# ELEPHANT GRASS



## ALDABRAMAN (Oct 22, 2014)

Has anyone had any exposure or experience with elephant grass? I have contacted almost every local plant nursery, either they never heard of it and/or have no idea where to get it. From what i understand it is a fantastic food source for tortoises. Any information and opinions welcome. If i find a source to get some i am going to try and grow/feed it to my aldabra group.


----------



## russian/sulcata/tortoise (Oct 22, 2014)

Yvonne G mailed me some seeds, thank you again Yvonne! i planted it about a month ago and it has finally started to sprout.


----------



## ALDABRAMAN (Oct 22, 2014)

russian/sulcata/tortoise said:


> Yvonne G mailed me some, thank you again Yvonne! i planted it about a month ago and it has finally started to sprout.



~ Can you post a picture and share how you maintenance it?


----------



## ALDABRAMAN (Oct 22, 2014)

russian/sulcata/tortoise said:


> Yvonne G



~ Would you mind posting a picture of yours and where you found it?


----------



## russian/sulcata/tortoise (Oct 22, 2014)

sure its 10:28pm right now, ill post a pic tomorrow


----------



## ALDABRAMAN (Oct 22, 2014)

russian/sulcata/tortoise said:


> sure its 10:28pm right now, ill post a pic tomorrow



~ Great! Does the tortoise like it?


----------



## Millerlite (Oct 22, 2014)

russian/sulcata/tortoise said:


> sure its 10:28pm right now, ill post a pic tomorrow


 Lol, no now! Being a tortoise forum member is a 24/7 job  I'm just kidding btw I know it's hard to get that sarcastic tone while typing lol. On a real note I'm very interested in this grass. Always looking for new things to try and grow 

Kyle


----------



## naturalman91 (Oct 22, 2014)

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00L1WDFMQ/?tag=exoticpetnetw-20

i found some seed's on amazon i've never dealt with it so i don't know what' it's like hope i was able to help


----------



## russian/sulcata/tortoise (Oct 22, 2014)

ALDABRAMAN said:


> ~ Great! Does the tortoise like it?


i havent fed it to them yet, there only little sprouts. I'm going to wait till the plant is established to replant it in my torts cages.


----------



## ALDABRAMAN (Oct 22, 2014)

russian/sulcata/tortoise said:


> i havent fed it to them yet, there only little sprouts. I'm going to wait till the plant is established to replant it in my torts cages.



~ I see, I have seen a video on youtube by Camp Kenan, looks like good stuff!


----------



## russian/sulcata/tortoise (Oct 22, 2014)

oh i love watching Kamp kenan, he seems like such a cool dude! I saw that video and thats what made we want to have elephant grass!


----------



## russian/sulcata/tortoise (Oct 22, 2014)

Yvonne can you please post some pics of your elephant grass?


----------



## ALDABRAMAN (Oct 22, 2014)

russian/sulcata/tortoise said:


> oh i love watching Kamp kenan, he seems like such a cool dude! I saw that video and thats what made we want to have elephant grass!



~ Me too!


----------



## russian/sulcata/tortoise (Oct 22, 2014)

doesn't he also is florida. go to his house and ask for some elephant grass lol jk


----------



## Yvonne G (Oct 23, 2014)

russian/sulcata/tortoise said:


> Yvonne can you please post some pics of your elephant grass?



Sorry, I've pulled it all up and tossed it. But the seeds have spread, so there will be more picture opportunities next spring. But, I must confess, I may have mis-named my grass. A couple years ago I bought elephant grass seeds and tossed them into the desert tortoise, sulcata and leopard yards. The grass didn't do much in those yards because the tortoises tend to overgraze them, however, the following year I had this very tall grass come up all over the non-grazing tortoise areas - the box turtle pens mostly. It grew two or three feet tall, and I just naturally assumed it was the elephant grass. But after seeing a picture similar to the one at the top of this thread, I don't think what I have is elephant grass. Mine looks more like crab grass that has been nuked...that is, huge clumps of crab grass, two or three feet tall.

I bought my elephant grass seeds online. A Google search will pull it up for you.


----------



## russian/sulcata/tortoise (Oct 23, 2014)

if my torts will eat the grass, its all good lol


----------



## Turtlepete (Oct 23, 2014)

Pretty sure sulcatafood.com sells clumps.


----------



## mike taylor (Oct 23, 2014)

Yes they do but I know they don't ship to Texas . Don't know if they sell yo Florida .


----------



## Neal (Oct 23, 2014)

Is it easy to maintain or does it become invasive?


----------



## Jacqui (Oct 23, 2014)

Neal said:


> Is it easy to maintain or does it become invasive?



Very invasive


----------



## Yvonne G (Oct 23, 2014)

The stuff I have is very invasive. If the tortoises don't eat it, it gets out of control.


----------



## Kapidolo Farms (Oct 24, 2014)

http://www.feedipedia.org/node/12365 It seems it's also called Napier grass (Pennisetum purpureum) is the best cross reference I get for a latin name. Calciumhosphorus ratio is mediocre based on the data set at the website posted here. Great for digestable matter and fiber content though.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pennisetum_purpureum for a general idea of this plant. That is if -pedias don't affend.

