Marley, the red foots tortoise

Question
Hi Jeannie!

Marley continues to thrive and is getting more comfortable with his surroundings.  He seems to know when it is time for his breakfast and for him to go outside.  I let the kids hand feed him everyday so he get used to them.  
Marley is getting somewhat spoiled and now will not eat his greens, he goes straight for the veggies or fruit, especially tomatoes.  Should I cut those out for awhile to force him to eat the greens only offering his favorites as treats?  Can tortoises become obese?  How would you tell?
Thank you for your continued help,

Margaret

Answer
Hi Margaret,

If you'd like, you can post back and set it to *private* and I'll give you my email.  That way you can ask me questions directly, send pics, etc.

Anyway...there's a couple of ways you can deal with this.  One is to chop everything together so he can't pick things out.  My preference is not to do this, because I ike my tortoises to be eating larger pieces of food.  It gives them something to do when they have to tug and work at eating.  The other thing you can do is to feed greens on separate days from fruit/veggies, and make sure he's hungry on those days.  I would even fast him one day a week, and feed him greens the next day.  He really only needs veggies maybe 1-2 days a week, and fruit 3 days, so you could feed greens the other days.  Alternatively, feed greens first and then fruit or veggies.  If he continues to be stubborn about the greens, cut down on the amount of fruit/veggies until he's eating better.  

Yes, they can become obese.  They can become so fat they can't pull into their shell.  It's always better to err on the side of less food, especially if they are also outside where they can forage.