Cheapest way to feed adult sulcata?

[Clairemarie]

Grass and grass hay. All the other stuff discussed here is great too, but once they hit about 12 inches, I introduce grass hay and that becomes the majority of their diet within a few months. It’s relatively cheap and very easy. Weeds, mulberry leaves, opuntia, grocery store greens, and pumpkins are all great foods too, but grass is best, or grass hay if you don't have the grass.

I have a question about the grass hay. We have donkeys and supplement their natural grass with mixed grass hay. We get the bales from our neighbor who cuts his own field. Would this be the same kind of hay you are taking about? It’s not alfalfa or anything rich, just a mixed grass. And if so how short should it be chopped? Our guy is 2.6 years old and 15” long. Thank you!

 

[Nellie Rose]

I have a question about the grass hay. We have donkeys and supplement their natural grass with mixed grass hay. We get the bales from our neighbor who cuts his own field. Would this be the same kind of hay you are taking about? It’s not alfalfa or anything rich, just a mixed grass. And if so how short should it be chopped? Our guy is 2.6 years old and 15” long. Thank you!

I am also curious about this.

 

[Tom]

I have a question about the grass hay. We have donkeys and supplement their natural grass with mixed grass hay. We get the bales from our neighbor who cuts his own field. Would this be the same kind of hay you are taking about? It’s not alfalfa or anything rich, just a mixed grass. And if so how short should it be chopped? Our guy is 2.6 years old and 15” long. Thank you!

Sounds like it would be fine, as long as there are no toxic weeds mixed in. Some family friends tried to save money on hay for their horses one time and the toxic weeds in the hay killed one horse and resulted in thousands of dollars in vet bills to save two others.

If your neighbor is aware of this and knows what he is doing with his hay, then I would have no problem feeding it to my tortoises. You also need to make sure it isn't too coarse and stemmy. Orchard grass hay works best.

I don't normally chop up the hay for a sulcata, but there is no harm in doing so if you want to spend the time.

 

[Clairemarie]

Sounds like it would be fine, as long as there are no toxic weeds mixed in. Some family friends tried to save money on hay for their horses one time and the toxic weeds in the hay killed one horse and resulted in thousands of dollars in vet bills to save two others.

If your neighbor is aware of this and knows what he is doing with his hay, then I would have no problem feeding it to my tortoises. You also need to make sure it isn't too coarse and stemmy. Orchard grass hay works best.

I don't normally chop up the hay for a sulcata, but there is no harm in doing so if you want to spend the time.

Ok gotcha thank you. Yeah he’s a 4th generation farmer on the same land which is pretty cool. He has cattle and equine so that’s why I trust to use him for hay for my donks. Just wanted to make sure that was ok for sulcatas too. Thanks!

 

[Renee_H]

I have a leopard not a sulcata and while they eat the same diet I’m sure yours will eventually eat more but here is what I’ve done so far.
I planted roses and feed the leaves
I planted hibiscus and feed the leaves
I planted opuntia to feed
I planted grazing mix in a planter bed and feed her clippings from that but so far I haven’t been successful in growing much volume from the mix.
I placed her in an enclosure that is part grass. She loves to eat grass.
I found a local park that has grape leaves so I’ll be collecting those as long as they’re available and plan to plant grapes.
I ordered dried morninga and food fixer and amend any store bought greens with those.
I’m considering ordering Mazuri LS but she’s never had it before so we shall see.
Mine has zero interest in flowers but I keep trying.
When I did the math it’s cheaper to buy mazuri and feed that than it is to buy greens and amend them. But the most economical option is to grow things you can feed and buy orchard grass. (IMO)

 

[Nellie Rose]

I have a leopard not a sulcata and while they eat the same diet I’m sure yours will eventually eat more but here is what I’ve done so far.
I planted roses and feed the leaves
I planted hibiscus and feed the leaves
I planted opuntia to feed
I planted grazing mix in a planter bed and feed her clippings from that but so far I haven’t been successful in growing much volume from the mix.
I placed her in an enclosure that is part grass. She loves to eat grass.
I found a local park that has grape leaves so I’ll be collecting those as long as they’re available and plan to plant grapes.
I ordered dried morninga and food fixer and amend any store bought greens with those.
I’m considering ordering Mazuri LS but she’s never had it before so we shall see.
Mine has zero interest in flowers but I keep trying.
When I did the math it’s cheaper to buy mazuri and feed that than it is to buy greens and amend them. But the most economical option is to grow things you can feed and buy orchard grass. (IMO)

I figured most of the advice I'd get is to grow my own food. Definitely something I'm planning on doing. I have a few raised garden beds that I can plant next year, I just kill every green thing I touch haha. I've been trying to grow cactus for months now and I'm not getting those big thick pads like I'm supposed to, it's growing these skinny tall shoots that keep falling over.

I just ordered some dried toppers to try, I already feed mazuri and dried hibiscus and some other flowers. She loves fresh hibiscus especially! I bought her a big bush of it and she ate it down to twigs.
I love the idea of using grass clippings. I have a huge untreated yard that produces tons of grass when we cut it. And I think I can freeze the banana leaves at the end of the summer when we cut them down, that should get us through a few weeks at least, we have maybe 30 large trees we cut down at the end of summer, they grow back every spring.
And she already likes to eat hay, I keep a pile of it in her enclosure all the time so she can graze when she wants, in between fresh meals.