Hi, I have a 14 yr old Sulcata named Percy (female) . We have had her since she was 6 months. She had a sister, Butsadly we lost her to a respitory infection two yrs ago. We are looking for one to rescue to keep her company. She is a character for sure. We give her free run of the yard so she does not over eat the grass.
We recently were given a Golden foot tortoise by a guy who could not keep him and we like him a whole lot. Though Percy sure does dwarf him LOL!

Does anyone elses Sulcata try to eat the cat food? We got adopted by a stray kitte and its mama and we put a mix of dry and wet cat food out for them. Then we caught Percy eating it! Will it hurt her? we took it away, but my son forgot to put it on the table for the cats and she ate it again!

I read on a few sites that cat and dog food are very bad, and should never be given to tortoises. But then my vet, who specializes in exotic pets and has 3 older Sulcatas, says don't give them any, but don't stress if they get some. It is funny how much differing information is out there. But mine does the same thing....I will find him tipped into the cat bowl crunching away on the dry food. I have a killer picture of the cat and the tortoise eating side by side. But I do try to keep him away from the dog and cat food. Now I have the cat food up on the counter. Knowing my tortoise, I will come home one day and he will have rigged a catapult....

Tortoises should never have protein. Cat/dog food can make your tortoise look like the picture on page 1.
As far as grass in the pen? It will turn to dirt and never grow back as long as they are in there. the best thing to do is keep grassy areas off limits excpet for feeding times. i have my backyard broken up this way.

Cat food also has something in it that kills the tortoises livers. As well as any other reptile. I will look for the article. If the vet says it's fine you may want to check into another vet. No damage seen now but in a few years they die, or get sick because their liver can't function the way it should.

We had an iguana that was fed small amounts of cat food and he was fine until about 5 years old, then he did nothing but lay around because he was in so much pain. He died from liver failure at the age of 6 years and he should have lived another 20-30 years.

IM a sully lover, just cant keep a sully for years to come! theyre too big.
I only have enough room for 3 hermanns and 1 horsefield lol.
^^ lovely pics guys

Hi, How old is you sulcata? Whats his/her name?

Hello to all, I am new here as well. I am new to tortoises as pets but have always had turtles. Tortoise are so much better as far a personallity. I love my sulcata babies. They are still a little timmid and shy but seem to be comming around. I just found this site in a post to craigslist and it seems to be awsome. It's nice to know that there is a place i can go to ask questions and get opinions from other people who love there shelled babies as much as i do. I can't wait to get home and spend a litte more time checking out the site and post pics of the babies and the awsome habitat that we built for the hingback last month......

Hi Brat LOL
I am still learning alot about torts, but i do no that cat and dog food is very bad for them. My tort before i got him was fed dog food as his primary diet. She said (because he loved it) well dog & cat food has alot of protien in it. Sulcatas do not need protien. Thier diet is mostly fiber. When i had taken my tort to the vet he said my tort was malnurished and may shorten his life span. One or two pcs will not hurt them if the happen to be foraging and they find it. Just please becareful. Even fruits are not a good idea, however they can have small amounts once in a while.
I hope this helped.

Hello Tegan, Love to see pics of your babies.

I can't wait to get some pics of my babies on here eather. They are sooooo cute and need to be showed off a little. lol..... I haven't gotten there new baby pics toghter yet. I did get the cutest video of them on my phone, they were fighting over a flower petal. I feel like such the big dork, but how can you not love those little faces looking at you!

[quote=Tortoise Mommy]
Hello Tegan, Love to see pics of your babies.

[quote=Tegan]