Russian Tortoise Grocery Diet and Bedding

[Cam]

Hello everyone. I am new here. We are in Minnesota where it is a balmy 50*F today, so if we bring home a tortoise we are entering the snow season and there would be no weeds etc to fedd the little guy.

We are researching Russian Tortoises as we would like to bring one into our home.
If you could direct me to the best resource for what exactly they can and cannot eat and what they can and cannot live on I would be very appreciative!

We have found several contadictory lists.
thus far this is what we have compiled...

FEED=
carrot tops
escarole
shredded carrots
kale

FEED SPARINGLY=
mustard greens
collard greens
turnip greens
cucumber
romaine lettuce
pumpkin (not sure if this is to be cooked?)

NEVER FEED
spinach
cabbage
broccoli
cauliflower
brussel sprouts
peas
green beans
collard, turnip and mustard greens (these were also in above list?)

We currently have a Rankin Beardie, a fat tailed gecko and have had a corn snake in the past as well. (we also have 3 human boys)All of our guys are kept on paper towels per the vet recommendation to prevent impaction and mites etc.

THANK YOU everyone!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Bansh88]

You can try to follow lists to a tee, but your tortoise will have a say in it as well. Half that stuff I've tried feeding but my guys wont eat.
Some things from the "never eat" list I have fed my guys as well.
Just avoid the poisonous lists. With your guy being inside for the winter, mix up his diet and see what he likes.
There is no perfect care sheet and every animal is different. Do what you can and take what you want from lists you see.

 

[Cam]

You can try to follow lists to a tee, but your tortoise will have a say in it as well. Half that stuff I've tried feeding but my guys wont eat.
Some things from the "never eat" list I have fed my guys as well.
Just avoid the poisonous lists. With your guy being inside for the winter, mix up his diet and see what he likes.
There is no perfect care sheet and every animal is different. Do what you can and take what you want from lists you see.

Sounds like my human kids

I forgot to ask how high the sides of the enclosure need to be for an adult russian?

 

[Bansh88]

Once again, use what you got but it should be at LEAST 6" high. If they can get a claw up on the top, it's too short. The more they have to keep their attention in the enclosure, the less they're interested in the walls.

 

[JustAnja]

Sides should be twice the length of the tortoise, or even higher if you allow for a deep substrate. (tortoises on paper towels doesnt work too well) A mixture of either top soil and play sand mixed 50/50 or you can buy coco bedding (bedabeast bricks) and mix it in the play sand 50/50.

I feed mine an organic Spring Mix I order from my produce guy at the local grocery store, mixed with oxbow brand timothy hay. (the hay I cut up in pieces less than an inch long and mix it in with the greens in the Spring Mix so they get plenty of fiber, they just wont eat it on its own) I use TNT supplement a few times a week which can be bought at www.carolinapetsupply.com. You can get a salad hay mix from there as well. Occasionally they get squash and zucchini mixed in. Pumpkin can be given sparingly, uncooked. Just clean out the guts and seeds.

 

[Cam]

Thank you both so much!

I have a couple books...since I basically learned to ignore whatever the pet store says...but I have also learned that asking those with first hand experience will be more helpful than a car load of books anyday!

We have found them to be interesting, fun little creatures...and we want to give him/her the best we can...

I have yet to research egg binding, parasite control and have to check if the local torts are WC or CB...but we are off to a good start thanks to you guys

 

[Jacqui]

A great ,I think, for Russian care is the site of:

http://www.russiantortoise.org

Russians enjoy trying to be escape artists...and are very good ones, so go with what Anja recommended for the sides.

Wow somebody new to torts that even thinks about egg binding!!

The nice thing about the pumpkin is the added side benefit of it being a natural wormer. Don't take that as it's a subsitute for chemical dewormers or having your vet do a fecal. More it's just kinda nice knowing that it is like a low power natural preventative food source. Plus around here it's free. All I have to do is have my kids hand over the pieces they cut out of their pumpkins when making them into jack-o-lanterns instead of taking them down to the chickens. :shy: Ummm okay, so I use the pieces from mine too.

I think I can safely say, your going to love whatever Russian you get. They are sweet.

 

[Cam]

Thank you Jacqui,,,I had just found the site you suggested...now I will go back and read it less skeptically

Good to know about the pumpkin, I wonder if that works for all creatures? I know the vet recommends it for dogs as a standard "supplement" for their digeston.

Our corn snake was a good little escape artist too, it only took one massive panick attack and 3 crying kids to make sure he was nearly hermetically sealed from then on

We are looking forward to bringing a little RT home...they seem so personable and I am looking forward to not having to deal with bugs or rodents as feed

 

[JustAnja]

Pumpkin does not kill any intestinal worms, but it paralyzes them and they let loose of the intestine wall and are then passed on out in the stool. Very interesting I must say.

 

[Cam]

Pumpkin does not kill any intestinal worms, but it paralyzes them and they let loose of the intestine wall and are then passed on out in the stool. Very interesting I must say.

So would it have any effect on any eggs, or just the adult stage buggers?

