Need some help on diet please

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Jc918

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I am new to the whole turtle care. I just got a Russian turtle. Can someone please tell me how much my turtle should be eating and how often should I feed him twice a day or one time etc.

I picked up some mustard greens and green peppers also peas. I heard with the move from the pet store my turtle will be stressed out. About how long with the stress last?

My turtle eat a little green pepper yesterday and a small bit today. I can't get him to eat anything else and I don't think he is eating what he should be and he stays under his log most of the time and wont move around much I have been told this is all the stress I have only had him 4 days.

If someone can give some input that would be great.
 

tortoisenerd

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See russiantortoise.org for a list of safe greens to feed. You want to ideally feed a diet of chemical free garden weeds and greens, but if you can't do that then you can buy spring mix and other greens like the mustard greens. Don't feed veggies like peppers or starchy stuff like peas. Try the organic spring mix with some radicchio in it (but no spinach). If he isn't coming out to eat, then likely he isn't warm enough. You need a hide in a warm area (80s) near the basking area (95). If you only have the hide in a cold area they will stay there and not venture out to warm up.

Place the tort in the warm hide in line of sight of the food. You can pick up the tort when you pass by (a few times a day) and place it in front of the food. Replace the food twice a day until you get a feeding schedule going (when it is eating feeding once a day when you get up and the lights are on is good). Yes it takes them some time to adjust, but you also need to make sure your set up is appropriate. Most important is temperature as they won't eat unless they tummies are 85. They thermoregulate, which means they move around to keep their bodies at an appropriate temperature. My tort can put away a pile of greens about as big as he is. Some days less, some days more. Once a day is good unless the tort needs to gain weight or you are having trouble getting him to eat. With a hatchling, I feed as much as they want to eat (put enough out that some is left each day).

You can see this plot to get an idea of weight vs. straight carapace length (Google for some info; straight line distance, not curved). Hopefully your tort isn't smaller than this graph because I don't have one. You should weight and measure your tort weekly for a bit and then monthly when you get a hang of it. Torts do vary, but this can give you an idea of how it is doing. Especially for a new tort, focus on hydration. Most people recommend to soak the tort in baby bath warm water every other day at this age (you said 1.5 on another thread). If you see the tort drinking out of the dish in its enclosure and its been a week or so you can stop the soaks (you need something large enough for it to completely get in safely and shallow enough it shouldn't have to hold its head up).

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Oh, and it is a Russian tortoise (hopefully!), not turtle. There is a big difference in torts and turtles.
 

Jc918

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Sorry yeah it's a Russian tortoise. He seems to be moving around a little more last few hours : ) I will give what you suggested a try. I can't really get a straight answer should I turn his heat lamp off at night ??? I know to work the UV light just how the sun is but the heat light is confusing specially night and day temps .

As for drinking he has TWO options a fountin and a bowl in the middle of the tank. If you can see anything that looks like I could do different other then the switching of the aquarium please let me know. My wife want's something that will look suitable in our living room so I can't get a bin.

Thanks for helping me


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Jc918

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Well MR.Turtle ate today : ) he seems to be doing a bit better. Less Twitching
 
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