Tortoise not eating

[Coltonmonks25689]

I got my Russian tortoise about 4 months ago I quickly found out that her favorite food was green peppers and Romain lettuce she would eat it down but recently she stopped eating about 3 weeks ago. She has a heat lamp on for atleast 10 hours a day. The bedding I use is timmothy hay and her cage is big enough any ideas why she ain’t eating

 

[KarenSoCal]

Hi, and welcome to the forum!

There are several reasons why a tort stops eating, but we're going to need more info from you to know why yours has stopped.

Could you post some pics of the tort? A shot of her from above, 1 from underneath, 1 showing the tail area, 1 from the side, and 1 of her face. Also include some pics of her enclosure and the light bulbs you are using for her.

Both of the food items you mentioned are not good for her to eat. She needs to be eating weeds and greens, supplemented with a pellet food like Mazuri or ZooMed Grassland Tort Pellets.

Hay is a poor substrate to use. It molds quickly when wet. She needs coco coir, fine grade orchid bark (fir bark), or cypress mulch. That gets dampened to provide the humidity she requires.

You say her cage is big enough...how big is it? When she is an adult the minimum size she needs is 8ft x 4ft, and bigger is better. Torts need lots of walking space to digest food, and it needs to be kept warm, too.

What temps are you keeping her? Under the basking light, warm side, cool side, and lowest nighttime temp.
Being too cold is one of the most common reasons for not eating.

Here is a good, up-to-date care sheet. Read it and compare what it says to what you are providing. Then come back with your questions, and we can help you buy whatever you need by giving you links to recommended products.

Did she come from a pet store? If so, did they tell you about how old she is?

Here's the care sheet, and some info on proper heating/lighting.

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...

www.tortoiseforum.org

 

[Coltonmonks25689]

Hi, and welcome to the forum!

There are several reasons why a tort stops eating, but we're going to need more info from you to know why yours has stopped.

Could you post some pics of the tort? A shot of her from above, 1 from underneath, 1 showing the tail area, 1 from the side, and 1 of her face. Also include some pics of her enclosure and the light bulbs you are using for her.

Both of the food items you mentioned are not good for her to eat. She needs to be eating weeds and greens, supplemented with a pellet food like Mazuri or ZooMed Grassland Tort Pellets.

Hay is a poor substrate to use. It molds quickly when wet. She needs coco coir, fine grade orchid bark (fir bark), or cypress mulch. That gets dampened to provide the humidity she requires.

You say her cage is big enough...how big is it? When she is an adult the minimum size she needs is 8ft x 4ft, and bigger is better. Torts need lots of walking space to digest food, and it needs to be kept warm, too.

What temps are you keeping her? Under the basking light, warm side, cool side, and lowest nighttime temp.
Being too cold is one of the most common reasons for not eating.

Here is a good, up-to-date care sheet. Read it and compare what it says to what you are providing. Then come back with your questions, and we can help you buy whatever you need by giving you links to recommended products.

Did she come from a pet store? If so, did they tell you about how old she is?

Here's the care sheet, and some info on proper heating/lighting.

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...

www.tortoiseforum.org

I keep her under her heating lamp most of the day and I’ll turn on her mini heat bulb at night the people told me when I got her to feed her green peppers or any kind of bell peppers or lettuce they gave me tortoise food but she doesn't eat that they didn’t tell me how old she was and what kind of weeds and greens?

 

[JoesMum]

You have changes to make in the way you care for your tortoise.

Straw is not suitable as a substrate. Your tortoise needs an earthy substrate like coco coir or fine grade orchid bark that can be mixed with water so that all of it is damp right to the bottom and into the corners. This raises the humidity to levels that your tortoise needs to be healthy.

Your basking lamp MUST be on for 12-14 hours a day. Use a timer. The lamp must hang vertically, not be at an angle, and it must be 35-37C/95-100F directly underneath the lamp at tortoise level. If your tortose doesn’t get outside then it must have a UVB lamp on for 12-14 hours too.

Overnight your tortoise requires complete darkness. Unless temperatures in your home drop below 16C overnight you shouldn’t need any extra heating.

Please read this guide to tortoise care written by @Tom carefully and compare it with your setup. He is an expert on Russians and is working hard to correct the outdated information on the internet and from pet stores and, sadly, from some breeders and vets too.

