New Russian Tort not eating

[Delilah1623]

I haven't in the last week or so. I was trying to do as little as possible to stress him out to see if he'd eat. I will try soaking him tomorrow and see what happens!

 

[Earth Mama]

He probably needs a nice warm soaking by now. Good luck

 

[Delilah1623]

Thank you (=

 

[Earth Mama]

I forgot to mention. Offer him food after his soak. Sometimes the soaking will stimulate them to eat. At least mine always like it that way.

 

[Delilah1623]

Thank you for that! I took your advice and gave him a nice warm soak this morning. He took a huge poop. After I took him out he attacked his food like a little beast (= I am so happy!!!

 

[Earth Mama]

YAY!!

 

[CindyWho4]

I just wanted to pop in and thank you for this thread. I just adopted a Russian tortoise that had to be labeled "no guarantee" due to anorexia (literally it says "anorexia" on his vet paper ) because they couldn't get him to eat much at the pet store. He never lost weight and he's a good weight, but I'm not getting him to eat at all so far! I've only had him a few days, and he's very active and has no parasites (again, multiple vet visits) or anything, but he makes me so nervous. Anyway, your post was very encouraging and helpful!

 

[Delilah1623]

I hope he feels better soon. Poor little guy )=

Have you tried lots of different foods? The only thing mine ate for the first 2 weeks was a bit of strawberry and melon. What finally got him eating well was iceberg lettuce mixed with canned pumpkin. I slowly reduced the pumpkin and added more healthy greens. Now I do about a 50/50 mix of iceberg lettuce and healthy greens. I plan on reducing the iceberg lettuce slowly until he is eating just the good stuff. He still goes for the iceberg first but it starring to eat other things and has put some weight back on.

Also giving him nice warm soaks helped. Even when he wasn't eating he did still drink. I am new at this but I believe you can put carrot baby food or bird vitamins in the water to try and get some nutrition into him.

I wish you and your new baby the best. Keep me posted on how he is doing. It was 3 weeks before my guy really started eating so I know how you are feeling all too well.

 

[CindyWho4]

I hope he feels better soon. Poor little guy )=

Have you tried lots of different foods? The only thing mine ate for the first 2 weeks was a bit of strawberry and melon. What finally got him eating well was iceberg lettuce mixed with canned pumpkin. I slowly reduced the pumpkin and added more healthy greens. Now I do about a 50/50 mix of iceberg lettuce and healthy greens. I plan on reducing the iceberg lettuce slowly until he is eating just the good stuff. He still goes for the iceberg first but it starring to eat other things and has put some weight back on.

Also giving him nice warm soaks helped. Even when he wasn't eating he did still drink. I am new at this but I believe you can put carrot baby food or bird vitamins in the water to try and get some nutrition into him.

I wish you and your new baby the best. Keep me posted on how he is doing. It was 3 weeks before my guy really started eating so I know how you are feeling all too well.

Shoot I posted too soon, sorry if you saw that haha.

Thank you for your well wishes. I haven't pushed him too hard yet. Today is day 4 and I managed to get him to nibble a little spring mix. I am going to pick up some pumpkin and squash today. I've been soaking him every day for 30 minutes.

 

[CindyWho4]

The vet had told me that, since my RT hadn't lost weight, she thought he may be eating at night. He was in with another tort so it was hard to tell. Last night, I decided to leave some greens for him. All healthy stuff, I figured I'd see what happens. This morning it was all gone. Maybe he's not anorexic, just a private eater haha. We can deal with that!

 

[Delilah1623]

Yay!! Sounds like he is settling in!

 

[CindyWho4]

Yeah! I noticed there are little beak marks and green slobber stains on his cuttle bone, too. I guess I'll just plan on him being a night eater.