Okay...so our local herp society volunteered this past weekend to help fix up some exhibits at a local zoo here in southwest Alabama. I knew they had some baby and adult sulcatas, as well as adult gophers (which I can only assume were there on the property before the zoo was built). Turns out they had some baby gophers as well.
We weren't there to be nosey. The zoo's owner informed me that the adults breed every year, and when they find the babies, they bring them inside to keep zoo visitors from pocketing them, I guess. I assume they have the proper permit to do this; so we didn't ask questions.
Anyway, they had them in a wire cage with a heat lamp on top and a blanket inside. With my basic knowledge of tortoise husbandry, I set them up in a 20-gal (thats all was available) with cypress mulch.
Apparently, there is only one girl there who mainly works with the herps, and she admits that she knows very little about them. I want to help them out, so my main question is: what is the proper diet for a baby gopher tortoise? Obviously, there's not any caresheets or books on captive husbandry for this species (given that its endangered for all its range), but was just curious if anyone knew about what they eat. Are they close to sulcatas? lots of greens and hay? maybe some veggies thrown in?
We weren't there to be nosey. The zoo's owner informed me that the adults breed every year, and when they find the babies, they bring them inside to keep zoo visitors from pocketing them, I guess. I assume they have the proper permit to do this; so we didn't ask questions.
Anyway, they had them in a wire cage with a heat lamp on top and a blanket inside. With my basic knowledge of tortoise husbandry, I set them up in a 20-gal (thats all was available) with cypress mulch.
Apparently, there is only one girl there who mainly works with the herps, and she admits that she knows very little about them. I want to help them out, so my main question is: what is the proper diet for a baby gopher tortoise? Obviously, there's not any caresheets or books on captive husbandry for this species (given that its endangered for all its range), but was just curious if anyone knew about what they eat. Are they close to sulcatas? lots of greens and hay? maybe some veggies thrown in?