How long to live foodless

[Nikolai13]

My russian tortoise hasnt eaten in about 4 days, i keep trying to feed him carrots, tonight im trying romain, ive looked this up on the forum before, but all i got was how long people would let their tortoises not eat, not how long they could survive, so how long can a russian tortoise go without food, also how could i get him to eat, thank you bye...

 

[Yvonne G]

Tortoises can go for months before actually starving to death. But the longer you allow him to go without eating, the more your chance of him becoming anorexic. Once that happens, he won't eat.

If you can't get him to eat on his own after a week, I would say veterinary intervention might be in order. But don't allow the vet to administer a vitamin A,D,E injection. The vitamin A, when overdosed, causes the tortoise's skin to slough off.

Try offering the tortoise something that we don't recommend feeding - iceberg lettuce. If you can get him to eat that, then you can start adding the more nutritious foods to it over time.

One of the main reasons for a tortoise not to eat is that he isn't warm enough. They must be able to get their body temp up past 80F degrees in order to digest their food. If they're not hot enough, they won't eat.

 

[Laura]

try something with color.. dandelion flower, yellow squash, grated carrot..

Do a baby food soak.. warm...
do you have sunshine? outdoor pen?

 

[Nikolai13]

Tortoises can go for months before actually starving to death. But the longer you allow him to go without eating, the more your chance of him becoming anorexic. Once that happens, he won't eat.

If you can't get him to eat on his own after a week, I would say veterinary intervention might be in order. But don't allow the vet to administer a vitamin A,D,E injection. The vitamin A, when overdosed, causes the tortoise's skin to slough off.

Try offering the tortoise something that we don't recommend feeding - iceberg lettuce. If you can get him to eat that, then you can start adding the more nutritious foods to it over time.

One of the main reasons for a tortoise not to eat is that he isn't warm enough. They must be able to get their body temp up past 80F degrees in order to digest their food. If they're not hot enough, they won't eat.

Thank you very much im gonna try that, ill se if it works, thank you

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try something with color.. dandelion flower, yellow squash, grated carrot..

Do a baby food soak.. warm...
do you have sunshine? outdoor pen?

What might a baby food soak be???

 

[sissyofone]

When you soak your tort add some babyfood to the soak water. A couple spoons of carrots works well. Good luck The tort will at least absorb some nutrition from the babyfood. It will help untill he/she is eating better. Just keep offering a variety of food.

 

[Tom]

Has the question been asked: "WHY is the tortoise not eating?" Rather than try and find out how long they can go without food, shouldn't we be trying to determine WHY its not eating in the first place?

What are your temps? Has your tortoise been checked for worms? How is it housed? UV?

 

[TortoiseDude8]

Hi My russian tortoise didn't eat until he got use to his habitat. Hope this helps


From TortoiseDude8

 

[ascott]

Where do you keep your tortoise at ?

 

[Nikolai13]

Has the question been asked: "WHY is the tortoise not eating?" Rather than try and find out how long they can go without food, shouldn't we be trying to determine WHY its not eating in the first place?

What are your temps? Has your tortoise been checked for worms? How is it housed? UV?

His temp is about 78 degrees on the cool side and about 95 on the hot, next week wer going to the vet to check for worms, this is his enclosure, if you cant see it the top is well ventalated and i clean the glass regularly, and he has the proper UV

 

[Tom]

Do you let him cool down in the dark at night?

What exactly are you using for UV?

Does he ever go outside for grazing and sunshine?

Can't see much of the enclosure from the pic. Is that one of those ramped water bowls from the pet store in the middle?

How long have you had him and where did you get him?

 

[Nikolai13]

GOOD NEWS!!! I gave him the freshest romain and carrots, and now es eating again, thank you to everybody that helped!!!