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Vegetables Various types of lettuce enough variety?

Rayen

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Besides the bell pepper my girls get every day, they have seemingly decided that only the leafiest of vegetables are worth their eating effort. I usually at least try to add more to their vegetables, but it's kind of disheartening to watch them sit there, stuff their little mouths and then see a battlefield of fallen carrots, celery, tomatoes, etc. when they wander off for naps. Mostly because I like tomatoes, celery, peas, carrots, whatever and I would really rather eat them myself if they're not going to.

They get, usually, red/green leaf lettuce, little gem lettuce, radicchio, belgian endive, a mixture of baby lettuce (romaine/leaf/oak/butter mix) every day. Cilantro most days. Additionally I'll also give a couple of times a week one of the following: spinach, kale, dandelion greens and (a very distant maybe) broccoli.
 

bpatters

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Have you tried teaching them to eat the other veggies? They're like kids -- they're not going to automatically love vegetables the first time they're put in front of them.

Pick a veggie, any veggie, but less-juicy ones work better. Mince it VERY finely (think of a pencil eraser in 12-15 pieces) and sprinkle it on their pellets, or roll it up in a piece of lettuce and handfeed it. They'll get enough by accident to become accustomed to the taste. Then you can start feeding it in larger pieces, and start mincing a new one.
 

Rayen

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They've tried everything I've given them, they'll even eat them if they're the only vegetable I give them. If given the choice though, they'd always prefer to fill up on leafy vegetables and only leafy vegetables. Is the nutrition in things like carrots/tomatoes/etc. worth basically forcing them to eat them?
 

bpatters

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Yes, it is worth forcing them to eat them. Brightly colored vegetables have many nutritional advantages over plain green ones.
 

Princess_Piggie

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I don't know if you have it in canada, but since you mentioned baby gem, have you tried ruby gem? It's my girls absolute favourite. Green lettuce with red tipped leaves, it looks really nice in a salad too lol
 

Rayen

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Yes, it is worth forcing them to eat them. Brightly colored vegetables have many nutritional advantages over plain green ones.

Haha, they definitely won't be happy to hear the news. I guess I'll start trying different varieties of carrots/tomatoes and see if that helps at all. They're so picky!
 

GeekPrincess

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I tend to give my boys their lettuce in the morning and their peppers/tomatoes/zucchini (that's their mix this week) in the evenings. If I give it all at once they ignore everything but the lettuces.
 

aspecht

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I do the same as GeekPrincess. They get their lettuce at night though.
 

lunarminx

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I give the least liked food in the morning after they have been forced to eat only hay all night long.....
 
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