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...

www.tortoiseforum.org

 

[KarenSoCal]

Please read the care sheet. It explains what your tortoise requires to thrive.

I believe the "they" you are referring to are the sales people at a pet shop. Unfortunately, pet shop employees really don't know what they are talking about when it comes to tort care. They are interested in getting you to spend money, not the tort's well-being.

Do you have her in a tank? If you will post pictures we will help you figure out how to make her home better for her.

Your tortoise is wild caught, and is 5-10 years old at least, maybe older. If you will send a couple good pictures of her tail area and plastron (bottom shell) we can tell you if she really is a she, or a he. BTW, what is her name?

The type of daytime heat bulb you are using is OK. I'm concerned if you are using a 250 watt. It seems like that would make it too hot for her basking spot. Are you checking the temps in the enclosure? You need to monitor the temp at a few places at tortoise height...directly under the basking light, the cool side of the enclosure, the warm side, and the lowest temp at night. Like JoesMum said, if your house is no colder than 60° at night, you don't need any nighttime heat (your purple/black bulb).

She looks very dry. Do you soak her? If not, she really needs it. You take a plastic bin that she can walk around in, that has high sides so she can't climb out. Get one that you can't see through the sides, any color is fine.

Put warm, not hot, (90-95°) water in. You want the water to come up to a little bit over the bottom edge of her carapace (top shell). She should be able to walk easily and easily keep her head above water. Don't be surprised if she puts her head into the water and leaves it there. She's fine.

You want her to stay in the soak for 30 minutes. She will probably try to climb out...let her try, just keep an eye on her in case she falls on to her back. The water has to stay warm, so when it cools off scoop some out and replace it with warm water. Or you can have another bin with warm water and switch her over.

Most of the time torts pee and poop in the soak, so be prepared.

Here is a long list of foods that are good for torts. You need to introduce new foods very slowly. You take a tiny bit of the new food and cut it up into tiny pieces. Then mix it into her regular food, and wet it so the pieces stick. After she gets a taste of it, you can slowly add more of the new food. Don't hurry...this process can take weeks or even months.

Compiled by Tom:
Good foods for tortoises are "chicories," types of lettuce that are likely to be on the far side of the more common floppy green heads of lettuce most people buy. Anything labeled as simply "chicory" is good, as are radiccio, frisee, escarole, and endive; you might even find something labeled as dandelions. You may find a bag of "Spring" or "Spicy" mix that is good, just check the label to be sure it has some of the chicories I just mentioned. The leaves (just the leaves) of turnips and radishes are also good, as are carrot tops. Collards, mustard greens, bok choy, and other dark, leafy greens are okay as well. If you have any kind of Mexican/hispanic market near you, they will sell cactus, labeled "nopales." Cactus is a great food to rotate in the diet, as it is high in calcium.

You don't need to feed all of these at one time, just make sure your tortoise is getting access to different types of food. As you get more experienced, you can find the better types of food listed on the care sheets.

Here are a whole bunch of non-grocery store suggestions.

Mulberry leaves
Grape vine leaves
Hibiscus leaves
African hibiscus leaves
Blue hibiscus leaves
Rose of Sharon leaves
Rose leaves
Geraniums
Gazanias
Nasturtium
Lavatera
Pansies
Petunias
Hostas
Honeysuckle
Cape honeysuckle
Leaves and blooms from any squash plant, like pumpkin, cucumber, summer squash, etc...
Young spineless opuntia cactus pads

Weeds:

There are soooooooo many...
Dandelion
Mallow
Filaree
Smooth Sow thistle
Prickly Sow thistle
Milk thistle
Goat head weed
Cats ear
Nettles
Trefoil
Wild onion
Wild mustard
Wild Garlic
Clovers
Broadleaf plantain
Narrow leaf plantain
Chick weed
Hawksbit
Hensbit
Hawksbeard

Other good stuff:

Category: Organic sourced diet items

kapidolofarms.com

"Testudo Seed Mix" from http://www.tortoisesupply.com/SeedMixes

Pasture mixes or other seeds from http://www.groworganic.com/seeds.html

Homegrown alfalfa

Mazuri Tortoise Chow

ZooMed Grassland Tortoise Food

Ones that you can buy in every store:
Arugula
Lambs lettuce
Chicory
Kale
Mustard greens
Organic kohlrabi leafs
Organic carrot leafs
Organic radish leafs
Dandelions
Radiccio


