The Tortoise Table

Hello,
My Russian tortoise has been with me for about six months, and he only wants to eat green lettuce and carrots. He will eat kale if it's mixed in with his lettuce, but he won’t touch other nutritious options like collard greens. I've tried soaking veggies in fruit juices and using salad toppers, as well as gradually increasing the amount of kale, but he's still very picky. Any tips?

Hi Kathleen and many apologies for such a late response! For some reason we didn't get notified of your posting as we usually do, and I have only just seen it.

Tortoises can be picky eaters but you can trick him into having a healthier diet. I should say first that Russian tortoises don't have digestive systems that deal well with the natural sugars in fruit, so I wouldn't give him fruit or any fruit juice either. Some vegetables are OK for some tortoises and some aren't, and you can always look up any plant here https://www.thetortoisetable.org.uk/ in our database.

Here is a link to our article in introducing a healthier diet https://www.thetortoisetable.org.uk/tor ... -new-diet/ Basically just cut up something he likes (like green lettuce) into smallish pieces and thoroughly wet them. Then cut up the food you want to introduce into very tiny pieces and sprinkle just a few of them onto the lettuce. Because the leaves are wet the new food will stick to them and when he eats the lettuce he will get some of the new food. Gradually reduce the amount of lettuce and increase the amount of new food and eventually he will be eating the new food.

Basically you want to try and introduce him to fibrous plants, like weeds (sowthistle, plantain, dandelions in moderation, etc.) and there are lots of garden plants and flowers that are good for him. If you can't find a plant on our database, contact us and we will look it up for you.

Here's a link to a care sheet for Russian tortoises (also called Horsfields), and I hope you find it useful: https://www.tortoise-protection-group.o ... 014New.pdf

Nina
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