Kiracynthia
New Member
My tortoise won’t eat on his own he is only eating when I hand feed him and even then he will only eat maybe 5 dandelion leaves and that’s it. Anyone know what’s going on? He also has been sleeping a ton!!! More than usual.
1. 4x6 foot enclosure
2. Zoo Med 5.0 UVB bulb and Zoo Med 100 watt heat bulb
3. Coco coir. Cypress wood in one corner
4. Russian Tort
5. 78-83 F varies depending on temp outside. Alaska has no A/C but the temperature will stabilize in the winter when we can control The heat.
6.humidity 40-50%
7. Indoor enclosure and he goes outside when it is hot enough and I can supervise him.
8. I feed him homegrown greens mostly like collards dandelion greens mustard greens etc. and I mix in baby spring mix bought from the grocery for diversity. And when our stores have it I give himthings like escarole.
9. my sister bought him for me on tortoise supply online.
1. Please show us pictures of your entire enclosure.
2. What specific type of light bulbs and or heating sources you use. We need to verify if the ones you're using are safe or not. We pictures of the light bulb and light fixture separately to accurately be sure if you are unable to produce a web link or picture of the box it came with.
3. What substrate are you using?
4. What type of tortoise is this?
5. What are your temperature and humidity levels? What are you using specifically to measure these readings?
6. What type of setup are you using in Alaska?
7. What types of foods are you feeding your tortoise?
8. Where did you purchase your tortoise from?
2. I need pictures or web links to the product because those products come in different shapes and sizes. The zoo med 100 watt heat bulb in particular is harmful to tortoises. Replace that with a incandescent flood-styled bulb from your local hardware store or online retailer.
5. Russian tortoises require a basking temperature of 95-105F. hot side temperatures around 85-90F near the basking bulb and about 70-80F on the coolest side without the basking bulb during the daytime. nighttime temperatures must not reach below 60F too frequently or otherwise they will catch an infection.
Use this guide and follow what it says for Russian Tortoises:
The Best Way To Raise Any Temperate Species Of Tortoise
I chose the title of this care sheet very carefully. Are there other ways to raise babies and care for adults? Yes. Yes there are, but those ways are not as good. What follows is the BEST way, according to 30 years of research and experimentation with hundreds of babies of many species. What is...tortoiseforum.org
6. Raise your humidity level to at least 60%. 80 to even 100% would be much better. High humidity level is good thing for all tortoises.
8. A lot of these greens you have feed like collards and mustard can all cause gout like pain to tortoises if they eat too much of the stuff. They all fall under a single group meaning even if you feed collard this week and mustard next week the doses accumulate rather than dissipate. You need to find to feed your tortoise flowers, broad leaf plants/weeds and succulents. You can purchase dried mixed versions of them on tortoise online retailing sites. Spring mix isn't all that great either. The link I gave you should have more food choices listed. Also consider purchasing Mazuri tortoise diet (5M21) to add to your choices.
9. Tell your sister to go to tortoise supply online and purchase different foods for your tortoise because the supermarket is generally not going to provide enough of the right foods for them. I recommend the cactus pads, dandelion leaves, and Mazuri tortoise diet (5M21 original big pellet version) to add more nutrition and safe choices to feed your tortoise. For example, feeding too much lettuce and other non-fiber dense watery greens are not going to keep your tortoise in a healthy state.
thank you so much I will find the links because I bought the lights back in March. I have fed him spineless cactus pads before and he wasn’t really a huge fan. I have mazuri tortoise pellets and I’ve tried everything to make him eat them and he refuses to.
Do you think I need to take him to the vet?
What is the safest greens I can feed him while I wait on shipments of other foods? It takes atleast 2 weeks for anything to come up here.
Is the UV bulb a long tube or a screw in type cfl bulb? The cfl types can sometimes burn their eyes. If its a tube type, the 5.0 produces little to no UV. Up in your climate where the tortoise has to be indoors most of every year, you really need the HO type UV tubes and a meter to set the height correctly.thank you so much I will find the links because I bought the lights back in March. I have fed him spineless cactus pads before and he wasn’t really a huge fan. I have mazuri tortoise pellets and I’ve tried everything to make him eat them and he refuses to.
Do you think I need to take him to the vet?
What is the safest greens I can feed him while I wait on shipments of other foods? It takes atleast 2 weeks for anything to come up here.
I have been using a zoo med 5.0 uvb bulb since March but I do have this one. Do you think this will be better?Is the UV bulb a long tube or a screw in type cfl bulb? The cfl types can sometimes burn their eyes. If its a tube type, the 5.0 produces little to no UV. Up in your climate where the tortoise has to be indoors most of every year, you really need the HO type UV tubes and a meter to set the height correctly.
Hand feeding is a minefield.
Tortoises aren’t very clever. If you get started with hand feeding and do it too frequently they come to think you are the food and don’t recognise the same food stuffs served on the floor.
The way to stop it is to stop hand feeding entirely. A hungry tortoise will use its instincts and go find food. Right now it doesn’t have to because food keeps coming to it.
Going a few days without food will not harm your tortoise so here’s what you need to do.
1. Soak your tortoise for a good 20 minutes first thing in the morning to keep it hydrated.
2. While it soaks, tidy the enclosure and place food on a piece of flat rock or slate.
3. Replace your tort and walk away. Leave it entirely alone. Don’t watch as your tort will expect you to supply food. If you aren’t there then neither is that source of food and the tortoise will have to go looking.
Leave food in place until next morning if uneaten then repeat the cycle.
Your tort will get hungry eventually and will look for food, but you have to be strong and force it to think for itself.
I have been using a zoo med 5.0 uvb bulb since March but I do have this one. Do you think this will be better?
I’m getting a lot of mixed options and I’m not too clear on exactly what lighting I need. I will replace the flunkers with the incandescent flood bulb as you suggested. As far as uvb, you suggest a long tube over a bulb? But not the one I took a photo of?