What should I feed My Russian tortoise?

[Alexisiis]

I currently feed my tort, tank, romaine lettuce, cucumbers, and powder w calcium every other day or two. However he has been pooping a bit watery and I want to provide more fiber, what can I feed him?

 

[Littleredfootbigredheart]

I currently feed my tort, tank, romaine lettuce, cucumbers, and powder w calcium every other day or two. However he has been pooping a bit watery and I want to provide more fiber, what can I feed him?

Hello and welcome to the forum!

Diet definitely needs much more variety than that, cucumber is mainly just water with little nutritional value, you want leafy greens and weeds(included in the link at the bottom)

How old is your tortoise?

Don’t suppose you’d mind answering any of these questions? It’s really good to know with newer members

What are your temperatures like? Ie basking spot(directly under the bulb) overall day and night temps?
What kind of lighting&heating are you using specifically? Packaging pics are good if you have any!
What kind of indoor uv bulb are you using?
How’s your humidity reading? What do you use for substrate?

A photo of your full set up, along with one of your tortoise would be great!

In the meantime, I think you’ll find this thread very useful! There’s a really good diet link at the bottom to check out

Housing young Russian/Herman

Hello there! In this thread, I’m going to include some information on an effective way to tackle a starter set up/a way you can build a bigger size once your baby is an adult. I know it looks a lot to go over, I like to make sure all bases are covered, I’m happy to break down any information...

tortoiseforum.org

 

[wellington]

I agree with above. A much better diet needs to be provided ASAP. You are not giving him much more than water in the cucumber and romaine.

 

[Alexisiis]

Hello and welcome to the forum!

Diet definitely needs much more variety than that, cucumber is mainly just water with little nutritional value, you want leafy greens and weeds(included in the link at the bottom)

How old is your tortoise?

Don’t suppose you’d mind answering any of these questions? It’s really good to know with newer members

What are your temperatures like? Ie basking spot(directly under the bulb) overall day and night temps?
What kind of lighting&heating are you using specifically? Packaging pics are good if you have any!
What kind of indoor uv bulb are you using?
How’s your humidity reading? What do you use for substrate?

A photo of your full set up, along with one of your tortoise would be great!

In the meantime, I think you’ll find this thread very useful! There’s a really good diet link at the bottom to check out

Housing young Russian/Herman

Hello there! In this thread, I’m going to include some information on an effective way to tackle a starter set up/a way you can build a bigger size once your baby is an adult. I know it looks a lot to go over, I like to make sure all bases are covered, I’m happy to break down any information...

tortoiseforum.org

I have tank in a tortoise table with coco coir/repti bark. The temp on the warm side is 88-94 and 70-80 on the cool side. He has a cuttle bone and a hide with sphagnum moss. The humidity is usually around 45-55% I soak him a few times a week. I’m currently using a 100 watt MVB bulb that is 14/15 inches away from him. I can’t tell how old he is but I just got him and I can tell he’s a male.how do I post photos?

 

[Alexisiis]

I figured it out

 

[Littleredfootbigredheart]

I have tank in a tortoise table with coco coir/repti bark. The temp on the warm side is 88-94 and 70-80 on the cool side. He has a cuttle bone and a hide with sphagnum moss. The humidity is usually around 45-55% I soak him a few times a week. I’m currently using a 100 watt MVB bulb that is 14/15 inches away from him. I can’t tell how old he is but I just got him and I can tell he’s a male.how do I post photos?

Thanks for the reply and photos!

Some things of note(I’m sorry it looks a lot)first up, I believe looking at the photos he appears to be an adult, meaning he needs a much bigger space than any of these tortoise tables can provide, they need a minimum of an 8x4 foot space, roaming room is vital to their health, so many still recommend housing sizes far too small unfortunately.

The mercury vapour bulb isn’t a good choice for a few reasons, mbv bulbs can produce uv hot spots that can be damaging to your tortoises eyes, on the flip side, they’re incredibly unreliable and might not be producing enough uv which is vital to your tortoise. Any kind of compact uv bulb is focusing the uv light in quite a concentrated area, whereas as the recommended t5 tube fluorescent lights(I’ll go into them in a second) dissipates it over a larger area. Theres also the issue of having all in one heat&uv combined, for example your basking temperature directly underneath could be getting too hot, meaning you need to raise the bulb, but that would then be effecting your uvi zone. Theres also the fact that your uv technically only needs to be on 4 hours a day, but you need 12hrs on for the the basking.

