Russian tortoise eating dirt

[oceanmaster234]

Hi! My russian tortoise Herman was just reintroduced to his outdoor home after his "indoor winter time". He's now roaming about, but I saw something peculiar. I offered him some lettuce and weeds, and he ignored it. Not too unusual, but I later saw him trying to bite at the wet ground in his enclosure. I found out that he is trying to eat some mulch. I have offered him lots of food, and his enclosure is packed full of natural plants and weeds, but he still insists on eating dirt and mulch. The only advice I have found while looking through this forum is either give him more water or more food. He has a water dish that he knows about, as he walked right through it a few minutes before all this.

 

[Yvonne G]

Sometimes when a tortoise eats rocks or dirt it's because he's lacking some basic minerals in his diet. Buy a product called "Miner-all" mfg'd by Sticky Tongue Farms. If the pet store doesn't sell it, you can buy it online. Just sprinkle a tiny pinch over his food occasionally.

 

[Tom]

Hi! My russian tortoise Herman was just reintroduced to his outdoor home after his "indoor winter time". He's now roaming about, but I saw something peculiar. I offered him some lettuce and weeds, and he ignored it. Not too unusual, but I later saw him trying to bite at the wet ground in his enclosure. I found out that he is trying to eat some mulch. I have offered him lots of food, and his enclosure is packed full of natural plants and weeds, but he still insists on eating dirt and mulch. The only advice I have found while looking through this forum is either give him more water or more food. He has a water dish that he knows about, as he walked right through it a few minutes before all this.

Do you feed him mostly grocery store greens? If yes, this is common.

I agree with Yvonne's solution. I recommend this every other day for a couple of weeks, then taper it off a bit. This is not the same as using calcium powder. Calcium supplementation will likely make it worse.

 

[Shuler24]

Yep agree about the Miner-all Sheldon did this last year when we put him outside, so we started to dust his food with it and it helped. He will still do it once and a while, but not all the time. We just try to sprinkle it on once or twice a week depending on what we observe.