How long can a tortoise go without food?

[heidi250273]

Shelvy has decided not to eat! I have tried everything I can think of, all types of greens and weeds and plants but nothing except those holistic pellets will entice him to eat a thing. I've tried mixing greens in with these pellets but he just picks out the pellets and leaves the rest. He seems to be drinking and going to the toilet ok, he's not particularly sluggish and would still run circuits around his enclosure and climb. I'm worried he's not getting the nutrients he needs. I've also been sprinkling the calci dust on his food to make sure he's at least getting some nutrients. His enclosure temp is 95F at
the hot end and 70F at the cool end with a humidity of 45%. Any advice would be much appreciated, thanks.

 

[becky_tortoise]

Once they have started eating the Pellets it hard to get them to stop

 

[Tom]

What species, size and age?

What size enclosure?

Calcium should only be used twice a week or so, if needed at all. Calcium dust does not offer any nutrients anyway. Some tortoises don't like the taste either.

 

[hannahshiers]

try strawberry - my tortoise cant resist it!

 

[N2TORTS]

Tortoises can go many weeks without eating......
even months ....if you think about the species that hibernate. (although there is a different metabolism rate during this stage)
Tortoise meat is very fatty.........as the old sailors used to use "tortoise oil" for candle making and such .....

 

[heidi250273]

He is a Russian and about 4 years old. He won't eat strawbs at all. We got him as a rescue where he was only fed shop bought rocket. We introduced a varied diet but recently he's refused and greens of any kind.

 

[Tom]

try strawberry - my tortoise cant resist it!

Except that strawberry is not good for most species, and it could make what ever the problem is worse.

The strategy should be to figure out what the problem is and solve it. Enticing the tortoise to eat its favorite sugary tid bits won't solved the original problem.

 

[heidi250273]

Sorry he has a 6ft long enclosure with lots of hides and different types of terrain. When we got him his enclosure was 2x1ft witn nothing but a food dish and bulbs. His weight has more than doubled in 9 months so I don't think he's sickly.

 

[Tom]

He is a Russian and about 4 years old. He won't eat strawbs at all. We got him as a rescue where he was only fed shop bought rocket. We introduced a varied diet but recently he's refused and greens of any kind.

What are you using for lighting?

So he was eating the rocket and other greens, and recently stopped?

You say he's very active? It could be that springtime has him feeling frisky and not so concerned about food. Does he have an outdoor enclosure?

What size is his enclosure?

 

[heidi250273]

He has a UV strip and a heat bulb.
I haven't had him outside as we are in Northern Ireland and the weather isn't that great. He runs about the lounge.

 

[heidi250273]

If I totally stop the pellets and keep giving him greens do you think he'll come around, it just feels like starving him?

 

[Yvonne G]

Hi Heidi:

Make sure that the tortoise is warm enough. The most common cause of not eating is that he's not warm enough. A tortoise must be able to warm up his inner core to at least 85F degrees or he won't eat. If he's cooler than that, the food just sits in his stomach and rots, so they don't eat if they aren't warm enough.

Next. If he's eating the pellets, then go ahead and continue to feed him the pellets. Then chop up a little bit of good greens into very tiny pieces and mix the pellets and greens all together. Every week add a TINY bit more greens and a TINY bit less pellets. It may take a year or so, but you can eventually wean him off the pellets this way.

 

[Hattie's mum]

My Greek is still going and only had her 3 weeks or so. She is on pellets as that was what she was Fed at the shop. I'm trying to introduce greens to her, but she's not so keen. Do you soak your tortoise? When Hattie has a soak, she poos for England and eats straight away after her soak. Maybe try doing that and only having greens down? I'm obviously not an expert, but maybe worth a try?

 

[heidi250273]

Shelvy hasn't eaten for 5 days now, he hasn't moved from a corner of his tank and has burrowed deep down into his substrate. He is breathing as I can see his legs moving. Do you think he is trying to hibernate even though it's summer? Getting really concerned now, a trip to the vet could be next. Any help and advice please?

 

[RainsOn]

Have you separated them? If one is worse than the other, maybe there is bullying going on you don't know about.