Reptile & Amphibian Forums

i have not been here in a while but i have a rescued uro (mali) and he has not been very cooperative about his veggies and greens...he loves the mazzuri tortoise food and gobbles it down. i heard this is not the best and i tried to ween him off of it and he started to lose weight and has gotten lethargic...so i bought a huge bag of the food and have mixed it back in with his food and he loves it...is this food so bad? it is what he was exclusively fed before i got him so i wonder if its what he wants..he is hand fed because of having one eye(he cant focus well enough to get food out of a bowl...trust me i have tried) i don't want to give him something thats not good but it seems to really perk him up...any info??? i do keep greens of sorts in ther and feed him an assortment of foods every few days so he is not in any way exclusivley given that...just want soem info

You ask a good question & I wish there was some response. Doug, can you chime in here?
I'm no dietician but I suspect Mazuri has more good to offer than bad. We've had a couple Uros that were intent on starvation until offered moistened Mazuri pellets.
Regards,
D&L.

Try this - grind up the Mazuri in your blender then sprinkle it heavily on damp mixed leafy greens. This usually is enough to get them to eat the greens as well. You might mix in a few warmed up frozen mixed veggies (peas, carrots, greensbeans etc.). Try to offer a variety every day even if he only eats a few things. Over time they usually start to eat everything if they see it every day.

Mazuri is fine as a diet but not if fed soaked as the whole pellet (it then sticks to toes, gums etc. and can be problematic). Ground up and sprinkled over greens it's great.

Doug