Introduction and Question about Russian Tortoise diet

[mpr2101]

Hello! I'm writing to introduce myself and Daphne, a 3 year old Russian tortoise. We live in Chicago, where it's currently warm and sunny. I recently inherited Daphne from a friend of my daughter's. My question is this: as far as I understand, Daphne's former human caretakers fed her a diet mainly consisting of strawberries and kale. Having done some reading, I'm given to understand that this isn't the best diet for her, and I've tried to introduce foods that are supposed to be better for her: Nephrolepis exaltata fern; wheat grass, dandelion greens. Problem is, she doesn't appear to like them -- indeed, with the exception of a few desultory chomps at a dandelion, appears not to identify living plants as food. Instead, she despondently keeps going over to the dish where she used to find her kale and strawberries. ( I placed some ferns and grass in the dish; she took a few bites, and then turned away). What should I do?

Secondary question: we've built a 15'x10' pen in the back yard for her, where she stays during the day. Inside, she has a 2'x4' enclosure, where we bring her at night. Is there a problem moving her from inside to outside enclosures? She appears to enjoy it more in her garden enclosure, but I'm worried about the nighttime temperature drop, as well as raccoons and opossums.

Thank you for any and all advice!

best
MPR

 

[2turtletom]

I'm curious about the fern as a food item- Russian tortoises are from cold desserts where ferns aren't likely to be a food item. To get any tortoise to adapt to new foods, you have to slowly incorporate them into the new diet. Chop up the kale and strawberries, then start adding a small amount of the chopped new food. Increase the percentage over time.

 

[mpr2101]

Thank you! Yes - indeed, strawberries and kale also seem unlikely foods for a desert-based creature, but she does seem to savor them. What else can you recommend that would be nourishing for her? We want to take the best care possible of her (with the admittedly weird restriction that Chicago doesn't fit her usual desert environs). Thanks so much for your input.

 

[2turtletom]

Thank you! Yes - indeed, strawberries and kale also seem unlikely foods for a desert-based creature, but she does seem to savor them. What else can you recommend that would be nourishing for her? We want to take the best care possible of her (with the admittedly weird restriction that Chicago doesn't fit her usual desert environs). Thanks so much for your input.

Take a look at the diet section of the Russian care sheet.

https://tortoiseforum.org/threads/russian-tortoise-care-sheet.80698/

Kale isn't bad; you just need more green weeds. Think spring mix. Endive, Chicory, Radichio, Escarole, Dandelion greens, common plantain from a pesticide free lawn. Hopefully someone with more arussian experiments than I can provide more help and guidance!

 

[Yvonne G]

Welcome!

 

[RosemaryDW]

Welcome!

For sure she isn’t going to eat grass; Russians aren’t grass eaters; they eat plants with true leaves (basically anything that is not grass). There aren’t many healthy ferns so skip those as well.

Chicago is such a large city, you are bound to also have some good ethnic markets around if you’d like to eventually shake up the variety once you get the basic diet cleaned up. Do you have any that are Asian? Korean markets seem to be the best for tortoise variety but you can check into whatever you have.

If you’ve got a Latino market, you’ll find cactus pads, which are a great food.

Looking forward to seeing you more in the Russian specific thread.