Russian tortoise won't eat anything but T-rex Dry Formula

[shimi]

Hello,

I have two 9 month old Russian tortoises, they are kept indoor in a 2' x 3' feet enclosure (Zoo Med Tortoise House), I have provided 100W UVB light (Zoo Med PowerSun UV), turtle bone, water and real mini cactus providing shade the enclosure is in front of a window which has direct sun light, once a week I take them outside on the grass for about an hour, my question problem they won’t eat anything but T-rex Tortoise Dry Formula and iceberg lettuce which I read it has no nutritional value.

I have tried Zoo Med Natural Grassland Tortoise food even though on the label it says Russian tortoise they won’t even go near this product, I thought it could be a bad one so I returned and got another one same result, tried Zilla Fortified Food Land Turtle and Tortoise and Zilla Reptile Munchies Fruit Mix food same result they won’t eat.
Have tried romaine lettuce, red leaf lettuce, endive, cabbage, cucumber, tomato, apple, banana and maybe few other they won’t eat anything except T-rex Dry formula and iceberg lettuce any ideas, suggestions?

 

[Yvonne G]

Hi Shimi, and welcome to the Forum!!

I hope you take my criticism in a helpful vein, and don't get upset. The Zoo Med Tortoise House is not big enough for ONE Russian tortoise, let alone two of them. In my opinion, your tortoises might be more interested in eating good foods if they had more space to exercise.

Unless a tortoise is sick, he won't starve himself to death. So you just have to stop offering the foods you've mentioned and only offer dark, leafy greens and weeds from the garden. After all, a captive, "incarcerated" tortoise can only eat the food offered. If you don't offer it, he can't eat it.

There is nothing wrong with the manufactured diets you mentioned, but they are meant to be included with a more natural diet, not fed exclusively.

 

[GeoTerraTestudo]

Agreed. More space and room to roam will do a world of good. Also, a good way to get a tortoise to transition from one type of food to another is to gradually change the food being offered. You can offer something similar to the food the tortoise already likes. You can also mix a little bit of the new food with a lot of the old food, and slowly work your way to phasing out the old food altogether. Don't worry, your tortoise will still like the old food, but now he will feel comfortable with the new one, too. Baby steps.

BTW - That's also how you train cats to switch kitty litter types!

 

[Talka]

More space and some tough love. Give them only what is good for them and they'll eventually eat it.

 

[Tom]

Finely chop up some endive or escarole. I mean really fine, like minced. Mix a small amount in with the food they eat. Mix it well so there is no way around it. DO this for several days until they are eating it as if it were plain. Then gradually begin to introduce more and more of the endive until they are eating it by itself. Repeat with everything else you want them to eat.

If they don't eat the food with the tiny bit of endive mixed in, don't worry. Just make up a new batch every day and keep offering the same thing for several days, until they get hungry enough to eat it. They can go weeks with no food at all, so don't give in.

Sometimes warm water soaks will stimulate appetite too. Worth a try and it won't hurt anything.

 

[GeoTerraTestudo]

Baby captive-bred tortoises seem to learn to eat artificial foods more quickly than wild-caught older ones, so that's nice for you as a tortoise-keeper. However, you don't want them fixating on any one food, be it natural or artificial. The above advice will be helpful.

BTW - The instructions on many of these artificial foods (T-Rex, Zilla, ZooMed, and Mazuri) often say to offer the food dry. That may be fine as a treat, but as a meal, tortoise foods should always provide moisture, since tortoises naturally don't drink very often. So, remember to soak pellet food for about 5-10 minutes before offering it. That will also make it easier to transition to different foods, because then you can sprinkle it on plants and other foods. You can sprinkle the water that the pellets had been soaking in over the food, too. Both of these will make the new stuff smell and taste more like the old stuff, and seem less foreign and more inviting.