Horse field tortoise diet help

Jazzle123

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Hi, I am kinda new to having a tortoise and I believe he is about 5 years old. I would like some advise on his diet. When I got him I fed him a variety of foods but he went through a stage where he wouldn't eat for like two weeks, and now he will only eat iceberg lettuce. Do you guys have any advice how to get him to eat better foods as I try giving him little portions of new foods but he just leaves them untill they go old and I have to take them out. Also is he healthy, I have attached a pitcture of him.image.jpeg All help/advice is much appreciated :)
 

SarahChelonoidis

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How long have you had him? Can you post photos of his enclosure? He doesn't look like the best cared for Russian I've seen.

He'll eat better food if you stop offering the iceberg lettuce. As long as he's warm enough and healthy enough, he won't starve. What kind of light are you using for basking and what temperature does it get at shell height?
 

Yvonne G

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Hi, and welcome to the Forum!

If you'll take a look at the bumpy quality of his shell, that's from being raised too dry and not getting the right diet and UVB. It's not life threatening, but it really will help for you to change the diet and add some moisture to his habitat. It also looks like his back leg is a little swollen, like water retention or something.

We have a good care sheet pinned at the top of our Russian section, and here's a bunch of food ideas for you:
 

Jazzle123

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Hi, and welcome to the Forum!

If you'll take a look at the bumpy quality of his shell, that's from being raised too dry and not getting the right diet and UVB. It's not life threatening, but it really will help for you to change the diet and add some moisture to his habitat. It also looks like his back leg is a little swollen, like water retention or something.

We have a good care sheet pinned at the top of our Russian section, and here's a bunch of food ideas for you:
thankyou, I got him from a friend who moved to out of the country about 2 months ago, will the damage to his shell be perminent and how do I reduce swelling in his leg?
 

Tom

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How are you housing him?
Where are you?
What are the four temps in his enclosure? Warm side, cool side, basking area and over night low?
What heating and lighting equipment are you using?
Any UV?
 

Jazzle123

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How are you housing him?
Where are you?
What are the four temps in his enclosure? Warm side, cool side, basking area and over night low?
What heating and lighting equipment are you using?
Any UV?
I'm in England and like I said I'm new to having a tortoise so I have a heat lamp at one side of his box but don't know it's temperature or what basking is
 

Jazzle123

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This is his box/cage( what he lives in) is it okay? I added the two dandelions this morning
 

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Lyn W

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Hi Jazzle and welcome to the forum - the best place for all tort information.
Maybe he stopped eating because he was too cold and started to go into hibernation mode, but if you keep him warm them hopefully his appetite will return. You will find caresheet for Horsefields (Russians) under Species Specific which will tell you all you need to know about diet, correct temp, humidity substrate etc. www.thetortoisetable.org.uk is also great to ID tort safe plants.

I am in the UK too. I use a Mercury Vapour Bulb (MVB) which provides light, heat and uvb in one bulb. They need the uvb to digest their food and absorb the minerals etc that they need. I bought mine from Pets at Home - its an Arcadia Mini D3 80w - cost £39 but essential in our climate when they can't get uvb from the sun. I use that in a wide dome shade/hood to direct the heat etc downwards. That was about £25 in The Range. I hang it so that I can adjust the temps by raising or lowering it and also because the clamp it comes with can fail and cause fires. At night a use a ceramic heat emitter (CHE) also in the same sort of wide dome. This just provides heat as torts need darkness to sleep. I run this through a thermostat so that it switches off and on as needed.
The CHE was £21 and the thermostat £35 - also from The Range. One thing I have found very useful is a digital temp gun which makes it easy to spot check temps around the enclosure to make sure it is not too hot or cold. (Amazon £10 ish)
Total about £150 so its not cheap to get it all set up but will save you a fortune in vets bills if you get it right!
Also if I were you I would swap that water bowl for a cheap terracotta shallow plant saucer - big enough for him to lie in and if you sink it level with the substrate he will find it easier to get in and out of to self soak.
 

Tom

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I'm in England and like I said I'm new to having a tortoise so I have a heat lamp at one side of his box but don't know it's temperature or what basking is

Temperatures are critical for a reptile to survive indoors. You need to check them and make adjustments if needed. If the temperatures are not correct their immune and digestive systems will be hampered.

Give these a read through:
http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/beginner-mistakes.45180/
http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/russian-tortoise-care-sheet.80698/
 

Jazzle123

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Nov 15, 2015
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Hi Jazzle and welcome to the forum - the best place for all tort information.
Maybe he stopped eating because he was too cold and started to go into hibernation mode, but if you keep him warm them hopefully his appetite will return. You will find caresheet for Horsefields (Russians) under Species Specific which will tell you all you need to know about diet, correct temp, humidity substrate etc. www.thetortoisetable.org.uk is also great to ID tort safe plants.

I am in the UK too. I use a Mercury Vapour Bulb (MVB) which provides light, heat and uvb in one bulb. They need the uvb to digest their food and absorb the minerals etc that they need. I bought mine from Pets at Home - its an Arcadia Mini D3 80w - cost £39 but essential in our climate when they can't get uvb from the sun. I use that in a wide dome shade/hood to direct the heat etc downwards. That was about £25 in The Range. I hang it so that I can adjust the temps by raising or lowering it and also because the clamp it comes with can fail and cause fires. At night a use a ceramic heat emitter (CHE) also in the same sort of wide dome. This just provides heat as torts need darkness to sleep. I run this through a thermostat so that it switches off and on as needed.
The CHE was £21 and the thermostat £35 - also from The Range. One thing I have found very useful is a digital temp gun which makes it easy to spot check temps around the enclosure to make sure it is not too hot or cold. (Amazon £10 ish)
Total about £150 so its not cheap to get it all set up but will save you a fortune in vets bills if you get it right!
Also if I were you I would swap that water bowl for a cheap terracotta shallow plant saucer - big enough for him to lie in and if you sink it level with the substrate he will find it easier to get in and out of to self soak.
Thank you so much I will go have a look on these websites now, I had no idea how much care they needed! Thank you again:)
 

Lyn W

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Thank you so much I will go have a look on these websites now, I had no idea how much care they needed! Thank you again:)
You're welcome! I had a steep learning curve too when I first took on a tort but once you have the initial set up right it's not too bad . Making sure he is warm enough and has uvb are the most important.

Weeds are hard to come by for us at the moment so I use the salad mixes that have a better leaves than just iceberg etc - Florette Classic Crispy salad mix (which is just a £1 in Morrisons at the moment) Morrison's own mixed leaf or Sainsbury's mixed leaf , these all include leaves like radicchio or lollo rosso, escarole, frisee. baby red leaf, lambs lettuce etc. I also use a little kale, or spring greens, Pak Choi leaves, the leaves only from beetroot some grated carrot and the leaves from carrots and Romiane all in moderation will add variety. Ideally growing your own weeds would be great but I failed dismally last year.
I also grind up ''Readigrass very finely in a blender and sprinkle and spray that on the wet leaves to add fibre but I don't know if your species can have that, so check what your diet sheet says.

Anyway good luck and don't panic, but if you do there's always someone here to help.
 
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