New to Torts, Russian not eating

[SuzyH]

Hi everybody. My name is Kate, but my nickname is Suzy. I'm a long-time animal lover with experience caring for many species (mostly dogs, rabbits, chickens, pigeons, and hamsters). When I was a child my family fostered a box hatchling until it was able to find a permanent home (about a year it was with us) and ever since then I've always wanted a tort of my own but I was waiting for life to get stable. I used to move around a lot and I dragged my cat across the ocean with me a couple times but I didn't want to put a tort through that. Now that life has calmed down, I finally felt ready to get one. I was trying to adopt via PetFinder and I actually had an adoption all lined up about 2 weeks ago. When that fell through (long story, feel bad for the tort in that situation) I was pretty bummed out. Eventually my husband decided enough was enough, he hates seeing me sad so he went out and purchased a Russian for me from the local PetCo. That was a week ago.

My Russian's name is Speedy. Being a pet shop tort, I have no idea how old he is but I gather that he has to be at least 4 years old since we can tell he is def a male.
We live in an apartment for the time being so unfortunately Speedy is an indoor tort and probably won't have a permanent outdoor habitat for at least 18 months-2 years when we finally move into a house. We do have a common yard and we have taken Speedy outside for about 2 hours everyday since we got him, except yesterday because the weather turned cold and today because it is snowing. We live in Oklahoma so even in the winter there are plenty of warm days, I planned on taking him outside for a couple hours anytime the temps were above 55.
Inside he lives in a 4.5' x 3' wooden cage. 1/3 of the cage has substrate that is 6" deep, the rest of the cage has 1" substrate. He really likes to dig down into it so I'm considering making the substrate deeper in the rest of the cage as well.

I wasn't planning on joining a forum just because I figured I read a lot so I'd be able to figure things out on my own but I'm starting to feel like maybe I could use a little help here. Torts are a mystery to me and I'm struggling to get my guy to eat.
I have had him a week and in that week I've seen him eat anything. There is no sign of nibbling on his plate. Nothing. The vet who did his fecal check and gave him the all clear admits that she doesn't know enough about torts to advise us on this matter.
Everyday I have offered him a mix of 3-5 of the following: collard greens, spinach, oregano, dandelion leaves and flowers, rose leaves, celery leaves, cucumber slice, green bell pepper slice, and grated carrot. I grate a bit of cuttlebone over the plate as well. So far he has eaten NONE of it. Not even one little nibble.
I'm planning to go to the indoor nursery this weekend and pick up some potted plants to put inside of his cage because I read that some torts prefer live plants to fresh cut. If that doesn't work then idk what to do.
He also hasn't passed a bowel movement at all, though I suppose that is to be expected since he isn't eating. I *think* he is urinating when I soak him (about 15 minutes every other day) but I'm not 100% sure on that.
Not only is he not eating, but he doesn't seem to be basking. He mostly stays buried in the substrate or in his hidey-house all day. We take him outside at the same time everyday so on the third day we had him he started coming to the door right before that time. When outside, he is a COMPLETELY DIFFERENT TORT. He really comes out of his shell and explores quite bravely when outside. Since the weather was too cold for him to go outside yesterday and today, I tort-proofed a room with a large picture window and let him get some exercise in there instead. He seemed happier than he does in his cage but it obviously wasn't the same.

Should I be worried? Is this normal adjustment behavior? Or is he doomed to be miserable until we can get him a permanent outdoor habitat?
Also, how long can he go without eating? The stupid pet shop employees fed him iceberg lettuce so I'm really hoping that isn't the cause of our diet woes.
Sorry for all these questions. I swear I'm not some idiot who got a tort on impulse. I thought I was ready but now I'm nervous I might be doing something horribly wrong without realizing it.

 

[Yvonne G]

Hi Suzy:

Welcome to the Forum!

Speedy is going through moving-to-a-new-territory syndrome. It's not life-threatening, but you do need to get him started eating.

The first and foremost reason tortoises don't eat is because they are not warm enough. If that's not the case in Speedy's case, then maybe you need to feed him what he's used to eating...only until you can wean him over to a better diet.

So, check your temperatures all over the floor of the habitat. He needs to be able to sit under the light and warm up to at least 80F degrees. We like to have the temp directly under the light be 100+F, fading to around 80-85F on one end and down to room temperature on the other end.

What kind of light have you provided for Speedy? Getting the right kind of UVB seems to give them more energy too. But the spiral-shaped compact fluorescent bulbs aren't a good source of that UV.

Buy some what we call Fruity Pebbles - a jar of the different-colored manufactured tortoise food, because that's probably what he's been getting besides the lettuce. Put down a bed of lettuce and a handful of fruity pebbles on the lettuce. We don't normally recommend this diet, but you have to start with what he's used to eating. Once you get him eating again, you can gradually wean him off that diet and onto a better one.

Good luck! Please keep us informed of Speedy's progress.

 

[SuzyH]

What kind of light have you provided for Speedy? Getting the right kind of UVB seems to give them more energy too. But the spiral-shaped compact fluorescent bulbs aren't a good source of that UV.

I've ordered a combo light bulb that gives both UVA and UVB off Amazon since our pet shop didn't have one. While I wait for that to arrive in the mail, he has a UVA only bulb. Not a spiral one but a round one. Sorta like a sphere except a little more flat. I think it is 100 watts.

I'm not sure of exact brand but I could probably find out. If I go back to the pet shop I'm sure I'd recognize the packaging.

 

[Yvonne G]

Just get rid of that light for now and wait for the UVB bulb you have on order.

 

[SuzyH]

Just get rid of that light for now and wait for the UVB bulb you have on order.

Oh dear, is the UVA bulb that bad?

 

[jeffbens0n]

Russian tortoises tend to slow down a bit when they sense the season is changing. If they are inside, you need to make sure their enclosure is warm(often times our houses are colder in the winter so make sure he's not getting any drafts) and also make sure he is getting a good 13-14 hours of daylight everyday. When they sense the days getting shorter it can trigger a slow down.

 

[SuzyH]

**UPDATE**

Speedy is eating!

I guess the problem was placement of his food dish?

See, I had his deep bedding for digging on the far left of the cage followed by his cool hide, his food and water dishes, then his warm hide and basking area on the far right of the cage. The food dish was only about 7or8 inches from his basking area but I suppose every inch counts. Today I put some food directly on his basking stone and he is eating!
Not just a nibble but big bites!
I think we're gonna be ok...
I was so excited when I saw him eating that I literally started dancing.