Safe for my russian tortoise to eat an earthworm?

[mrpresitort]

Hi all, I took my primarily-indoors male russian tort out in the yard for some outdoor time and saw him eyeing up an earthworm. I let it happen thinking he was just curious, but then he caught me completely off-guard when he bit at it like he was trying to eat it! He quickly lost interest after I shooed him away from the worm out of worry, so he only got the first peck in (poor worm ). After this incident, though, I did some more digging online and saw that some people have seen their outdoor-housed russians eating earthworms before and didn't seem to make much of it.

I have no intention of intentionally feeding him earthworms, but if this happens again should I just let him follow his instincts and eat it? If not, should I be worried that I'm missing some vital nutrients in his diet? He seems completely healthy otherwise.

This is his diet: I feed him as much fresh grass/flower as I can but due to my location I do have to rely mostly on escarole/collards/other assorted grocery greens that I coat with dried grasses I got from the Kapidolo farms website + some calcium powder. He won't eat the dried food if I don't put them on the grocery greens, even if I rehydrate it. I'm in the process of growing some dandelions and other grasses in a home garden.

Thanks in advance everyone!

 

[wellington]

If he were in the wild and came across it, he would eat it. Yes, it's fine.
If possible, you need to build him an outdoor enclosure for nice weather/summer. Whenever possible, tortoises should be able to live outside in a safe enclosure.

 

[mrpresitort]

If he were in the wild and came across it, he would eat it. Yes, it's fine.
If possible, you need to build him an outdoor enclosure for nice weather/summer. Whenever possible, tortoises should be able to live outside in a safe enclosure.

Thanks for the reply, wellington! Noted, I'll let him go for it next time around. And yes, the outdoor enclosure is the dream. I currently live in an apartment so I can't do an outdoor enclosure. He has a 4'x8' indoor enclosure for now. I try to take him outside as much as I can and hope to someday have a house of my own where I can build him a big outdoor home

 

[SinLA]

I have seen mine “bite” at everything from dead leaves to a brightly colored flower pot. He might just have been biting at it to test the waters to see if it was something of interest, rather than because he was interested.

 

[Tom]

Hi all, I took my primarily-indoors male russian tort out in the yard for some outdoor time and saw him eyeing up an earthworm. I let it happen thinking he was just curious, but then he caught me completely off-guard when he bit at it like he was trying to eat it! He quickly lost interest after I shooed him away from the worm out of worry, so he only got the first peck in (poor worm ). After this incident, though, I did some more digging online and saw that some people have seen their outdoor-housed russians eating earthworms before and didn't seem to make much of it.

I have no intention of intentionally feeding him earthworms, but if this happens again should I just let him follow his instincts and eat it? If not, should I be worried that I'm missing some vital nutrients in his diet? He seems completely healthy otherwise.

This is his diet: I feed him as much fresh grass/flower as I can but due to my location I do have to rely mostly on escarole/collards/other assorted grocery greens that I coat with dried grasses I got from the Kapidolo farms website + some calcium powder. He won't eat the dried food if I don't put them on the grocery greens, even if I rehydrate it. I'm in the process of growing some dandelions and other grasses in a home garden.

Thanks in advance everyone!

I wouldn't let hi do it, but if it happens, I don't think it will hurt anything.

Russians aren't grass eaters. You can use it for fiber on greens, but I wouldn't make that his "food".

Use less of the dried leaves to get him starting to eat it. Start with just a tiny amount at first.

 

[mrpresitort]

Thanks everyone for the responses!