Reptile & Amphibian Forums

How do you keep a tortoise from stepping all over his food and forgetting about it? I've tried several ways to get him to eat all of his food but so far nothing has worked. He's had a bowl, a terra cotta pot saucer, and now he's got a big, flat rock. I thought the rock would work best because then he could shave his beak down while eating, but instead he climbs on it, pushes the leaves off and then gets confused because there's nothing to eat. I also think that he gives up on eating the food because it's not rooted into the ground and doesn't provide any resistance when he bites it. He'll eat maybe two things and give up and go back to his hide. I know he's still hungry because if I find his food all over the place, I'll bring him out and feed it to him, and he eats all of it as long as I'm holding it and he can pull at it. Is there like a clip or something I can use instead? Does anyone else have this problem?

Allow the tortoise to manage his own food intake at his own pace.

I've watched my tortoises, and they tend to crawl over piles of food. But if I scatter it around, they will move around and graze as they encounter the food. In fact, when in their outdoor pen, they will have long periods of walking and grazing on the natural growth. A nibble here, a nibble there.

Unless your tortoise is ill or in a poor environment, it will eat the food you provide at its own pace. Attempting to micro-manage its behavior might stress the tortoise or make it dependant on you to feed it.

Have you tried tearing his food into very small peices? Mine seemed to have trouble eating when I first got him too and someone told me to tear his food into very small peices so it will be easier for them to eat. It is working great for my torts. Afer it is in tiny peices I put it on a little plastic butter lid. Mine don't do well with a dish that has sides. A butter lid seems easier for them to climb over if they want to get in the food. Sometimes I put my youngest tort near her food and she munches a few times and then turns away. I just put her back and she will usually stay longer and eat more of her food then. Good luck!
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Becki

1 Husband
4 kids
2 Hermans
1 Dog
4 Finches
1 Betta

The best way to feed young torts is to cut up all the greens (and fruit, depending on the species) into very small pieces as if you were to cut onion or the like. Sprinkle with Calcium / vitamin C supplement and put it in a margerine lid or the like. Prepare a lot more than they will eat, as a lot goes flat as they are walking over it. Placing the dish into a plastic dishwash pan or Tupperware dish and placing the tort in will prevend, that he will walk away or get distracted. He might take breaks, but will go back to eat when he sees, that this is the only things to do in the plastic container.
My now over a year old redfoots have been fed like that eversince I got them at 2 weeks old and do great. In the beginning the feeding sessions took about 30 minutes or so, and now I keep them in for maybe 90 minutes.
A nice 'side effect' of feeding like that is, that they will poop and pee either into that plastic container or their bath and the enclosure stays poop-free (works with all my 4 redfoots).
Hope that helps,
Gaby

I don't know if that's the 'best' way but it certainly is 'a way' that works. I use both methods depending on the tortoises set up. For the guys that are on sand I use dishes and for the guys that are on a hard substrate or outside, I spread it around and make them forage. So the point I'd like to make is that it depends on the setup and also, if the little critter has been eating it is most likely not going to starve itself if the food is available. Different animals are going to consume food at different rates based on its environment.
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Ed
Tortoise_Keepers-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
Trying to keep the fun in Chelonian care

...was just referring to the title of the original post. Of course I sould have said, that this is the way, that seems to work best for my little guys
Gaby