Decreased Appetite of 5 yr old Russian Tort

[Moonfleur54]

Ok, now I'm really getting worried! My 5 yo Russian named Miss Piggy is not living up to her name in the past 6 weeks. I live in South Central Ohio. Her eating habits have slowed down tremendously. Of course she favors soaked Flukers pellets (won't eat Mazuri) over greens and occasional fruit, she is only eating 1/4 the amount she normally did after coming out of brumation in December 2021. I usually give her about a half cup of mixed Romaine, Arugala, shredded carrots and/or apple with about 5-8 Pellets. Recently she's been eating 3-4 pellets and a few bits of apple and her Romaine if it gets in the way.....then walks away. She has a great outdoor enclosure (approx 4x9 feet) with places to burrow and climb, plenty of sun and shade too. She only goes outside if temps are 75 or above. Her indoor enclosure is 4x4 feet open table 65 watt flood light for basking (95) room temp around 74, gets warm soaks every other day. A few weeks ago her stools were the consistency of applesause and bright green. They've since returned to formed stools greenish brown, but not as large as usual considering eating less. She weighs 1.9 pounds and hasn't lost any significant weight since this all started. Is it time to visit the vet? Or is this normal female reproductive preparedness?
BTW, she's active, roams around her outdoor enclosure then goes into her hide in late afternoon or if hot. There's also plenty of edible plants growing there but I don't see her eating any of them. Seems to snooze more in her indoor enclosure.

 

[wellington]

First stop feeding fruit it messes up their gut flora.
She should be in a minimum enclosure of a 4x8 foot inside and out, better if at least outside was bigger. She also should be outside all day during the warm months. Russians can handle temps into the low 60's. She needs much more room to be able to move and keep things inside her moving and healthy. Sleeping inside is because she is in too small of an enclosure and wants to be outside.
Also do you have a uvb bulb for all those times you dont let her outside?

 

[Tom]

I agree with Wellington.

Fruit should never be fed to them. A small amount of shredded carrot mix ind once or twice a month is okay. Romaine by itself isn't a great food.

The Flukers food is frowned upon in general, though I don't have first hand experience with it.

The diet should be mostly broadleaf weeds, flowers and leaves. If you must use grocery store foods, you need to use the right ones and add amendments. Please read this care sheet for diet and housing info, and questions are welcome:

The Best Way To Raise Any Temperate Species Of Tortoise

I chose the title of this care sheet very carefully. Are there other ways to raise babies and care for adults? Yes. Yes there are, but those ways are not as good. What follows is the BEST way, according to 30 years of research and experimentation with hundreds of babies of many species. What is...

tortoiseforum.org

 

[Moonfleur54]

First stop feeding fruit it messes up their gut flora.
She should be in a minimum enclosure of a 4x8 foot inside and out, better if at least outside was bigger. She also should be outside all day during the warm months. Russians can handle temps into the low 60's. She needs much more room to be able to move and keep things inside her moving and healthy. Sleeping inside is because she is in too small of an enclosure and wants to be outside.
Also do you have a uvb bulb for all those times you dont let her outside?

UV bulb, Absolutely! Thanks and will do what I can.

 

[Moonfleur54]

I agree with Wellington.

Fruit should never be fed to them. A small amount of shredded carrot mix ind once or twice a month is okay. Romaine by itself isn't a great food.

The Flukers food is frowned upon in general, though I don't have first hand experience with it.

The diet should be mostly broadleaf weeds, flowers and leaves. If you must use grocery store foods, you need to use the right ones and add amendments. Please read this care sheet for diet and housing info, and questions are welcome:

The Best Way To Raise Any Temperate Species Of Tortoise

I chose the title of this care sheet very carefully. Are there other ways to raise babies and care for adults? Yes. Yes there are, but those ways are not as good. What follows is the BEST way, according to 30 years of research and experimentation with hundreds of babies of many species. What is...

tortoiseforum.org

Thanks Tom, will adjust her diet and refer back to care sheet!

