# Should I feed baby sulcata at night



## randy (Apr 11, 2012)

Miracle is probably close to around 7-8 weeks now, I give her a good 45 minutes to 1 hour outside at least 5 days a week if not 7 days depending on the weather. My question is should I leave some of her organic salad in her bowel at night for her to munch on, I have been doing this since I've had her cause she seems to be up more in the late night and during the night I can here her scratching around since her tank is right next to my side of the bed. Also when she goes out she is more interested in clover than anything else, is this a big problem?, she does eat other plants at times and when I find a dandelion flower and give it to her she acts like she has been given her favorite desert ever and gobbles them down one by one no matter how many I give her. Also the prickley pear cactus leaves, can I cut them into little pieces and leave them out?, the farmers around here will mow them down into little pieces and they will come back worse than ever, there is no limit on these around here by no means, also is it safe to get them from the fields in the area (not sure if they have been sprayed or not)


----------



## Arizona Sulcata (Apr 11, 2012)

Yes its a good idea to make sure she has food at all times including night time. Mine actually eat most at night. It's not a problem that she likes the clover, very common. The cactus pads are great for them so there's no problem with that either. Glad to hear she's doing well!!


----------



## Yvonne G (Apr 11, 2012)

Of course, I don't know this for sure, but it stands to reason that a prey animal just might be up and around at night looking for food.


----------



## randy (Apr 11, 2012)

Arizona Sulcata said:


> Yes its a good idea to make sure she has food at all times including night time. Mine actually eat most at night. It's not a problem that she likes the clover, very common. The cactus pads are great for them so there's no problem with that either. Glad to hear she's doing well!!


ya, she's doing awesome. Not having any problems at all, shell is perfect and she seems to be very healthy. Today she got a good hour and half outside and two 10 minute bathes during this time, she still gets her salad at night.


----------



## Tom (Apr 11, 2012)

Your tortoise should be sleeping at night. Are you leaving a light on? They need it dark. Nothing wrong with putting some food out in the afternoon, but they should be bedding down for the night around dusk.

Too much of any one food is not good, clover included. Just try to keep the variety up.

I would not use cactus pads from the side of a farming area. Who knows what sort of over sprayed pesticides might be on them... You've got to be careful, especially with a little one. Cactus pads are great because you can just leave a whole pad in there for a while and it won't go bad.


----------



## randy (Apr 13, 2012)

O.K. I realized I screwed up!, have been leaving the light on/thought I was doing everything perfect or close to it. Well two nights ago I turned lights out at about 8:30 p.m. and turn the lights back on at around 8 a.m. in the morning. Concerning the cactus pads, my sister in-laws potted cactus that I took cuttings from are blooming big time now after the cuttings, the little cactus are around the size of a silver dollar, would it be O.K. to cut some of these off and put into the tortoise tank?, figure they might be real tender.


----------



## wellington (Apr 13, 2012)

The cactus would be fine to feed as long as you did not plant the cuttings in soil that has any fertilizers or chemicals of any kind in it, then the new growth should be fine.


----------



## Dagashi (Apr 16, 2012)

randy said:


> O.K. I realized I screwed up!, have been leaving the light on/thought I was doing everything perfect or close to it. Well two nights ago I turned lights out at about 8:30 p.m. and turn the lights back on at around 8 a.m. in the morning. Concerning the cactus pads, my sister in-laws potted cactus that I took cuttings from are blooming big time now after the cuttings, the little cactus are around the size of a silver dollar, would it be O.K. to cut some of these off and put into the tortoise tank?, figure they might be real tender.



 

we did that too initially as when we came home we would swtich on the lights and they would wake up. Now we mope around in the dark for the swtich to turn on the light (farther away from them) so not to disturb them. 
We try not to switch on the lights where they are but sometimes it's really to dark to do anything useful! (they are in our hall). So their timing is sometimes screwed up because of irresponsible parents who want to watch TV occasionally. 

I'm sometimes also guilty of secretly wanting them to wake up and play with me in the night when I get off work!!


----------



## Zamric (Apr 16, 2012)

I have a timer that turns the lights on at 6:30 am (just in time for thier morning soak) and turns the lights off at 6;30 pm (in the winter it wasnt so bad but now it's still full daylight when the tank lights go out)


----------



## Tom (Apr 16, 2012)

randy said:


> O.K. I realized I screwed up!, have been leaving the light on/thought I was doing everything perfect or close to it. Well two nights ago I turned lights out at about 8:30 p.m. and turn the lights back on at around 8 a.m. in the morning. Concerning the cactus pads, my sister in-laws potted cactus that I took cuttings from are blooming big time now after the cuttings, the little cactus are around the size of a silver dollar, would it be O.K. to cut some of these off and put into the tortoise tank?, figure they might be real tender.



Randy, what type of cactus is it? I know that some of them are toxic. If it is any of the opuntia forms, it should be fine. Most of us either burn or wipe the spines of under running water.





Zamric said:


> I have a timer that turns the lights on at 6:30 am (just in time for thier morning soak) and turns the lights off at 6;30 pm (in the winter it wasnt so bad but now it's still full daylight when the tank lights go out)



I set my SA leopards timer to follow the natural daylight cycles here. A little over 10 hours in winter and close to 14 in summer.

For my sulcatas I just keep it closer to 12 all year.

Trying to somewhat mimic what they would experience in the wild...


----------

