It sounds like you are trying to feed him a well-rounded diet, and the uva/uvb bulbs are good, too. But he may not be getting enough calcium or vitamin D.

The foods you listed are supposed to have good levels of calcium, but that depends on the soil the plants grow in. And if the tortoise doesn't chew on the cuttlebone, then you need to supplement.

The other problem is vitamin D. The UVB bulb is supposed to stimulate vitamin D production in the animal, but sometimes the bulb doesn't work, or it's not strong enough.

There are a few things that I do to make sure my russians get enough calcium and d3. When they are indoors their enclosure has UVB fluorescent lights, and I sprinkle RepCal calcium with D3 powder on their food a couple times a week. If the weather is warm and dry, I will let them bask outdoors in a screen cage a few hours a week.

When I keep them outdoors, I don't add D3, but instead scrape cuttlbone over the food. The sun supplies plenty of UVB for vitamin D production.

Summary: If you are keeping a tortoise indoors, add a little calcium and D3 to the diet. If outdoors, just add calcium. A light dusting a couple times a week will do. If you feed pellets that already contain calcium and vitamin D, you can cut back on the supplements.


If you haven't already, check the website below for general information on keeping russians.
Link

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