# Sulcata won't eat right foods.



## Frankiesauce (Jul 8, 2009)

I will just get right to it. My sulcata tortoise is supposed to eat grasses and hay I know. But he just won't eat it, and I don't know why. So I've been feeding him lettuce. I know it's not good for him but neither is not eating. Please help me out.

Come on guys =[


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## jlyoncc1 (Jul 8, 2009)

Are you feeding iceburg lettuce? That's a big no no. You can feed dandelion greens, green and red leaf lettuce, romaine, escarole and many others. Stay clear of kales and cabages. They don't allow calcium to be absorbed properly. There are lists here on the forum with more thorough items.


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## Yvonne G (Jul 8, 2009)

Hi Frankie:







to the forum!!

First of all, we need to know how big your sulcata is in order to give the correct response.

Babies won't eat grass and hay so you should be offering something like Spring Mix. Its a packaged mixture of baby greens that you can buy in the produce section of the grocery store. After about 2 years old they will start to graze and you can slowly change the diet to grazing. You don't ever have to offer a desert type tortoise hay, unless you don't have grass and weeds for him to graze on. However its a good idea to get him used to eating hay for when the graze is gone (winter). If you're talking about a bigger tortoise, then he needs to be outside grazing, and you don't need to offer any other foods except for treats. Stop the lettuce immediately. He won't starve to death and will eventually eat what you offer him, but hay isn't necessary.

Yvonne


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## Seiryu (Jul 8, 2009)

jlyoncc1 said:


> Are you feeding iceburg lettuce? That's a big no no. You can feed dandelion greens, green and red leaf lettuce, romaine, escarole and many others. Stay clear of kales and cabages. They don't allow calcium to be absorbed properly. There are lists here on the forum with more thorough items.



Kale is bad? I'm not talking large quantities, but to mix in with a "salad" for a tortoise? Almost every site i've ever read said Kale was good or fine to use. First time i've heard it was bad at least.


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## jlyoncc1 (Jul 9, 2009)

I have heard that kale can be given in moderation. I just stay clear of it when there are many other choices that you can give them. I figure why take a chance.

I don't know if you posted anywhere else but what type of enclosure are you using? Is he getting sun/heat? Calcium? Water? Let us know and we can help guide you.

Found this, I knew I read about Kale in a few places:

Feeding of too much goitrogenic vegetables, such as broccoli, Brussels sprouts, kale, cabbage and bok choy. In excess, compounds in these vegetables can impair thyroid function and cause goiter. Since you are going to keep these vegetables and greens to the level of occasional treats only, excess goitrogen intake shouldn't be a problem.

Care must be taken when feeding greens high in calcium oxalate (parsley, spinach, rhubarb, beet greens, collards, carrots tops, etc.) as the oxalic acid binds calcium. Fed in high enough quantities, it may not only cause metabolic bone disease due to preventing the metabolism of enough calcium, it may also cause visceral gout, the mineralization of the soft tissues and internal organs.


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## Maggie Cummings (Jul 9, 2009)

Keep in mind that he can only eat what YOU feed him. So either put him out on graze or feed him good grocery store greens and dandelions and grape leafs, mulberry leafs, most weeds and blossoms. I go out every morning with a bag and collect weeds and leafs and blossoms and I am a disabled old lady so if I can do it, so can you. I give what I have collected to my animals and if they don't like it that means they don't eat that day. If they get hungry enough they'll eat...YOU are the boss not the tortoise...


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