Their main diet should be broad leaf weeds, succulents and grasses. Store bought foods are okay, but not the best. Collards and dandelions are a good food, but neither should be used every day. Check out the plant ID section for lots of ideas on weeds to feed. You can get spineless opuntia cactus pads from most Mexican grocery stores, or grow them yourself. You can also easily grow grape leaves, african hibiscus, regular hibiscus (if it will survive in your area), and mulberry leaves. You can try red apple, ice plant, and jade plant too. Also look into Gazania, pansies, nasturtiums, carnations, geraniums and many others. At the grocery store, favor endive and escarole, but also use cilantro, carrot tops, mustard and turnip greens, bok choy, radiccio, swiss chard, watercress, parsley, all the lettuces, etc. Lots of variety is best. There are also tortoise "weed" seed mixes that you can grow. I like the "Testudo Mix" from Tortoisesupply.com.
Buckwheat; cactus; vetch; Mohave aster; creosote bush; desert four o’clock; tacoma stans; bladderpod; globe mallow; goldenhead; burro weed; so many things!


Feeding:
So much contradictory info on this subject. Its simple. What do they eat in the wild. Grass, weeds, leaves, flowers, and succulents. Feed them a huge variety of these things, and you'll have a healthy tortoise. All of these species are very adaptable when it comes to diet and there is a very large margin of error, and many ways to do it right. What if you don't have this sort of "natural" tortoise food available for part of each year because you are in the snow? You will have no choice but to buy grocery store food. What's wrong with grocery store food? It tends to lack fiber, some items are low in calcium or have a poor calcium to phosphorous ratio, and some items have deleterious compounds in them. All of these short comings can be improved with some simple supplementation and amendments. A pinch of calcium two times per week will help fix that problem. You can also leave cuttle bone in the enclosure, so your tortoise can self-regulate its own calcium intake. What about fiber? Soaked horse hay pellets, soaked ZooMed Grassland pellets, Mazuri tortoise chow, "Salad style", "Herbal Hay" both from @TylerStewart and his lovely wife Sarah at Tortoisesupply.com, or many of the dried plants and leaves available from Will @Kapidolo Farms. If you must use grocery store foods, favor endive and escarole as your main staples. Add in arugula, cilantro, kale, collard, mustard and turnip greens, squash leaves, spring mix, romaine, green or red leaf lettuce, butter lettuce, water cress, carrot tops, celery tops, bok choy, and whatever other greens you can find. If you mix in some of the aforementioned amendments, these grocery store foods will offer plenty of variety and fiber and be able to meet your tortoises nutritional needs just fine. I find it preferable to grab a few grapevine or mulberry leaves, or a handful of mallow and clover, or some broadleaf plantain leaves and some grass, but with the right additions, grocery store stuff is fine too. Grow your own stuff, or find it around you when possible. Tyler and Sarah also sell a fantastic Testudo seed mix that is great for ALL tortoise species and also super easy to grow in pots, trays, raised garden beds, or in outdoor tortoise enclosures. When that isn't possible, add a wide variety of good stuff to your grocery store greens to make them better.

Supplements:
I recommend you keep cuttle bone available all the time. Some never use it and some munch on it regularly. Some of mine will go months without touching it, and then suddenly eat the whole thing in a day or two. Sulcatas and leopards grow a lot. This requires a tremendous amount of calcium assimilation over time. A great diet is paramount, but it is still a good idea to give them some extra calcium regularly. I use a tiny pinch of RepCal or ZooMed plain old calcium carbonate twice a week. Much discussion has been given to whether or not they need D3 in their calcium supplement. Personally, I don't think it matters. Every tortoise should be getting adequate UV exposure one way or another, so they should be able to make their own D3. I also like to use a mineral supplement. "MinerAll" is my current brand of choice. It seems to help those tortoises that like to swallow pebbles and rocks. It is speculated that some tortoise eat rocks or substrate due to a mineral deficiency or imbalance. Whatever the reason, "MinerAll" seems to stop it or prevent it. Finally, I like to use a reptile vitamin supplement once a week, to round out any hidden deficiencies that may be in my diet over the course of a year.