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My Tortoise

22 16:13:49

Question
Hello

I have a russian tortoise named Peanut. She is a female and i do not know how old she is, the woman i got her from couldnt tell me. Iv had her for about a year now. The past 2 days she hasnt been very active and shes not eating as much. Normaly her dinner time is her super favorite! And eats everything. Shes my happy go luckly girl and i need to make sure shes happy.

Her shell is about 5 inches long. I feed her collard, turnip greens and red leaf lettace. Sometimes grape tomatos for a snack, apple peels. Butternut squash, carrots and her vitamins everyday. I have a UVA and UVB heat lamp for her. I soak her in warm water everyday.

Thank you for helping :]

Answer
I am not super happy with the diet. It seems to need more roughage, grasses, and hays. Reed-leaf lettuce is not bad, but it is not very nutritious- maybe swap it for Timothy hay or cactus pads, etc.

A couple days off feeding is not really anything too special- these guys routinely go a week between feeding in the wild if they are otherwise healthy. It may be the weather, it may be too dry in the habitat (soaks help, but do not fix dehydration), it may just be that she wants something different for a meal- they can get finicky once in a while.

She MAY have a little digestion problem from the wet food and tomatoes, she may be too warm...

What I suggest is checking her cares and diet against a good standard. I recommend http://www.russiantortoise.org

If everything seems good and she is still not eating, it could be internal parasites (very common in Russians), etc.

You can also try http://www.tortoiseforum.org for a second opinion.

Good luck!