I'm new and need help!!

[GilbertP24]

Hello Tortoise Forum User!

I'm new to the site, and asked a question once but never did an introduction page. I have a wonderful Russian Tortoise named Gilbert. He is the love of my life, but he has been having diarrhea lately! I don't know what to do or what I am feeding him wrong!! Please help me if at all possible!! I don't want him to be sick anymore!!!

 

[Jacqui]

Hi and officially welcome! Have you change what or how much you have been feeding him? What have you been giving him. Some foods do tend to cause more problems then others. Also have you by any chance had his stools checked for parasites?

 

[wellington]

As Jacqui said, If you can give a run down of what you feed him someone might be able to help you better.

 

[cemmons12]

I feed my Russian baby spring mix, and dark leafy greens like collard, turnip, mustard, and kale one in a while, plus she gets mazuri.

 

[Spn785]

www.russiantortoise.net is a good website for plenty of ideas of things to feed your tortoise. If what you're feeding is iceberg lettuce, stop because that isn't good.

 

[GilbertP24]

There are no parasites in his stool. I haven't changed the amount that I give him, so that might be the problem, but I give him a variety of greens.
I give him various types of lettuce, a lot of kale, celery, cilantro, asparagus, radishes, carrots, grape tomatoes, and like a strawberry every 10 days or so. I give him a pile of food that is about the size of him on a rock and bathe him about twice a week for 20 minutes to keep him hydrated. If there is anything I am doing wrong, please let me know and tell me what to do to make corrections. Thank you all!!

 

[Eloise's mommy]

no tomatoes or strawberries....that is probably the issue..more experienced members will chime in soon too.

 

[Spn785]

Tomatoes every few weeks or so is okay, but no strawberries and no celery.

 

[tortoise007]

The main thing that you should be feeding a tortoise is weeds. Think of the tortoise in the wild looking for food, he more than likely will NOT find any radishes, strawberries or celery. He is going to find weeds and grasses. The Mazuri is OK for about 1/4-1/3 of their diet, as much as possible should be weeds. Some kale and collard greens are all right in reasonable portions (1/8-1/4 of the meal). But mainly just weeds (they love dandelion greens) I would not feed fruit at all other than every month or 2.

 

[GilbertP24]

Okay thank you all so much! I'll stop feeding him celery and tomatoes and fruit and focus more on the greens. What other than Mazuri and dandelion greens should I really focus on? Any suggestions??

 

[Spn785]

Russians won't really eat grasses, so clover, hibiscus (leaves and flowers), chicory, peppers are good too. Look at the website I mentioned earlier and they have ALOT of different plants you can feed.

 

[mctlong]

This thread has lots of great choices:

http://www.tortoiseforum.org/thread-5823.html

Planting fresh seed mixes is a good way to get lots of variety, I use this one, but there are tons of options out there:

http://www.carolinapetsupply.com/catalog/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=41&products_id=162

There are also great options at the grocery store. To give you some ideas, these are some of my Russian's favorite grocery greens: Collard greens, bok choy, prickley pear cactus, grape leaves, spring mix, herbal salad mix, turnip greens, dandelion greens.

As Jacqui pointed out previously, parasites can cause diarrhea. Parasites are generally not noticable in stool until they get really bad. You may want to take a stool sample to a vet for analysis (if you haven't already). Looking at the food you've been feeding, I don't see anything that will give your tort diarrhea. If you start noticing blood in the diarrhea or any other signs of illness, you may want to consider taking him to a vet.

 

[pam]

Welcome

 

[tortoise007]

as I said, weeds!!! weeds should be #1