I guess the colon comes up as a pink smiley tongue out face, I sought to use the colon for the ratio of calcium to phosphorus.


----------



## Tom (Oct 24, 2014)

Will said:


> I guess the colon comes up as a pink smiley tongue out face, I sought to use the colon for the ratio of calcium to phosphorus.



Only when its followed by a capital "P" with no space in between. : P


----------



## Alaskamike (Oct 27, 2014)

I went in my side lot. Some is growing there. Cut some leaves and put it with morning food. They ate it all. 

It has little hairs on leaves that feel abrasive but the torts didn't seem to care . 
There are a 100 different varieties. Should be easy to find along the canals in Florida. I'm going to keep my eye out for some different ones


----------



## ThorTheTort (Jul 9, 2016)

Can sulcatas eat it? I have two sulcatas and I was wondering if they could eat it. I know leopard tortoises can but not sure about sulcatas. Please Help.


----------



## wellington (Jul 9, 2016)

ThorTheTort said:


> Can sulcatas eat it? I have two sulcatas and I was wondering if they could eat it. I know leopard tortoises can but not sure about sulcatas. Please Help.


Pretty much anything a sully and eat a leopard can and vice versa


----------



## tortadise (Jul 9, 2016)

Not sure about this grass. But I do know Guinea grass is awesome for herbivores. It too is highly invasive and grows extremely fast. The tortoise down south don't seem to consume it when mature(which this grass can get 6-7' tall) but when mowed down they will feed off the new growth and maintain it, I'd presume the elephant grass is similar.


----------



## Anyfoot (Jul 10, 2016)

ALDABRAMAN said:


> Has anyone had any exposure or experience with elephant grass? I have contacted almost every local plant nursery, either they never heard of it and/or have no idea where to get it. From what i understand it is a fantastic food source for tortoises. Any information and opinions welcome. If i find a source to get some i am going to try and grow/feed it to my aldabra group.
> 
> View attachment 100998


This would be a challenge even for your army of aldabra's. eBay.


----------



## BrianWI (Jul 13, 2016)

One hatchling sulcata would take that down. Dang they eat!


----------



## ALDABRAMAN (Oct 15, 2016)

I wanted to add to this thread, I am in a purchase contract with a multiple acre piece of property that is full of elephant grass. It is abundant and probably over three acres is saturated with it. I was so surprised when i started to identify some of the trees and vegetation. I took a few photo's this morning when while looking for survey markers, not the best of all the abundant elephant grass, however i will take more at a later date.


----------



## ALDABRAMAN (Oct 27, 2016)

Will said:


> http://www.feedipedia.org/node/12365 It seems it's also called Napier grass (Pennisetum purpureum) is the best cross reference I get for a latin name. Calciumhosphorus ratio is mediocre based on the data set at the website posted here. Great for digestable matter and fiber content though.



Unsure if this is even good for them, seems like it has a saw blade type texture and the local gopher tortoise population does not touch it.


----------



## Conor Belton (May 29, 2017)

Is it illegal to plant invasive plants?


----------



## Conor Belton (Jun 12, 2017)

How do you plant the stuff. I got seeds and have no instructions on how to plant it for my Hermann tortoise.


----------



## sulcatafood (Dec 13, 2017)

What we sell is dwarf elephant grass. The tortoises like eatung it better than the regular and it does not grow out of control like the tall stuff. It doesn't not survive well in areas which receive freezing temperatures. 
We are currently sold out of plants we can ship to CA, AZ, LA, and TX - but will be sterile propagating more soon. It doesn't grow well from seed for us, so we only sell sterile propagated plants to the states mentioned above or root divisions to other states. 
sulcatafood.com


----------



## Hugo's Home (Dec 14, 2017)

sulcatafood said:


> What we sell is dwarf elephant grass. The tortoises like eatung it better than the regular and it does not grow out of control like the tall stuff. It doesn't not survive well in areas which receive freezing temperatures.
> We are currently sold out of plants we can ship to CA, AZ, LA, and TX - but will be sterile propagating more soon. It doesn't grow well from seed for us, so we only sell sterile propagated plants to the states mentioned above or root divisions to other states.
> sulcatafood.com


Hmm I always thought it was illegal to ship elephant grass to az since it is so invasive.(at least what another company told me) Glad to hear you will ship to us down here! Probably order in the spring! Thanks!


----------



## Kapidolo Farms (Dec 14, 2017)

sulcatafood said:


> What we sell is dwarf elephant grass. The tortoises like eatung it better than the regular and it does not grow out of control like the tall stuff. It doesn't not survive well in areas which receive freezing temperatures.
> We are currently sold out of plants we can ship to CA, AZ, LA, and TX - but will be sterile propagating more soon. It doesn't grow well from seed for us, so we only sell sterile propagated plants to the states mentioned above or root divisions to other states.
> sulcatafood.com




What do think sterile starts will cost? When they are available to ship later on.

How big should a clump be before being split? 

The few folks I've spoken with who have grown the larger type find it becomes a nuisance pretty quick, but maybe they just didn't harvest frequently enough for feeding to keep it under control. Do you plant this in the enclosure (risking I assume being eaten to the ground) or do you grow it outside the enclosure and harvest it periodically to feed.

I guess the short version question is "how do you manage the crop for food?"


----------

