Reptile & Amphibian Forums

My russian lives indoor in an awesome home- 150 gallon aquarium with sides covered 3 feet of dirt to dig in live plants etc- the special indoor light bulb, etc. we have had her for a year now, she sees happy, eats like a horse digs up her plants and munches on them. She used to sleep with all her legs and head in her shell but here recently she has been sleep with everything out of her shell. I recently completely cleaned out her cage and gave her new dirt and new plants. She has a large flower pot I put on its side and put some dirt in it for her to hide in. She is still small- about 4 1/2 inches. I only feed her fruit and veggies but I recently read where they should eat some meat once in a while. Can I have some opinions.

Thanks Carrie

Assuming that your tortoise is otherwise healthy, I think that sleeping with everything hanging out is a sign of relaxation. My russkies do that when basking on a rock while outdoors.

As far as diet, I would cut way back on fruit because it seems to lead to diarrhea. A little every once in awhile seems OK.

The bulk of the diet needs to be leafy greens like dandelion plants, plantain (yard weed), clover, other broad leaf weeds, and grocery greens like endive, collards, etc. A small part of the diet can consist of carrots, squash, and other veggies. They also love flowers like dandelions, clover flowers, and hibiscus.

See www.russiantortoise.org for details.

NO MEAT. NONE. EVER. While I've seen my juvenile russian eat half an earthworm on a couple occassions, all of my russians have an overwhelming urge to eat plants that are green, yellow, orange or red. The adults totally ignore bugs. People used to feed dog and cat food to their tortoises, but aside from a few humid forest dwelling tortoises like redfoots, meat products can lead to all kinds of problems, especially for arid dwelling, herbivorous tortoises like russians. Their digestive tracts are designed for high-fiber, low-fat and low-protein plants and grasses.

You also need to supplement the diet with some calcium powder. Even though you have a special UV light on him, your tortoise may still need a little vitamin D supplementation. The website may help you with that issue.

She only gets fruit once every 2 weeks. She doesn't poop much so the vet told me to give her some once in a while. She eats a lot of spinach, lettuce, collard greens and occasionally a tomato which she loves. We pick her dandalions and I have 2 hibiscus plants that I grow specifically for her without fertalizers etc. In her cage, she has several large clumps of grass which she mostly likes to lay in, collards greens plant, broccolli plants (which never make it to have brocolli on it) and brussel sprout plants. She munches on all of it. She's kinda spoiled but we like her that way. What kind of calcium supplement should I get though. Do I just sprinkle it on her food? When we first got her from the pet store, she wasn't in the greatest of shape- which is basically why we bought her- the pet store wasn't taking very good care of her. She was severally dehydrated and her skin was actually cracked on her legs. I took her straight to the vet and he gave her some medicine there and we gave her a vitamin supplement at home that was more like a carmel consistancy. We had to put about a pea sized spot on a peice of lettuce for her to take everyday until she was better and her legs were healed.
thanks Carrie

A little fruit every couple weeks is OK.

Without going into a big lecture about "anti-nutrients", I would recommend cutting back on the spinach, broccoli and brussel sprouts. There are substances in some foods that block absorption of calcium and interfere with thyroid function. The above three foods fall into that category and need to be fed sparingly.

As for lettuce, make sure it's a dark variety, not iceberg.

Add in clover and other weeds from a chemical free area if you can.

For calcium powder I use RepCal "Phosphorus-Free Calcium with Vitamin D". Even if you are using a special light that provides UV-B rays, you probably should add some calcium with D once or twice a week by sprinkling a little bit on the food. If your tortoise gets a few hours of unfiltered sunlight a week, then you can just use the variety of calcium without D3 added. I also leave chunks of cuttle bone (from the bird section of the pet store) in the pen. They nibble on it as they need more calcium.

And consult www.russiantortoise.org for a list of foods.

I wouldn't recommend feeding a Russian any form of meat. I would think an occasional worm or bug is ok if the tortoise will take it but I've never tried it on my Russians.
-----
Ed
Tortoise_Keepers-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
Trying to keep the fun in Chelonian care