Our Russian Tortoise won't eat

[cheerios586]

My Russian baby stopped eating I bought a black ceramic light for night time after someone on the forum recommended it. He’s now active , eating and has nearly doubled his weight.

I also was worried about night time temperatures during the night when all the lights are out, so the black ceramic light (which provides no light just heat) has been great. It was recommended to me on here and after placing it in her enclosure, I'm finding that she will sit under it sometimes in early morning if she gets up before me, I'll find her there before I turn on lights. Is a great thing to have in my opinion.

 

[AyrWendy]

I got a black ceramic light and use it every night. I think it is helping because before she felt cold in the morning before. We have also changed the substrate to coco coir and she seems to be loving this and will burrow in. Her light is now an all in one uvb, uva and heat lamp 125 watt for daytime. She is active and enquisitive but doesn't appear to be eating. She is only small so I don't know if she is eating a little at night when no one is watching. Her lack of food is the only thing still worrying me. Any suggestions.

 

[cheerios586]

Hi,

I'm pretty new to this and I know my tort is very picky when it comes to life. lol Getting her to eat was difficult when we first got her, I think she was use to eating whatever the pet store gave her and they didn't seem to know much about her and couldn't answer many questions I had at time of purchase. This forum has been GREAT in providing suggestions and information on proper care. Yoshi gets bored with her food and I'm always having to change it up with lots of variety. I only feed her during the day and take her dish out at night, this way I can tell if she's eating, for me it's easier to monitor. I feed her on a flat plate, but I currently do not have any plants in her enclosure, so she either eats what I offer or doesn't eat. Not sure if this helps you any or not, I hope so. Good luck!

 

[AyrWendy]

Thanks for this. I hadn't thought about taking her food dish away at night for better monitoring so will definitely try this. She doesn't have any plants in her enclosure either so the food dish will be her only option. Fingers crossed.