 

[Jacqui]

Your still going to need a fecal and use the Vet's worming stuff if the load is bad. If that's the case, then you need to be extra careful with cleaning the substrate (even using papertowels instead of the normal substrate during this time) because the eggs can be reintroduced from the bedding.

The pumpkin won't harm the eggs either. It just makes the worms leave the turtle host, which usually ends up with the worms dead just not immediately. Once more not all the worms will be effected, but every bit is an added bonus. I think of it the same way I do my atleast once a month drink of cranberry juice. It won't maybe keep me from having kidney stones again, but it does help lower the chances.

Even with a "clean" fecal, normally you still have worms. They just aren't in big enough amounts or not in a stage where they will show up on the tests always. Having worms is normal for the torts tho. It's just that when stressed, fed the wrong diets and then also keeping them in tight quarters where they end up in their own wastes often increases the level to where it causes damage.

I agree Anja it is very interesting. Life is just so full of unexpected twists and turns and magical moments. Many of the plants that we feed to our animals have side advantages, some good and some bad. I knew a young man years back, who was working with herbal type of treatment on his turtles and torts. He had great success with it.

 

[T-P]

Thats a good diet, but a russian also needs weeds and flowers and plants.
not just grocery diet.

 

[JustAnja]

No one said anything anywhere about feeding a straight grocery store diet.

 

[Cam]

No one said anything anywhere about feeding a straight grocery store diet.

I noticed that too...I get the impression that is not the suggestion/nor what most folks do for their tortoises...

But for those of us in the colder climates and heavy pesticide areas, we will need to improvise and or grow our own I guess...

 

[JustAnja]

No one said anything anywhere about feeding a straight grocery store diet.

I noticed that too...I get the impression that is not the suggestion/nor what most folks do for their tortoises...

But for those of us in the colder climates and heavy pesticide areas, we will need to improvise and or grow our own I guess...

Yup, as I stated in another thread I just started a ton of seeds yesterday. I picked up quite a few seeds from the folks at Carolina Pet Supply. They even have a Russian Tortoise seed mix that I will probably order on my next round.

Oh and I plucked the petals from my last roses of the season here just a few minutes ago and tossed them in with the grasses and clover I planted outside a few weeks ago that I sat out and harvested by hand with scissors yesterday. lol I merely stated what my torts eat as a staple during the winter months, and they receive plenty of weeds and flowers whenever possible as well.

 

[Jacqui]

It would be nice (and yes, lots cheaper) to live in a location where you can get fresh weeds all year long. Here there are times when all the weeds are covered with snow let alone them being dead and gone.

I think almost all of us have to feed some store boughts to our animals at some point and time. It's like it's much better to have them outside, but there are times of the year when that just is not possible.

You just have to try to make the most of what you have and work around the natural weather to get the best things to your animals. It's like a steady diet of romaine lettuce is bad, but giving some sometimes is workable. The key is also variety.

In their natural wild environment they have seasonal food sources too. Think if they come upon a source of fruit they think to themselves, "Hmmmm I can only have fruit for 20% of my diet. Guess I will eat three bites and move on."? No they will sit and feast upon the fruit moving on when the food source is gone. Just as they will go without food at times, not because they want to, but because food isn't always found. Nature is not always nice and understanding. Torts adapt and make the most of the moment. We do damage when we keep them on the same food day in and day out, especially when it's a poor food source.

 

[JustAnja]

It would be nice (and yes, lots cheaper) to live in a location where you can get fresh weeds all year long. Here there are times when all the weeds are covered with snow let alone them being dead and gone.

I think almost all of us have to feed some store boughts to our animals at some point and time. It's like it's much better to have them outside, but there are times of the year when that just is not possible.

You just have to try to make the most of what you have and work around the natural weather to get the best things to your animals. It's like a steady diet of romaine lettuce is bad, but giving some sometimes is workable. The key is also variety.

In their natural wild environment they have seasonal food sources too. Think if they come upon a source of fruit they think to themselves, "Hmmmm I can only have fruit for 20% of my diet. Guess I will eat three bites and move on."? No they will sit and feast upon the fruit moving on when the food source is gone. Just as they will go without food at times, not because they want to, but because food isn't always found. Nature is not always nice and understanding. Torts adapt and make the most of the moment. We do damage when we keep them on the same food day in and day out, especially when it's a poor food source.

Very well said, thanks!

 

[T-P]

i never said anyone did say a straight grocery diet.
i was just stating that they cant just have grocery.

 

[taobear]

Just a hint I picked up...most whole food stores will simply give you the 'scraps' they remove so that the produce looks 'pretty' when displayed. We have found that there is usually a much better selection of greens at the whole food stores, the greens are organic [still wash though] and free.

As far as weeds go, we live in metro Denver so I'm not sure what to do about weeds in the winter either.

Taobear

 

[Jacqui]

Some of the weeds will still be green during the winter...like plaintain for example. It's just very limited and often hard to find. Some people bring in and dry or feeze some weeds now for winter feeding.

The thing about some of those scraps is they are often better for the animals. The outter leaves are normally darker in color, which is normally an indicator of having more food value. The torts don't care how those leaves and things look, just that they are food.

If you have the ability to grow plants in the house, I would try that.