For a basking light you need an incandescent floodlight, for uv a t5 tube fluorescent light, the cheap brands aren’t reliable so the recommended ones to go for are, zoo med reptisun 10.0 or Arcadia prot5 kit 12%, bare in mind the reptisun needs the reflector fitting buying separate.

The analog gauges are notoriously inaccurate, you’ll be better switching to digital monitoring and getting yourself a temp gun, you’ll need to check that directly under your bulb, you’re reaching a basking temperature of 95-100f, the rest can range 75-80 range during the day. 70 is a good night temp

If you’re finding the basking light isn’t heating the entirety of a larger enclosure, you’ll need to install a CHE(ceramic heat emitter) they’re a none light emitting heat bulb that make up ambient and night heat, they need running on a thermostat.

Coco coir and reptibark is a fine substrate choiceI would remove the sphagnum moss though as it can cause impactions in tortoises.

I think you’ll find this thread good to read, I cover correct equipment, levels, maintaining humidity etc, there’s lots of visual examples for things too

Housing adult Russian and Hermans indoors

Hello there! In this thread I’m going to include some information an example of an appropriate indoor set up for an older Herman/russian. As much as it’s encouraged to have tortoises in a safe outdoor enclosure, I understand being from the uk myself, that some climates make it difficult to...

tortoiseforum.org

This one is also good to familiarise with, it’ll help you avoid the wrong bulbs, materials, housing and such

Common keeping errors

Hello everyone! I’d been a long time lurker on this site long before joining just under a year ago now, over that time I’ve seen these husbandry issues come up time and time again, sometimes with dire consequences☹️ I thought this thread might serve as a good visual guide for these common...

tortoiseforum.org

Hopefully this helps! You can always ask further questions and double check any purchases with members on here before buying!

 

[Alexisiis]

Thanks for the reply and photos!

Some things of note(I’m sorry it looks a lot)first up, I believe looking at the photos he appears to be an adult, meaning he needs a much bigger space than any of these tortoise tables can provide, they need a minimum of an 8x4 foot space, roaming room is vital to their health, so many still recommend housing sizes far too small unfortunately.

The mercury vapour bulb isn’t a good choice for a few reasons, mbv bulbs can produce uv hot spots that can be damaging to your tortoises eyes, on the flip side, they’re incredibly unreliable and might not be producing enough uv which is vital to your tortoise. Any kind of compact uv bulb is focusing the uv light in quite a concentrated area, whereas as the recommended t5 tube fluorescent lights(I’ll go into them in a second) dissipates it over a larger area. Theres also the issue of having all in one heat&uv combined, for example your basking temperature directly underneath could be getting too hot, meaning you need to raise the bulb, but that would then be effecting your uvi zone. Theres also the fact that your uv technically only needs to be on 4 hours a day, but you need 12hrs on for the the basking.

For a basking light you need an incandescent floodlight, for uv a t5 tube fluorescent light, the cheap brands aren’t reliable so the recommended ones to go for are, zoo med reptisun 10.0 or Arcadia prot5 kit 12%, bare in mind the reptisun needs the reflector fitting buying separate.

The analog gauges are notoriously inaccurate, you’ll be better switching to digital monitoring and getting yourself a temp gun, you’ll need to check that directly under your bulb, you’re reaching a basking temperature of 95-100f, the rest can range 75-80 range during the day. 70 is a good night temp

If you’re finding the basking light isn’t heating the entirety of a larger enclosure, you’ll need to install a CHE(ceramic heat emitter) they’re a none light emitting heat bulb that make up ambient and night heat, they need running on a thermostat.

Coco coir and reptibark is a fine substrate choiceI would remove the sphagnum moss though as it can cause impactions in tortoises.

