Teeny and tiny grazing

[Ron Alexander]

My two sulcata tortoises grazing together

 

[Hutsie B]

how cute. How small are they? Hutsie

 

[Ron Alexander]

Maybe 5-6 inches from tip to tip of the shells. I have had them for about half a year now and they havent gotten too much bigger around but have gotten quite a bit heavier

 

[Tom]

Hi Ron.

Give these a read through:
https://tortoiseforum.org/threads/beginner-mistakes.45180/
https://tortoiseforum.org/threads/how-to-raise-a-healthy-sulcata-or-leopard-version-2-0.79895/
https://tortoiseforum.org/threads/for-those-who-have-a-young-sulcata.76744/

 

[144 Grandpa Turtle]

Hi Ron

 

[Ron Alexander]

Hey Tom! I have actually read it quite a bit over the last couple weeks, a few times over actually lol. I appreciate you caring though! I see your an extremely experienced and knowledgeable person on this subject. How do you think they look? They are currently on cypress chips, pretty good size chips nothing small. I feed them a spring mix that I’ve been steadily incorporating more grass into, from my yard and some African grass mix I purchased and have been growing. I Sprinkle calcium on the food a couple times a week. Soak the torts every day or every other day if I’m busy. Their housed on my porch at the moment as I’m in Florida and the sun shines through nice and hard daily. I will be making an outdoor enclosure for them after December as I will be moving; something large with some sort of chain/mesh on top as they are still small and there are many critters around here and large birds. They love to steadily roam and eat all day though! They are actually housed together at the moment, with no signs of bullying or lethargy in either but I will be separating them when I build the outdoor enclosure as I have read about keeping them in pairs and I don’t just want them to live, I want them to thrive and be the happiest torts they can be

 

[Ron Alexander]

Hi Ron
View attachment 220726

How’s it going out west man? Good turtle weather this time of year?

 

[Ron Alexander]

Hi Ron.

Give these a read through:
https://tortoiseforum.org/threads/beginner-mistakes.45180/
https://tortoiseforum.org/threads/how-to-raise-a-healthy-sulcata-or-leopard-version-2-0.79895/
https://tortoiseforum.org/threads/for-those-who-have-a-young-sulcata.76744/

Ah I commented on my own post before I learned how to do this

 

[Tom]

Hey Tom! I have actually read it quite a bit over the last couple weeks, a few times over actually lol. I appreciate you caring though! I see your an extremely experienced and knowledgeable person on this subject. How do you think they look? They are currently on cypress chips, pretty good size chips nothing small. I feed them a spring mix that I’ve been steadily incorporating more grass into, from my yard and some African grass mix I purchased and have been growing. I Sprinkle calcium on the food a couple times a week. Soak the torts every day or every other day if I’m busy. Their housed on my porch at the moment as I’m in Florida and the sun shines through nice and hard daily. I will be making an outdoor enclosure for them after December as I will be moving; something large with some sort of chain/mesh on top as they are still small and there are many critters around here and large birds. They love to steadily roam and eat all day though! They are actually housed together at the moment, with no signs of bullying or lethargy in either but I will be separating them when I build the outdoor enclosure as I have read about keeping them in pairs and I don’t just want them to live, I want them to thrive and be the happiest torts they can be

Outside all the time is not good for babies, regardless of climate. It tends to make them grow much slower, and even with humidity, they tend to pyramid a bit.

Cypress is not my favorite substrate, but I don' think its harmful.

Adding the grass is good, but they need more than spring mix as a base. If you must use grocery store greens, favor endive and escarole. But try to use weeds, mulberry leaves, grape leaves, hibiscus leaves, and so many other things that are free and better. Start growing your own spineless opuntia cactus stands too. The pads are really good food for them and super convenient.

 

[no one]

Hello Ron, welcome to the forum.

 

[Ron Alexander]

Outside all the time is not good for babies, regardless of climate. It tends to make them grow much slower, and even with humidity, they tend to pyramid a bit.

Cypress is not my favorite substrate, but I don' think its harmful.

Adding the grass is good, but they need more than spring mix as a base. If you must use grocery store greens, favor endive and escarole. But try to use weeds, mulberry leaves, grape leaves, hibiscus leaves, and so many other things that are free and better. Start growing your own spineless opuntia cactus stands too. The pads are really good food for them and super convenient.

Yeah iv been experimenting with their food, I was trying a grass heavy mix but they don’t seem to like that very much. Although when I took this picture they were just grazing outside so I’ll be letting them do that more probably now that they’ll eat the grass. And hmm that’s hard to believe they grow slower outside, everything Iv seen suggested moving them outside as fast as possible. I figured more room and real sunlight would be best. I can move them inside as I already have a uvb bulb, just not sure what to keep them in that would be large enough

 

[Ron Alexander]

Outside all the time is not good for babies, regardless of climate. It tends to make them grow much slower, and even with humidity, they tend to pyramid a bit.

