Can tortoise eat fresh grass?

seanang168

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Over at my country in South East Asia, this grass with the common name Cowgrass is everywhere. Do we cut such fresh grass to feed tortoise? Or is this grass even edible? So far, I only buy my greens from the supermarket to feed my Star Tortoises

I cannot bring out my tortoises to the outside for grazing.

Or is it better to buy dried commerical Timonthy Hay? Our timonthy hay here can be expensive as they need to be shipped in.
 

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Oogway the russian tort

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I just figured out that most of the testudo's don't like grass but they like broadleaf greens like weeds from tortoise supply testudo seed mix
 

Tom

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Over at my country in South East Asia, this grass with the common name Cowgrass is everywhere. Do we cut such fresh grass to feed tortoise? Or is this grass even edible? So far, I only buy my greens from the supermarket to feed my Star Tortoises

I cannot bring out my tortoises to the outside for grazing.

Or is it better to buy dried commerical Timonthy Hay? Our timonthy hay here can be expensive as they need to be shipped in.

Stars do like some grass in the diet. I'm not familiar with the grass species that you've shown there, so you will have to research that.

I'm not a fan of the timothy hay because its too stemmy and coarse, especially for a smaller species like your star tortoise. I prefer to use bermuda grass hay and orchard grass hay, if you can get those. Finely chop and then re-hydrate the hay before introducing it to your tortoises. Also keep in mind that like any normal tortoise, they won't like this new and unfamiliar food at first. Introduce it slowly over time. Use very tiny amounts at first.
 

seanang168

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10 Year Member!
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Mar 23, 2010
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Stars do like some grass in the diet. I'm not familiar with the grass species that you've shown there, so you will have to research that.

I'm not a fan of the timothy hay because its too stemmy and coarse, especially for a smaller species like your star tortoise. I prefer to use bermuda grass hay and orchard grass hay, if you can get those. Finely chop and then re-hydrate the hay before introducing it to your tortoises. Also keep in mind that like any normal tortoise, they won't like this new and unfamiliar food at first. Introduce it slowly over time. Use very tiny amounts at first.
Thank youTom for the reply!
 

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