My sulcata has a large yard. He never runs out of grass and weeds of various types to eat. We have a rabbit and i wondered if my sulcata would eat rabbit food. I looked at the ingredients and it didnt seem to have anything in it that Mazuri didnt have. (Except Mazuri has more stuff.) So i moistened it and mixed it with a few greens. He chowed down on it. He really seemed to like it. I figure he gets just about everything he needs from the yard but i do offer cuddle bones for him. Do u guys think it would be ok to feed it to him occasionally as a treat?
Can I occasionally feed my sulcata rabbit pellets?
- Thread starter gustaf
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If I'm not mistaken, rabbit food is manufactured with rabbits in mind, so it contains vitamins and minerals for rabbits. I think a bit as an occasional treat isn't going to harm your tortoise, but I wouldn't use it on a regular basis.
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If you want to feed rabbit foods then feed the timothy hay or other grass hays for rabbits .
mike taylor said:
This is the right idea.
Ya he does have some timothy hay in his house for bedding. And by no means do i plan on feeding him rabbit pellets very often. Rabbits are vegitarians too so i didnt figure it would do any harm. And it does have some calcium carbonate in it so that could be a good way to occasionally suppliment calcium. I have yet to see this guy eat a cuttle bone. Maybe i will offer him a little every few weeks or so. I think he gets most of the nutrients he needs from yard grazing.
What I do is scrape the cuttlebone, with a knife, or even with your fingernail, over some wet food and it sprinkles like a dust and voila! cuttlebone cannot be avoided. Sneaky. : )
Thats a good technique. I do that too. But i used to have a sulcata that would just plain eat a whole cuttlebone. Sully has showed no interest in doing so. But i think i have read some other posts where someone said their sulcata would occasionally eat one. Like the they would go a long time without eating it and then just decided to eat it. Then they would go a long time again before eating another.
LadyKraken
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Wow I had this same question today I know this is a very old post but I think is not good to feed because I have seen the rabbit pellet food analysis and protein goes 13-18% I think thats too high for a tortoise?
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If you go to the rabbit section of the store they have bags of mixed weeds you can feed.
SGT Fish
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what about the alfalfa pellets they sell for rabbits, i think they sell them as edible bedding too? i just saw some in a store and I know everyone says not to use it as a substrate, but i was wondering if anyone feeds it to them. just made me curious, thats all
LadyKraken
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Do you know any specific brand?
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It doesn't matter the brand as long as the ingredients are right .
No. Its not. As long as they are well hydrated, some occasional plant protein is good for them.
I feed the alfalfa pellets that are for horses. Only in winter months and not every day. This is along with greens, Mazuri, weeds/leafs I was able to save for winter feeding and anything else I can find that they can have
Read the posts above by Yvonne G it answers your question.
Your friend shouldn't have so many if she can't afford to feed them properly. That's like running a puppy mill!!!
Used occasionally, with a well hydrated tortoise, as a way to add fiber and variety to grocery store greens, it is fine. Used every day by itself, its not good.
For my house rabbits I use kaytees Timothy complete.and as little alfalfa kibble as possible even for a baby for food. And I only use oxbow juvenile rabbit to mix in. Those are the only two I will use because they don't have corn in them. I don't think my bunny kibble would hurt a tortoise in a pinch. But since there actually is a good tortoise kibble that is formulated for a tortoise I use the mazuri LS for my Russian. Mazuri has other blends. And since your tort likes Timothy hay....it looks like you have your work cut out for you 😉🤗
