Difficulty tearing food

[J3ny4]

I got my Russian Tortoise from a reptile expo, wild caught (bad, I know) a couple months back. According to the vet (exotic reptile vet, not reptile specific) the only thing wrong with him was pin worms, his third dose of dewormer is coming up soon.
He won't even try to eat pellets, soaked or not. He will eat greens and some vegetables (I dust with multi vitamins and calcium) but there is a problem. He cannot tear his veggies. He tries and has a 50% success rate on super crisp things like bell peppers, but cannot seem to tear through leaves, ever.
Is that ok? Is there something I can do?

 

[Yvonne G]

He may have a weak bite due to calcium deficiency. Are you using a good UVB light? You can cut his food up into bite-sized pieces.

 

[J3ny4]

He may have a weak bite due to calcium deficiency. Are you using a good UVB light? You can cut his food up into bite-sized pieces.

I think I'm doing an ok job with uvb. He has a basking spot with a Mercury vapor bulb (zoo med), a 1 ft t8 uvb bulb (zilla) that lights most of his enclosure, and he gets to spend time outside whenever rhe humidity is below 50% (I live on a lakefront in South Carolina). I'm also looking at getting a 36" uvb bulb to make sure everything but the hides is properly uvb lit in his 300 gallon tank. Each of the opposite ends are about 6 ft apart. Would the 36" not be enough? Should I get two instead?
Thank you for the advice on cutting up the food, I'm definitely going to start doing that.

 

[J3ny4]

Since I've been chopping his food he is eating better.

 

[Tom]

I got my Russian Tortoise from a reptile expo, wild caught (bad, I know) a couple months back. According to the vet (exotic reptile vet, not reptile specific) the only thing wrong with him was pin worms, his third dose of dewormer is coming up soon.
He won't even try to eat pellets, soaked or not. He will eat greens and some vegetables (I dust with multi vitamins and calcium) but there is a problem. He cannot tear his veggies. He tries and has a 50% success rate on super crisp things like bell peppers, but cannot seem to tear through leaves, ever.
Is that ok? Is there something I can do?

I didn't see this the first time around.

Tortoises don't usually take to new foods right away. Most things need a lengthy introductory period where you start with tiny amounts and gradually add more day by day.

It doesn't not need to be below 50% humidity to take your tortoise outside. They do just fine even in South Florida.