Refusing to eat indoors

[contessa20]

Does anyone have a tort who refuses to eat loose food? Vladimir (RT) will graze when I put him outside for a bit but he just won't eat loose greens of any kind inside. Any thoughts on how to get supplements like calcium and TNT into him when he'll only graze?

 

[Tom]

Clip the stuff he eats outside and feed it to him inside. Leave him in there for a few days until he eats it.

This is ASSUMING your indoor enclosure is up to snuff and properly lit. To HIS standards, not ours.

 

[GeoTerraTestudo]

1) Yes, provide him with some wild weeds from outside. That's probably what he's craving.

2) Whether you feed him grocery greens, wild weeds, or commercial pellets, make sure you keep the diet varied. This helps simulate what it's like to forage naturally, keeps them from getting bored, and provides them with a more balanced diet.

3) Again, make sure your indoor pen provides the right environment. Basking temperatures should be 95-100*F, and lighting should provide UVA to stimulate appetite.

 

[contessa20]

Apparently, the net ate the response I posted yesterday.

Vlad gets a very good variety of farmer's market greens, home grown greens, and outdoor weeds. We have a huge farmer's market that sells stuff I had never even heard of much less considered buying before I started keeping reptiles. We also have a huge garden full of veggies, greens, herbs, fruits, and edible weeds. I've tried cutting and feeding the weeds that he eats when he's foraging outside but he's just not interested. He'll walk all over the paper plate but never munch anything. If I leave him inside for a few days to try to force him to eat, he'll eventually just burrow. As soon as I take him outside though, he charges around the yard eating up everything.

Before he came to me, he was given mixed vegetables and box turtle pellets. I started by mixing a bit of that into the good stuff I was giving him but he still wouldn't bother with any of it.

In the beginning, I had some trays of greens and weeds growing inside the enclosure, but he only trampled them instead of eating.

As for husbandry, this is what his current set-up looks like:

Enclosure - 6' x 2.5' wood

UV - 2 Reptisun 10.0 4' tubes, brand new. He was first under a 100w MegaRay but I wanted something that would cover more of his enclosure.

Basking - 101* in the hottest spot using a 150w flood and tapering down to about 90*.

Heat - The rest of his enclosure is heated with 100w & 75w bulbs. His temps go from 101* at the hottest basking point to 65ish at the coolest end with a water tray. All temps are taken with a temp gun.

Substrate - Coco coir mixed with play sand and partially topped with Timothy and Alfalfa hay. I've noticed that he will occasionally eat a bit of the hay.

Humidity - It stays right around 50 where he's located.

Water - He has water in the enclosure on the cool end and is currently being bathed once or twice a day.

I'd like to try some foraging greens and weeds in his pen again to see if he responds any differently than he did in the beginning. I wonder if it would work to dust the weeds he eats outside with TNT since he refuses to eat indoors.

 

[wellington]

Try digging up some of the things he likes to eat. Plant it inside, he will think he's doing it himself. Might work

 

[contessa20]

Try digging up some of the things he likes to eat. Plant it inside, he will think he's doing it himself. Might work

Okay, that I haven't tried yet. I've bought new seeds for things like dandelions, purslane, cress, etc. and planted them inside. I hadn't considered just digging up what he's eating and replanting it. Good idea.

 

[Tom]

It sounds like your lighting is great and temps are good. I would ditch the sand and hay, but that has nothing to do with this little quirk.

Usually in cases like this it has to do with some element of the lighting. Try experimenting with some light on and off. Often people just have a single incandescent bulb, and things are just to dark and dank. With two 4' tubes and several other bulbs, maybe its just too bright and stark. Just a guess. Its obviously some element of your indoor enclosure that is killing his desire to eat inside.

 

[GeoTerraTestudo]

...He'll walk all over the paper plate but never munch anything. If I leave him inside for a few days to try to force him to eat, he'll eventually just burrow. As soon as I take him outside though, he charges around the yard eating up everything.

This could be nothing, but I've never feed my tortoises or box turtles on paper plates. I've always fed them on ceramic flowerpot dishes, and that has worked fine. Others use plates, etc. I'm wondering if the paper plate emits some artificial odor he doesn't like?

Before he came to me, he was given mixed vegetables and box turtle pellets. I started by mixing a bit of that into the good stuff I was giving him but he still wouldn't bother with any of it.

As you know, his previous diet of mixed vegetables and box turtle pellets are not very good for a Russian tortoise. Still, he might be "hooked" on it. If he likes commercial food, maybe you could replace his box turtle pellets with Mazuri Tortoise Diet, Zoomed Grassland Tortoise Food, or even some less nutritious tortoise pellet like T-Rex or Rep-Cal. As for the mixed vegetables, maybe you could replace them with some other plants in addition to greens and weeds to stimulate his appetite, e.g. grated carrots, cucumbers, or tomatoes (taking advantage of tortoises' attraction to the color red).

 

[contessa20]

Usually in cases like this it has to do with some element of the lighting. Try experimenting with some light on and off. Often people just have a single incandescent bulb, and things are just to dark and dank. With two 4' tubes and several other bulbs, maybe its just too bright and stark. Just a guess. Its obviously some element of your indoor enclosure that is killing his desire to eat inside.

Okay, I'll try that and see if it helps. I only recently put in the additional heat bulbs because he was burrowing a lot. He's been much more active since I've started using the extra bulbs.

This could be nothing, but I've never feed my tortoises or box turtles on paper plates. I've always fed them on ceramic flowerpot dishes, and that has worked fine. Others use plates, etc. I'm wondering if the paper plate emits some artificial odor he doesn't like?

Good idea. That could be an easy fix. I know I've got one of those or a large flat stone out in the garden shed that I can try.

As you know, his previous diet of mixed vegetables and box turtle pellets are not very good for a Russian tortoise. Still, he might be "hooked" on it. If he likes commercial food, maybe you could replace his box turtle pellets with Mazuri Tortoise Diet, Zoomed Grassland Tortoise Food, or even some less nutritious tortoise pellet like T-Rex or Rep-Cal. As for the mixed vegetables, maybe you could replace them with some other plants in addition to greens and weeds to stimulate his appetite, e.g. grated carrots, cucumbers, or tomatoes (taking advantage of tortoises' attraction to the color red).

I had been reading up on Russians for several years before getting him, so I knew right away that his diet was inappropriate. I've actually got some of the Zoomed Grassland and have been soaking some of the box turtle pellets with it to try to entice him. I've been trying to stay away from too many of the fruits and sugary vegetables since I know they're not the best for him, but I'll try anything at this point just to get him to eat something inside.

 

[contessa20]

WooHoo! It has been about a month and Vladimir is finally eating indoors. I completely changed his indoor enclosure around and put in a large stone for feeding, as someone suggested, and it has worked beautifully. He still prefers to graze outdoors, but I can at least get him to eat something inside now if the weather is bad. He's finally completely off of all the pelleted stuff that he was eating before he came to me and he loves spring mix.

 

[GeoTerraTestudo]

Woo hoo, indeed! Well done.

 

[Tom]

Great job! The success stories make everyone smile.