I think you’ll find this thread good to read, I cover correct equipment, levels, maintaining humidity etc, there’s lots of visual examples for things too

Housing adult Russian and Hermans indoors

Hello there! In this thread I’m going to include some information an example of an appropriate indoor set up for an older Herman/russian. As much as it’s encouraged to have tortoises in a safe outdoor enclosure, I understand being from the uk myself, that some climates make it difficult to...

tortoiseforum.org

This one is also good to familiarise with, it’ll help you avoid the wrong bulbs, materials, housing and such

Common keeping errors

Hello everyone! I’d been a long time lurker on this site long before joining just under a year ago now, over that time I’ve seen these husbandry issues come up time and time again, sometimes with dire consequences☹️ I thought this thread might serve as a good visual guide for these common...

tortoiseforum.org

Hopefully this helps! You can always ask further questions and double check any purchases with members on here before buying!

Thanks so much! I have 75 watt basking bulbs. However, how would I go about installing a uvb strip bulb. Would it sit on top of the enclosure and how close would it need to be? Also if I purchase a uvb meter and the readings for the mvb are good should I keep it? Thx again

 

[Littleredfootbigredheart]

Thanks so much! I have 75 watt basking bulbs. However, how would I go about installing a uvb strip bulb. Would it sit on top of the enclosure and how close would it need to be? Also if I purchase a uvb meter and the readings for the mvb are good should I keep it? Thx again

No problem! Just be sure the basking bulb is a floodlight and not a spot light

For the uv strip light, I’ve included a few examples on how to mount them in that thread. You can take a piece of timber wood, screw metal hooks in, then on the opposite side mount the uv, you can then use chains to hang on the hooks from either store brought or homemade stands to the height you need
I wouldn’t test it on the top of this enclosure as(for the Arcadia anyway) it needs to be around 18-20 inches from the tortoises shell, the enclosure looks too low for that. A meter will give you spot on height measurements.

I wouldn’t personally keep the mbv no because they can’t cover as much of an area, it’s good if you can measure its output at least, but I still don’t think they’re an ideal choice.

 

[Alexisiis]

No problem! Just be sure the basking bulb is a floodlight and not a spot light

For the uv strip light, I’ve included a few examples on how to mount them in that thread. You can take a piece of timber wood, screw metal hooks in, then on the opposite side mount the uv, you can then use chains to hang on the hooks from either store brought or homemade stands to the height you need
I wouldn’t test it on the top of this enclosure as(for the Arcadia anyway) it needs to be around 18-20 inches from the tortoises shell, the enclosure looks too low for that. A meter will give you spot on height measurements.

I wouldn’t personally keep the mbv no because they can’t cover as much of an area, it’s good if you can measure its output at least, but I still don’t think they’re an ideal choice.

I’m gonna test anyway to see. If it’s not sufficient then I will definitely go with the strip bulb. I will keep you updated. Thanks!

 

[The_Four_Toed_Edward]

Along with the good advice already given by @Littleredfootbigredheart , you could look into getting some pellets to amend fiber. This should help with the watery poops. Agrobs fiber or herbs can be fed daily. Mazuri and Zoomed grassland can't be given daily but are good options too. I think Littleredfootbigredheart uses Arcadia brand pellets if I am not mistaken.

 

[Littleredfootbigredheart]

Along with the good advice already given by @Littleredfootbigredheart , you could look into getting some pellets to amend fiber. This should help with the watery poops. Agrobs fiber or herbs can be fed daily. Mazuri and Zoomed grassland can't be given daily but are good options too. I think Littleredfootbigredheart uses Arcadia brand pellets if I am not mistaken.

Yeah this stuff is great for sneaking in some varietysoak each cube in some water(quantities on packet) until mushy and add it to the top of a few feeds each week

 

[The_Four_Toed_Edward]

Yeah this stuff is great for sneaking in some varietysoak each cube in some water(quantities on packet) until mushy and add it to the top of a few feeds each week
View attachment 379810

I think the arcadia type could also be fed daily. High variety and low on protein and sugar.

 

[Littleredfootbigredheart]

I think the arcadia type could also be fed daily. High variety and low on protein and sugar.

Even betterwe don’t really have to with squirt cause she has lots of variety but definitely no harm in daily