Baby Greek tortoise-is he eating enough?

[Jimmy Piddles]

Hi, I’m a new tortoise owner, I’ve had him for 3-4 days now, he’s a baby Jordanian Greek tortoise. He’s got excellent lighting, and a nice temperature gradient, but when I feed him he really only eats a few bites and doesn’t touch it anymore. I feed him spring mix, some celery, and a little cucumber. I’ve even held it out in front of him and he took some bite of it, but only a few and then he was done. I just wanted to know, is this normal for babies? If not, how can I fix it?

 

[SinLA]

Its more than you are asking about, but even so, start here especially if you have a baby:

Info For New People. Please Read This First.

Hello and welcome to tortoiseforum.org! We are all glad you are here! There is no other forum like this anywhere. We have tens of thousands of members from all over the world ranging from kids with their first tortoise to people who have been breeding and keeping high end tortoises since the...

tortoiseforum.org

Otherwise just know it takes them a while to get settled in and not be afraid

 

[Sarah2020]

Tortoise take time to settle in as they hate change. They are grazers, they will rarely clear the dish but fresh green leaves and weeds is vital on a tile or plant base dish they can walk on and sit in/on their food is imperative. I tent to provide food AM with a fresh plate of water and clear away around d 16.00 and replenish the water which is available 24 x7 again in a dish they can walk and sit in ot trample through!

 

[Tom]

Hi, I’m a new tortoise owner, I’ve had him for 3-4 days now, he’s a baby Jordanian Greek tortoise. He’s got excellent lighting, and a nice temperature gradient, but when I feed him he really only eats a few bites and doesn’t touch it anymore. I feed him spring mix, some celery, and a little cucumber. I’ve even held it out in front of him and he took some bite of it, but only a few and then he was done. I just wanted to know, is this normal for babies? If not, how can I fix it?

What is "excellent" lighting? Most people get all the wrong info and buy the wrong stuff. Pet stores almost universally sell you the wrong lighting and give terrible care advice.

At the bottom of the thread that SinLA linked is a care sheet for your temperate species. Read through that and make sure that everything is set up correctly. Chances are good that something is not right with your enclosure if you did internet research or talked to a pet store. Post pics of your enclosure and tortoise, and we can help more.

Welcome to the forum and I hope we can help you figure out the issue.

 

[Jimmy Piddles]

Its more than you are asking about, but even so, start here especially if you have a baby:

Info For New People. Please Read This First.

Hello and welcome to tortoiseforum.org! We are all glad you are here! There is no other forum like this anywhere. We have tens of thousands of members from all over the world ranging from kids with their first tortoise to people who have been breeding and keeping high end tortoises since the...

tortoiseforum.org

Otherwise just know it takes them a while to get settled in and not be afraid

Its more than you are asking about, but even so, start here especially if you have a baby:

Info For New People. Please Read This First.

Hello and welcome to tortoiseforum.org! We are all glad you are here! There is no other forum like this anywhere. We have tens of thousands of members from all over the world ranging from kids with their first tortoise to people who have been breeding and keeping high end tortoises since the...

tortoiseforum.org

Otherwise just know it takes them a while to get settled in and not be afraid

After reading this, i

Its more than you are asking about, but even so, start here especially if you have a baby:

Info For New People. Please Read This First.

Hello and welcome to tortoiseforum.org! We are all glad you are here! There is no other forum like this anywhere. We have tens of thousands of members from all over the world ranging from kids with their first tortoise to people who have been breeding and keeping high end tortoises since the...

tortoiseforum.org

Otherwise just know it takes them a while to get settled in and not be afraid

after reading the link, I think I figured

Its more than you are asking about, but even so, start here especially if you have a baby:

Info For New People. Please Read This First.

Hello and welcome to tortoiseforum.org! We are all glad you are here! There is no other forum like this anywhere. We have tens of thousands of members from all over the world ranging from kids with their first tortoise to people who have been breeding and keeping high end tortoises since the...

tortoiseforum.org

Otherwise just know it takes them a while to get settled in and not be afraid

after reading the link, I found that I actually have everything right except for the lighting ironically, I have a mercury vapor bulb. Could too much uvb cause a tortoise to eat less?

 

[Tom]

after reading the link, I found that I actually have everything right except for the lighting ironically, I have a mercury vapor bulb. Could too much uvb cause a tortoise to eat less?

Yes, but that usually isn't the case with mercury vapor bulbs. Their main problem is that they cause pyramiding. Some of them do have excessively high UV levels, which can burn their eyes, and others have zero UV at all.

 

[TammyJ]

The fact is that all you can do for this little one is to carefully provide him with everything that has been recommended by the care sheets as shown here. This provision includes enclosure, substrate, light, temperatures, humidity and diet. Once you check and correct all these things, and they're right, then just maintain these conditions and see how he progresses. If he doesn't have some preexisting issue, he will grow and thrive.