Russian tortoise not eating correctly ?

[Linhdan Nguyen]

Hi all, so my russian tortoise is not good at eating.. Like he will try to chomp at things but 9/10 tries he wont succeed. Im worried because he finally started to nibble on some food but its like he cant see clearly or something and keeps missing . Hes tried chomping on clovers and grass outside, and the escarole i gave him inside but has very little luck and eventually gives up
Can anyone let me know if this is normal? His eyes are clear & clean. He has had an exam at the vet.
I dont know how to upload a video on here. If someone could help me with that i can post a video of his attempts

 

[MPRC]

If you want to upload a video you have to put it on an external site like youtube, photobucket or vimeo and link it.

Once it is uploaded you just click the "Media" button that looks like a film strip on the new post box.

 

[Linhdan Nguyen]

 

[Linhdan Nguyen]

Can you see it ?

 

[Big Charlie]

It looks fairly normal to me. When I hold out food for Charlie, he often misses. Are you sure he isn't getting any?

 

[Linhdan Nguyen]

It looks fairly normal to me. When I hold out food for Charlie, he often misses. Are you sure he isn't getting any?

He got 2 blades of grass the first day and none the second day. I put leafy greens in his enclosure after standing up as if it were planted there & he didnt get any part of it & end up not eating for the rest of the day :/

 

[Big Charlie]

I can't see his face. Is his mouth normal? Does he have an underbite or a beak that is too long?

 

[Linhdan Nguyen]

No he doesnt. He doesnt oprn his mouth all that wide though. He does have a parasite problem and is being dewormed. Ive had him for a month and he hasnt eaten anything except when he was tube fed and the grass when i took him out the first time. His attempt at the food in his enclosure was also the first so im not sure if hes a little weak so he's not good at it?

 

[Linhdan Nguyen]

Here is his face.

 

[MPRC]

Have you tried offering him a plate of chopped up food that he can shovel into his mouth without having to work so hard? When my bearded dragon would eat grass he pretty much did what your guy was doing.

 

[Linhdan Nguyen]

Have you tried offering him a plate of chopped up food that he can shovel into his mouth without having to work so hard? When my bearded dragon would eat grass he pretty much did what your guy was doing.

He hasnt shown interest in food since 2 days ago, when i first took him out & it was only that day. Hes back to not eating & just sleeping all day. I do leave food out for him daily though. But hes always in the same spot/position, showing he hasnt moved

 

[Linhdan Nguyen]

I will try chopping/ripping up his greens and putting it in his food bowl starting tomorrow though. Hopefully it will change

 

[SarahChelonoidis]

I might try something harder to resist (and easy to soften) like Mazuri to see if you can get him eating.

 

[IIzDaFury]

Hello my friend,

When i hold out food for my tort he misses a good few times before they both manage to catch the leaf, if they miss often i usually help him by directing it towards his mouth as he's trying to eat! i feed them 3 days a week, fairly large amount each serving variaty obc, i chop them up so it's easier for them to eat on a very shallow plate for them! Your tort wont starve for a good while aslong as he's being bathed and drinking!

Sometimes because i work i wake my tortoises up, let them wake up for a good 30 minutes or so then try feeding them. try this?

Thanks..
-Shaun

 

[Linhdan Nguyen]

Hello ! Thanks for the replies. I will try all of these methods and let you all know how it goes.

 

[IIzDaFury]

It may also be worth noting, sometimes my bigger russian tortoise walks away from food every now and then, no idea why, sometimes he does it 2-3 times, i keep bringing him back to his food dish and he starts eating eventually, don't do it too often it could stress the tortoise out if you do it say 7-10 times D: But try that! IF your tortoise does walk away before trying to eat leave it 10-30 seconds and bring the tort back ? ;o

 

[Linhdan Nguyen]

It may also be worth noting, sometimes my bigger russian tortoise walks away from food every now and then, no idea why, sometimes he does it 2-3 times, i keep bringing him back to his food dish and he starts eating eventually, don't do it too often it could stress the tortoise out if you do it say 7-10 times D: But try that! IF your tortoise does walk away before trying to eat leave it 10-30 seconds and bring the tort back ? ;o

I sure will! Like ive said before (or maybe in a different thread) he has a big internal parasite problem so im also putting that into consideration. Hopefully he'll be better and more attracted to food once hes dewormed

 

[Speedy-1]

I would also try Soaked Mazuri pellets !

 

[Linhdan Nguyen]

Hello all, just an update.. Well the update is nothing has worked or changed. His second deworming is tomorrow but he still hasnt pooped since the first deworming/tube feeding. He seems to only be active and attempts to eat when hes outside but due to me being an apartment, i cant have him living outside, i can only have him outside for an hr or a couple of hrs when the weather is nice (still flippy flop here in maryland).
Any more suggestions?
I dont think hes really drinking much water during his daily soaks now either.
Im thinking after hes completed the deworming process, im going to give it more time and if hes still only active outside, i would like someone from a state thats warm mostly year round and can provide him an outdoor enclosure adopt him. I really would love to keep him, but if hes better off with someone that can provide a home for him that hes comfortable with, i'd prefer that.

 

[Yvonne G]

Russian tortoises will eat a bit of grass, but their preferred food items are broad-leaf plants and weeds, NOT GRASS. To that end, buy some endive, escarole and romaine lettuce and chop it up into small pieces. Place it on a feeding tile and put your tortoise in front of it, then move quickly out of his sight. here's a list of Russian tortoise food items:

GREENS

Romaine lettuce (fed on occasion)
Red and green leaf lettuce (fed on occasion)
Endive
Escarole
Radicchio
Chicory
Turnip greens
Mustard greens
Kale
Collards
Spring Mix (mixed salad greens)
cabbage (fed on occasion)


OTHER GOOD CHOICES

Hibiscus (flowers and leaves)
Hosta
Sedum
Mulberry leaves
Hen and Chicks
Ice Plants
Prickly pear flowers, fruit and pads (burn the spines off)
Dandelion
Plantain (not the banana type fruit....the weed plantago major)
Mallow (flowers and leaves)
Henbit
Rose (flowers and leaves....make sure no systemic pesticides were used)
Chrysanthemum flowers
Cornflowers Plagiobothrys ssp
Forsythia (flowers and leaves)
Dayflower Commelina diffusa (flowers and leaves)
Californian Poppy escholzia
Chia Salvia hispanica