 

[Tom]

Thanks Tom, will adjust her diet and refer back to care sheet!

There are four elements to heating and lighting:

1. Basking bulb. I use 65 watt incandescent floods from the hardware store. Some people will need bigger, or smaller wattage bulbs. Let your thermometer be your guide. I run them on a timer for about 12 hours and adjust the height to get the correct basking temp under them. I also like to use a flat rock of some sort directly under the bulb. You need to check the temp with a thermometer directly under the bulb and get it to around 95-100F (36-37C).
2. Ambient heat maintenance. I use ceramic heating elements or radiant heat panels set on thermostats to maintain ambient above 80 degrees day and night for tropical species. In most cases you'd only need day heat for a temperate species like Testudo or DT, as long as your house stays above 60F (15-16C) at night. Some people in colder climates or with larger enclosures will need multiple CHEs or RHPs to spread out enough heat.
3. Ambient light. I use LEDs for this purpose. Something in the 5000-6500K color range will look the best. Most bulbs at the store are in the 2500K range and they look yellowish. Strip or screw-in LED bulb types are both fine.
4. UV. If you can get your tortoise outside for an hour 2 or 3 times a week, you won't need indoor UV. In colder climates, get one of the newer HO type fluorescent tubes. Which type will depend on mounting height. 5.0 bulbs make almost no UV. I like the 12% HO bulbs from Arcadia. You need a meter to check this: https://www.solarmeter.com/model65.html A good UV bulb only needs to run for 2-3 hours mid day. You need the basking bulb and the ambient lighting to be on at least 12 hours a day.

 

[Moonfleur54]

First stop feeding fruit it messes up their gut flora.
She should be in a minimum enclosure of a 4x8 foot inside and out, better if at least outside was bigger. She also should be outside all day during the warm months. Russians can handle temps into the low 60's. She needs much more room to be able to move and keep things inside her moving and healthy. Sleeping inside is because she is in too small of an enclosure and wants to be outside.
Also do you have a uvb bulb for all those times you dont let her outside?

Thanks for the response. My Russian has a heavy load of coccidia per vet check. Started Albon 3 days ago. I just posted a thread to better understand how she might have contracted this protozoa. Her enclosures are clean.

 

[Moonfleur54]

Ok, now I'm really getting worried! My 5 yo Russian named Miss Piggy is not living up to her name in the past 6 weeks. I live in South Central Ohio. Her eating habits have slowed down tremendously. Of course she favors soaked Flukers pellets (won't eat Mazuri) over greens and occasional fruit, she is only eating 1/4 the amount she normally did after coming out of brumation in December 2021. I usually give her about a half cup of mixed Romaine, Arugala, shredded carrots and/or apple with about 5-8 Pellets. Recently she's been eating 3-4 pellets and a few bits of apple and her Romaine if it gets in the way.....then walks away. She has a great outdoor enclosure (approx 4x9 feet) with places to burrow and climb, plenty of sun and shade too. She only goes outside if temps are 75 or above. Her indoor enclosure is 4x4 feet open table 65 watt flood light for basking (95) room temp around 74, gets warm soaks every other day. A few weeks ago her stools were the consistency of applesause and bright green. They've since returned to formed stools greenish brown, but not as large as usual considering eating less. She weighs 1.9 pounds and hasn't lost any significant weight since this all started. Is it time to visit the vet? Or is this normal female reproductive preparedness?
BTW, she's active, roams around her outdoor enclosure then goes into her hide in late afternoon or if hot. There's also plenty of edible plants growing there but I don't see her eating any of them. Seems to snooze more in her indoor enclosure.

UPDATE: Miss Piggy was misdiagnosed and treated for coccidia which almost killed her. Took her to a different vet and she found pin worm, which was successfully treated in 3 days! MPig is now back to herself, eating, active and alert.