Okay, my little squirt is starting to get picky.

He used to eat kale and pre-mixed Spring Mix salad fairly well, along with grated/sliced veggies (zucchini, squash, carrots, and apple).

In addition to those, he occasionally will eat the Exo-Terra tortoise pellets and the Nature Zone Tortoise Bites (orange, gelatinized cubes). I'm typically not a huge advocate of commercial diets, but I also believe in variety, so I only offer these infrequently.

My major concern is that he rarely if ever nibbles at his hay. Right now, I offered orchard grass, since I've heard/read that it is easier for juvenile tortoises to chomp on compared to the other hays. But I think in the 2 months I've had him, I've seen him nibble a hay stalk twice.

Now...he has begun to avoid the kale or salad. I decided to try bok choy. He kinda liked that at first, but has since is like, "meh" about it.

I have also tried other commercial diets, such as ZooMed Grassland tortoise diet and Rep-Cal Tortoise diet (looks like mini Trix cereal). Absolutely refuses ZooMed, and will occasionally nibble at the Rep-Cal stuff.

I really would like to get him back on leafy greens and hay. Any suggestions?

Are you offering food every day? If so, try skipping a day, leaving the hay in there and see if #1- He starts nibbling at the hay on the day he doesn't get a plate, and #2- If he eats what is on his plate the next day.

I don't know if you can find this, but I found switching one of my torts over from strictly lettuce (I took her in at 2 years old) was easy using Kaytee Timothy Hay Plus Marigolds. She will now eat all kinds of dry hay/orchard grasses.

I also suggest feeding the lettuces everyother day. My torts aren't picky at all and I don't even think pay attention to what they are eating!

Jenna

My Leopard was picky like that, he would only eat lettuce or Mazuri. I tried skipping days and only offering timothy hay, grasses, clover, etc and it never worked. Now that he's older his palate is expanding and when I put him out in the yard he seeks out the clover first and will even eat grass. He loves Kale and Collard Greens too. It may be a maturity issue, I know my older sulcata will eat anything under the sun, although he was never very picky.

I wouldn't stress too much just yet, I was worried when my guy wouldn't eat the recommended diet, but kind of gave in and he finally came around. Try soaking the hay prior and mixing it with the commercial diets that he likes. When I soaked Mazuri and mixed in some hay and grass the Leopard would eat them unknowingly, but it still took 2 years to get him to eat grass and hay on his own. Good luck!