New russian won't eat anything but carrots!

rhondak

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Try some radicchio, green leaf, romaine, and dandy lion leaves from your local grocery store. I got my RT from PetSmart 5 years ago and it took a little while for him to adjust to a better diet than what they gave him at the store. He loves the radicchio. Like others have mentioned, he will eat eventually. Kale is good also. You just have to try a few different ones to see what he ends up liking.
 

Gillian M

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He's in a new place and he's adjusting to a new diet (Petco wasn't feeding him anything great, whatever it might have been). He is eating, however much it is, he's active, and he is doing normal things.

He's just fine, although I doubt that makes it any less worrisome for a new owner. It didn't for me! :)

My picky eater, one year later:

View attachment 212361
Gorgeous!
 

Gillian M

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We adopted a young Russian from Petsmart three days ago. We have been offering him a variety of green leafy items and plenty of water. He is in a Tortoise House from Zoo Med, complete with a heat lamp, basking rock (that he loves), UVB light, cuttlebone, and good size water and food dish. We noticed when he poops (which he does frequently, but it's not runny), it was all carrots. By the third day of him not eating, we offered a few small pieces of carrots and he gobbled them right up, picking through the leafy greens to get to them. He is active, happy to stroll around outside in the sun, doesn't mind being bathed, has good color, no indication of a cold or runny nose or eyes. So, what else can I offer this little picky eater? Can I buy timothy hay or orchard hay and try them? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated! Thank you in advance!
Welcome to the forum!

Any pics of your tort?
 

Lenefix

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Hello and welcome.

I'm glad you are here, but sad to let you know that Petsmart usually gives terrible advice and sells people useless, overpriced and sometimes dangerous products.

-The ZooMed tortoise house is too small for anything but a tiny hatchling. Four of those house put together would be too small.
-They typically sell spot bulbs. These aren't good for tortoises. They concentrate too much carapace desiccating heat into too small of an area.
-They often sell red or infra-red bulbs. These are no good either.
-They typically sell those double dome light fixtures. Yep. You guessed it. No good.
-They typical sell the coil type cfl UV bulbs. These sometimes burn tortoise eyes and should not be used.
-They typical sell ramped water bowls. These are dangerous. Several member have come home to find their tortoise upside down in these. They are good for lizards and snakes, but deadly for tortoises.
-The food bowls they sell are typically too steep and tall sided.

Any of this sound familiar?

Read this thread and you'll see why you ned to get out of the pet store and into the hardware store. This will also explain why you shouldn't let him run loose outside.
http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/beginner-mistakes.45180/

Here is the correct care info:
http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/russian-tortoise-care-sheet.80698/

Russians are not grass eaters, so no on the hay.

Please come back and ask any and all questions. We're here to help.

I know this is a couple of years old, but I just have to ask; are you really teaching new RT owners that russians aren't grass eaters? Where in the world did you get that from? Their stable Should be grasses, weeds, hay and flowers! It's just so horrible to read all the totally wrong advise from some people. I'm very curious to know what your source on this is.
 

RosemaryDW

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Russians are not grass eaters. It has taken some time for this aspect of their diet to become apparent to the tortoise owning community and it is still quite common to see grass or hay listed as a recommended food. You may even find old advice that states that on this site, if you look hard enough.

Owners of multiple tortoises or owners who live in cold climates sometimes have to supplement with commercial foods like Mazuri that contain some chopped grasses and other forms of fiber that can be difficult to find in winter. But everything in those diets is chopped and mixed together, Russians will eat grass in that form.

I see you are a new member yourself; I think this is your first post? There is still a lot of well intended but out of date information about tortoises floating around; it can be really hard to sort it all out, especially the food discussions.
 

Sleppo

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Great... so glad despite all our research and seeking out people to talk with, we did everything wrong...
We all do at first, trust me its a learning process! I initially was housing 2 Russians in a glass aquarium because the pet store person told me it was ok. Please read up on the information Tom provided it will get you going in the right direction.
 

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