She's eating all her bedding HELP! Please

[Northants88]

baby horsefield tortoise 3 months old so I've done the top soil and sand mix she eats it straw pellets she eats it aspen bedding you guessed it she eats it HELP ADVICE PLEASE

 

[Northants88]

 

[wellington]

I would Remove the sand it can cause impaction. Switch to coconut coir it doesn't cause impaction. When she eats the substrate does she have good available? In not, give her more food.

 

[wellington]

Btw, adorable guilty looking face in the picture.

 

[Northants88]

Forgot 2 add that 2 the list she's so tiny she has enough food x

 

[wellington]

Are you feeding her on a dish or flat rock? Not just on the ground.

 

[Tom]

What foods are you feeding her?
What sort of heating and lighting are you using?
Any red or infrared heat lamps?
What about UV bulbs? What type have you got?

 

[Carol S]

Welcome to the Forum.

My Desert Tortoises were eating dirt and I bought some Miner-All (Outdoor without D3) by Sticky Tongue Farms and they quit eating dirt. You can buy it on Petmountain.com, Amazon.com and probably Ebay.com. If your tortoise does not go outside for sunshine, then get the one for Indoor which has D3 in it. I give it to all my tortoises - the indoor babies and the adults who live outside. It contains calcium and minerals.

Do you have a cuttle bone in your enclosure?

Your tortoise is adorable. I love Russian tortoises.

 

[Northants88]

Are you feeding her on a dish or flat rock? Not just on the ground.

Both and not off the ground

 

[Northants88]

Welcome to the Forum.

My Desert Tortoises were eating dirt and I bought some Miner-All (Outdoor without D3) by Sticky Tongue Farms and they quit eating dirt. You can buy it on Petmountain.com, Amazon.com and probably Ebay.com. If your tortoise does not go outside for sunshine, then get the one for Indoor which has D3 in it. I give it to all my tortoises - the indoor babies and the adults who live outside. It contains calcium and minerals.

Do you have a cuttle bone in your enclosure?

Your tortoise is adorable. I love Russian tortoises.

Yes she has cuttle bone the noise she makes when eating drives me mad I've got all the calcium and bit like that

 

[Northants88]

What foods are you feeding her?
What sort of heating and lighting are you using?
Any red or infrared heat lamps?
What about UV bulbs? What type have you got?

Flowers and weeds and this

 

[Tidgy's Dad]

The lamp looks fine to me, as long as it's positioned and fixed right.
I, too, would suggest changing to another substrate such as coco coir, nicely packed down.

 

[Northants88]

The lamp looks fine to me, as long as it's positioned and fixed right.
I, too, would suggest changing to another substrate such as coco coir, nicely packed down.

I've gave that ago it's the coconut stuff

 

[Northants88]

Is this worth trying??

 

[Gillian M]

An adorable tort. GOD bless.

And a very warm welcome to the forum!

 

[wellington]

Is this worth trying??

She is eating the coir too? I would be afraid to use this as the wood chips look to little. I'd be afraid she'd get one stuck in her throat. If she is eating the coir too, maybe try a bigger wood chip, one that can't fit into her mouth. Or if you have tort safe grass in your yard, no chemicals on it, big up some strips of the grass and use that as the substrate.

 

[SarahChelonoidis]

Eating substrate so habitually points to a few potential issues.

1) your tortoise is doing it intentionally to fill a nutritional gap (most likely minerals). Sprinkling the MinerAl supplement onto food is good way to combat this. Evaluating your diet should come next (flowers and weeds sounds good - but what weeds specifically? Is it mostly weeds or mostly flowers?)

2) your tortoise is eating the substrate accidentally. In that photo you have a flower sitting on the substrate - make sure all of the food is on a surface like a big piece of slate or a terra cotta saucer. I like saucers because the lip keeps food on the plate. What are those weirdly coloured rocks in that photo? Take out 'food coloured' decor like that. Tortoises are attracted to bright colours. You posted your light photo, which was good - you're not using any coloured night lights are you? Those red lamps some people have noticed cause substrate eating (it's the same issue - food coloured earth seems confusing to tortoises).

Posting photos of your full set up and detailed diet info can help. That bag of substrate is likely fir bark - that should be fine, but if your tortoise has eaten all of your previous options, just switching the substrate may not be enough.

 

[Northants88]

Eating substrate so habitually points to a few potential issues.

1) your tortoise is doing it intentionally to fill a nutritional gap (most likely minerals). Sprinkling the MinerAl supplement onto food is good way to combat this. Evaluating your diet should come next (flowers and weeds sounds good - but what weeds specifically? Is it mostly weeds or mostly flowers?)

2) your tortoise is eating the substrate accidentally. In that photo you have a flower sitting on the substrate - make sure all of the food is on a surface like a big piece of slate or a terra cotta saucer. I like saucers because the lip keeps food on the plate. What are those weirdly coloured rocks in that photo? Take out 'food coloured' decor like that. Tortoises are attracted to bright colours. You posted your light photo, which was good - you're not using any coloured night lights are you? Those red lamps some people have noticed cause substrate eating (it's the same issue - food coloured earth seems confusing to tortoises).

Posting photos of your full set up and detailed diet info can help. That bag of substrate is likely fir bark - that should be fine, but if your tortoise has eaten all of your previous options, just switching the substrate may not be enough.

That a photo of her in the garden

 

[SarahChelonoidis]

That a photo of her in the garden

The photo your uploaded in your second post?

 

[Tom]

Flowers and weeds and this

Is that the only bulb you are using day and night?

Flowers and weeds is good, but can you elaborate a bit more? Sometimes when the diet is lacking certain minerals or nutrients, it causes them to want to eat their substrate. Knowing specifically what all you are offering might confirm or deny this as a possibility.

Have you been offering calcium supplementation? Or a vitamin supplement? Is the cuttlebone the only additional calcium source?

How often are you soaking?