- Joined
- Jan 11, 2012
- Messages
- 4
Hi, my name is Tina, I stumbled upon this forum while trying to find more information about why our new Russian tort seems to be only eating green leaf lettuce.
This is a great site and I'm already learning a lot more reading through the threads.
It makes me kind of sad, because I thought I had read a lot before we decided to purchase our Russian but there is so much contradictory info out there and it's hard to know what is the right information.
Anyway, we got our tort for a family Christmas present after reading up and figuring out what owning a tort would really entail. So far our kids LOVE him and I am head over heels over him. Our 5 yo seems to have named him Digger.
We got him at a pet store, we think he was wild caught and may be around 3 or 4 years old. We think he is a male based on his smaller size and bigger tail than his tank mate at the store.
We live in Seattle, WA so a cold damp,climate. We have him indoors during winter/spring but plan on outside days in summer and fall weather permitting. Right now he's in a tank
which we knew wasn't the best choice, but my husband is in the process of building him a tortoise table. With a bigger hide and wood sides. I'm playing with the idea of either growing plants in his table or growing his food myself or some combination of both.
Right now he's in an Eco earth, coco husk combo substrate, but now I think maybe that's not the best choice. He's got a small water bowl, a food bowl and a log hide. We don't have any rocks, tiles or enough water for him to climb in. We were told (and read all over the place) that he would do better with regular baths and wouldn't need water or humidity in his home because he is a desert tort. Now I am questioning that information as well.
I feed him daily, give him a warm bath every 2 - 3 days. He always urinates the solid-ish substance and poos in the bath. He has never pooed in his cage but I've noticed 3 times now he's urinated in there when I wait 2 days in between baths. So I don't know if that means more baths so he does that in the water or less baths. can they get over-hydrated?
My main concern other than anxiously awaiting his bigger table to be finished, is his eating. We made up a list of foods to eat and avoid. I feel like I have a good handle on what he should be eating. However it seems he disagrees with me. I give him a broad leaf, store bought lettuce daily. I've given him green leaf lettuce, red leaf lettuce and now we're on kale. I give him spring mix baby greens every day along with something else, like carrots, cucumbers, cactus leaf, tomato. The only thing he'll eat is the green leaf lettuce and carrots. That's it. Last week we had red leaf lettuce, he'll eat the green part but when he gets to the red, he leaves it. This week he won't even touch the kale. He just ate his carrots and stopped. And he never touches anything from the spring miss lettuces.
I KNOW that he needs variety and that the best way to achieve that is a rotating variety of these plants mixed in with other seasonal things like dandelion, ect. But if he'll only eat green leaf, what do I do?
I did get a bag of hay, but since reading here I've figured out why he won't eat it since its the kaytee brand and apparently old and dry. I will look into a feed store for fresh grasses.
I would like to post some photos of him tomorrow. Because he is the most beautiful Russian. and because I would love some opinions on the health of his beak and nails and thoughts on if he really is a he.
I look forward to getting to know everyone here and learning from the wealth of knowledge here. I hope to be a lifelong tort owner and am already thinking when the husband retires from the military, I want to end up somewhere a little warmer so we can own a sulcata too and have a big ,beautiful outdoor enclosure!
This is a great site and I'm already learning a lot more reading through the threads.
It makes me kind of sad, because I thought I had read a lot before we decided to purchase our Russian but there is so much contradictory info out there and it's hard to know what is the right information.
Anyway, we got our tort for a family Christmas present after reading up and figuring out what owning a tort would really entail. So far our kids LOVE him and I am head over heels over him. Our 5 yo seems to have named him Digger.
We got him at a pet store, we think he was wild caught and may be around 3 or 4 years old. We think he is a male based on his smaller size and bigger tail than his tank mate at the store.
We live in Seattle, WA so a cold damp,climate. We have him indoors during winter/spring but plan on outside days in summer and fall weather permitting. Right now he's in a tank
which we knew wasn't the best choice, but my husband is in the process of building him a tortoise table. With a bigger hide and wood sides. I'm playing with the idea of either growing plants in his table or growing his food myself or some combination of both. Right now he's in an Eco earth, coco husk combo substrate, but now I think maybe that's not the best choice. He's got a small water bowl, a food bowl and a log hide. We don't have any rocks, tiles or enough water for him to climb in. We were told (and read all over the place) that he would do better with regular baths and wouldn't need water or humidity in his home because he is a desert tort. Now I am questioning that information as well.
I feed him daily, give him a warm bath every 2 - 3 days. He always urinates the solid-ish substance and poos in the bath. He has never pooed in his cage but I've noticed 3 times now he's urinated in there when I wait 2 days in between baths. So I don't know if that means more baths so he does that in the water or less baths. can they get over-hydrated?
My main concern other than anxiously awaiting his bigger table to be finished, is his eating. We made up a list of foods to eat and avoid. I feel like I have a good handle on what he should be eating. However it seems he disagrees with me. I give him a broad leaf, store bought lettuce daily. I've given him green leaf lettuce, red leaf lettuce and now we're on kale. I give him spring mix baby greens every day along with something else, like carrots, cucumbers, cactus leaf, tomato. The only thing he'll eat is the green leaf lettuce and carrots. That's it. Last week we had red leaf lettuce, he'll eat the green part but when he gets to the red, he leaves it. This week he won't even touch the kale. He just ate his carrots and stopped. And he never touches anything from the spring miss lettuces.
I KNOW that he needs variety and that the best way to achieve that is a rotating variety of these plants mixed in with other seasonal things like dandelion, ect. But if he'll only eat green leaf, what do I do?
I did get a bag of hay, but since reading here I've figured out why he won't eat it since its the kaytee brand and apparently old and dry. I will look into a feed store for fresh grasses.
I would like to post some photos of him tomorrow. Because he is the most beautiful Russian.
and because I would love some opinions on the health of his beak and nails and thoughts on if he really is a he.I look forward to getting to know everyone here and learning from the wealth of knowledge here. I hope to be a lifelong tort owner and am already thinking when the husband retires from the military, I want to end up somewhere a little warmer so we can own a sulcata too and have a big ,beautiful outdoor enclosure!
