Russian eating less.

[Niki]

I am wondering if my RT "Greta" is ok. I live in Az where our temp was around 105 yesterday. She did eat her breakfast, but the past few days she doesn't eat her later meal. I usually feed her 2x a day. I notice when I go pick up her plate in the evening it hasn't been touched. She is in her burrow. Is it because of the heat? I did soak her yesterday and she seemed fine... Just dying to get back in that burrow.

 

[Babushkin]

I was told to feed my Russian Tortoise once a day, and sometimes skip a day every now and then. Lately, she hasn't been eating kale, like she usually does. I find that quite odd. She also isn't wicked active like she's been the past few years. When I take a cheese grader to some carrots, she will eat that, but she wouldn't eat the whole thing. I sort of have a similar problem to you, if you are saying that your tortoise is anorexic. I will follow this thread.

 

[Tom]

In the wild, during the summer, they aestivate. Yours is basically doing the same thing.

 

[lynnedit]

Yes, it is the heat. She wants to stay cool, eat less. Good idea to keep her hydrated with the occasional soak, but otherwise at this point, letting her burrow is the correct thing to do.

 

[GeoTerraTestudo]

Russians may bask at about 95-100*F, but that's only for a few minutes at a time. After basking, they go about their activities (feeding, mating), but only if the ambient temperature is about in the 70s or 80s. So, in the spring and autumn, they will only be active during midday, when it's warmest. However, in the summer, they're only active in the morning and evening - before and after the heat of the day. If the weather is consistently too hot (above 100*F) for days to weeks at a time, they will stay in their burrow and go into aestivation, which is a state of torpor to survive the heat (somewhat like hibernation/brumation is a state of dormancy to survive the cold).

 

[tortoisestew]

I've noticed my sulcata doing the same thing. He used graze all day non-stop. Since the heat jumped up to 90-95 here in texas his appetite has dropped. He even passed up an apple yesterday.

 

[JoesMum]

You may want to change your feeding schedule. A very early feed and a late feed (when it's starting to get dark and cooling down) will probably work better.

 

[Yvonne G]

Hi Niki:

Does your tortoise have access to grazing? If so, then I see no need to feed it at all, let alone twice in one day. Yesterday it was 103F degrees here. My Russians were all out at about 6am warming up next to the fence, then they roamed the pen grazing, then they disappeared into their shelters or underground and I didn't see them again all day long. This is perfectly normal behavior for a tortoise.

Is your tortoise an adult? If so, then I see no reason to feed it twice a day.

Is your tortoise a baby? If so, I probably wouldn't leave it outside in 105F degree weather, and I still wouldn't feed twice a day.

 

[Niki]

Her enclosure is all edible plants... It's funny because I grew the RT graze mix from Carolina pet supply and she doesn't seem interested in it. But there is grape vine, hibiscus and quite a few others in there. It's good to know I will only feed her once and let her eat what's in her enclosure. She is an adult, I was told 5 yrs old but someone said she looks older. Maybe you can tell from pic? Thanks for all the help!

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I was told to feed my Russian Tortoise once a day, and sometimes skip a day every now and then. Lately, she hasn't been eating kale, like she usually does. I find that quite odd. She also isn't wicked active like she's been the past few years. When I take a cheese grader to some carrots, she will eat that, but she wouldn't eat the whole thing. I sort of have a similar problem to you, if you are saying that your tortoise is anorexic. I will follow this thread.

She usually eats a ton! But I think the heat is definitely slowing her down. I probably was feeding her too much. Now I know once a day!

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[Yvonne G]

Yes, I think she's 8 or 9 years old. Probably won't grow much more, maybe just a little, and it'll be slow growth from now on. She's an adult.

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I was told to feed my Russian Tortoise once a day, and sometimes skip a day every now and then. Lately, she hasn't been eating kale, like she usually does. I find that quite odd. She also isn't wicked active like she's been the past few years. When I take a cheese grader to some carrots, she will eat that, but she wouldn't eat the whole thing. I sort of have a similar problem to you, if you are saying that your tortoise is anorexic. I will follow this thread.

Hi Babushkin:

Won't you take a few moments to start a new thread in the "introductions" section and tell us a bit about yourself?

 

[wpeltola]

Hi Niki! Along with what everybody else has said, from what I have read, the general rule of thumb is to feed a RT at least a cup of food daily. If they're able to graze on natural food, then you're even more set As others have said, those high temps are just too too much for the little guys and they're doing what they would in the wild, taking cover from the head.

If anything, I would put breakfast out at around 6:00am (a full cup of greens) and just call it good. As long as they're healthy, they won't starve themselves. Good luck!

 

[Talka]

On the days I go to work early I put 1 cup of greens + 1/2 cup of water (I feed him on a shallow ceramic plate) to keep the greens from wilting. Around 11 or noon he gets up and eats if he sees green on his plate. Just once a day, some days if he doesn't move out of his burrow I don't put food out. Twice a day is overdoing it.