he wont eat his dryed food

he is 3 yrs old

[x.froggy.x]

Hiya, Have you tried feeding him stuff like dandilions?

[ShaneLuvsMonitors]

If hes a good weight dont be afraid to starve him until he starts eating his weeds like a good boy and if by dry food you mean pellets ids advice you to read around about them before considering using them... (if you havent already)

[joanna1]

I have tried pellets with my reds in the past but never touched them.

I stick to a mainly weed based diet, add salad stuff-florrette etc. when needed, but not this time of year as loads of weeds about.

Butternut squash I offer weekly to all torts, reds as well as this have a whole fruit fed once a week with no weeds, could be papaya to bell pepper and protien every 2-3 wks. For this either pinkies, earthworms or sprats.

The good thing with reds is their fruit intake, I had one that wouldn't touch weeds when I got her so I started by blending the weeds together adding a fruit, then roughly chopping the weeds squeezing some juice over.

I always feed fruit on its own as if you offer a piece with every meal they will fill up on that first.

Also once you've got her eating weeds with the juice on I'd be giving meals just of weeds for a couple of weeks first before adding fruit days to break the habit.

[blackcat38]

If your feeding strawberries, bananas and grapes you can't expect him to go from that to eating his weeds, it's like feeding a kid chocolate and then giving the choice between chocolate and broccoli, the kid will hold out for the chocolate, and this is probably the same with your tort.

I'd do what joanna1 has suggested weaning him off the fruit and about feeding fruit separately because if fed together he will munch all the fruit first and leave the weeds.

I also wouldn't feed banana, it has a Ca:P ratio 2:55, plus it's so tasty to the tort they can get addicted and not eat anything else, probably what your seeing. This link is quite good for comparing what’s in your torts food
http://www.turtlestuff.com/avoidthese.html

These are the pellets I use
http://www.petstore.com/ps_ViewItem-category-Zoo_Med_Natural_Forest_Tortoise_Food_Reptile_Suppl ies_Food_Turtle___Tortoise_Food-vendor-Zoo_Med-SearchStr--action-view-idProduct-MZ40120-idCategory-RPFOTU.html
They loved them but I only really used them in the winter when weeds were sort