Cypress is not my favorite substrate, but I don' think its harmful.

Adding the grass is good, but they need more than spring mix as a base. If you must use grocery store greens, favor endive and escarole. But try to use weeds, mulberry leaves, grape leaves, hibiscus leaves, and so many other things that are free and better. Start growing your own spineless opuntia cactus stands too. The pads are really good food for them and super convenient.

And iv been curious, does any weed or grass work? Being in swfl there is an abundance of grass and weeds. Iv been giving them the grass but didn’t want to pick some harmful weeds or something. I also have a couple hibiscus I have been giving them the leaves of and some flowers

 

[Tom]

Yeah iv been experimenting with their food, I was trying a grass heavy mix but they don’t seem to like that very much. Although when I took this picture they were just grazing outside so I’ll be letting them do that more probably now that they’ll eat the grass. And hmm that’s hard to believe they grow slower outside, everything Iv seen suggested moving them outside as fast as possible. I figured more room and real sunlight would be best. I can move them inside as I already have a uvb bulb, just not sure what to keep them in that would be large enough

This is all explained in the first two links I posted back in post number 4.

And iv been curious, does any weed or grass work? Being in swfl there is an abundance of grass and weeds. Iv been giving them the grass but didn’t want to pick some harmful weeds or something. I also have a couple hibiscus I have been giving them the leaves of and some flowers

This is all explained in the third link from post number 4.

Most of the common grasses are fine, some weeds are good and some are not. It will take some time to learn about the ones near you. You can post pics here, or take samples to a local nursery and ask to see the local plant nerd for weed ID help.

 

[Ron Alexander]

This is all explained in the first two links I posted back in post number 4.

I wasn’t really asking a question; more or less just thinking out loud. You don’t seem much for conversation and are coming off as kind of a **** if you didn’t realize. And your first 2 posts make no mention of indoor vs outdoor housing related to growth. I did find a thread where you talked about that though somewhere else. And I wasn’t asking about enclosure size, just kind of stating the obvious that an indoor will not be anywhere close to as large as the outdoor as I don’t currently have an unused room in my house.


This is all explained in the third link from post number 4.

Most of the common grasses are fine, some weeds are good and some are not. It will take some time to learn about the ones near you. You can post pics here, or take samples to a local nursery and ask to see the local plant nerd for weed ID help.

yeah iv read this, I have no idea what weeds are what. Was looking for a simple answer such as, “well about 80-90% of what you find will be safe” or “I would be careful only about half the weeds you find outside would be considered safe” I’m not trying to be rude, you have been very helpful and informative. Just not quite as welcoming as everybody else. The vibe your giving off is, don’t ask anymore questions or bother with interacting in this forum just read the first three sticky posts and **** off

 

[Tom]

And yeah iv read this, I have no idea what weeds are what. Was looking for a simple answer such as, “well about 80-90% of what you find will be safe” or “I would be careful only about half the weeds you find outside would be considered safe” I’m not trying to be rude, you have been very helpful and informative. Just not quite as welcoming as everybody else. The vibe your giving off is, don’t ask anymore questions or bother with interacting in this forum just read the first three sticky posts and **** off

The idea is that over the years thousands of people ask the same questions over and over. It takes a lot of time to type up a detailed response to each and every one. I don't have that kind of time most days, so I spend a lot of time on a day when I do have time to type up a good response and make threads like the ones I linked for you.

The vibe you are picking up is twofold: 1. I've got things to do and don't have a lot of time to type up a big response, and 2. Mild frustration/irritation that the questions you are asking are directly addressed and well explained in the threads that were linked, so it appears that you didn't read them.

I've been in your shoes and know how it feels to be new to tortoise keeping and unsure of all the answers. I ask you to take a minute to imagine what it might be like in my shoes, given what I've explained above.

So the vibe is not "**** off". They vibe is: "Hey man, the answers to the questions you are asking are in those threads that I spent a lot of time typing up to help you out, so please give them a read through to get the answers to your current questions, and a whole lot more questions that are likely going to come up." Then, most of the time, I say something like: "After reading those threads come back and ask for more explanation or detail. We are all here to talk tortoises and your questions will fuel the conversation!"

Your question about which weeds was a good one, and that's why I took the time to answer it specifically. There is not a percentage. It just depends on what is growing around your area. Its different for everyone. You might have 99% good ones in your yard, but you'll still need to know that 1% that aren't so good. It takes time to learn them all and that's why I offered help here if you post pics of your weeds, and offered a tip for help outside the forum too. Even though I know most of my weeds here after all these years, I still occasional post a pic here, or take a sample over to Sandy at my local nursery. That woman seems to know every plant in existence and some that don't exist anymore.

So please accept my apology if I sounded abrupt, or if you felt dismissed. Not intended that way.