My guy won't eat

[JohnnyB]

Hi, sorry if this is a repeat question, but I'm new to these guys and don't know what to do. We bought our Russian tortoise on Saturday and gave him a heat lamp and UV light as directed. The thing is, he won't eat. We've given him kale, spinach, carrots, and different kinds of lettuce. He won't eat any of it.

Any suggestions?

[Didi]

Give it time. He is probably used to bad food and is shocked from the new environment.  It won't hurt him to go a while without food.  Try bright colored food like raddicio or if you have a garden, zucchini blossoms, dandelion flowers or other edible flowers.  Also, give him a bath in warm water.  Sometimes that will stimulate them eating.  Also, limit carrots and spinach.
http://www.russiantortoise.org/russiantortoisediet.htm
http://www.russiantortoise.org/care_sheet.htm
Good luck!  What did you name the little guy?

[JohnnyB]

We named him Carl. I think we overwhelmed him when we brought him home, my three kids want to be around him all the time. I'm trying to get them to give him some space.

How do you suggest soaking him? I put him in a dish of water and he climbed out as fast as he could. He was in there for seconds. I know I need to change his substrate, the pet store gave us rabbit pellets, but I'm getting that those are no good?

Lots to learn

[ginababy]

The pet store sold me pellets too and I returned the opened bag to the store and told them that isn't what torts are 0supposed to have.  They took it back.   Soak Carl in a small basin that he can't get out of, 2x week for 20-30 minutes in luke warm water.  The water should come up to a little below his chin.  If you put the water too high, he'll panic.  He might try and get out of the basin until he's used to it.  You should try and keep the kids away from him until he adjusts to his new environment or he'll become more stressed.  What type of light and wattage are you using and what are the temps under his lamp?  They should be 90-95 on the warm side and 70 on the cool side.