Growing grass in enclosure

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superjet86

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anyone have tips on growing grass in indoor enclosures? i have a leopard and cant seem to keep the grass alive in his enclosure. im also afraid of the humidity being too high for him if i do grow, should i just put the grass in a separate tub and just put him in there for a while each day to graze or is growing it in his enclosure ok?

and if you have pics of your enclouse setup with grass that would help give me some ideas!

Matt
 

Tim/Robin

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We have purchased organic wheat grass at our grocery store. We planted it in a shallow dish (dog food dish actually). The torts could reach it because the dish was shallow and they would eat it. Though I don't think wheat grass is their favorite. It helped get us by when we were out of town a couple days, since there was fresh food available. But we had a hard time keeping it moist enough to grow and not mold at the roots. That's just a problem with wheat grass in general though. Yard type grass probably wouldn't have that issue. I think you could certainly grow little bowels of grass and switch them out for your tortoise in the cage. At least that way, you are not trying to water the bottom of his cage or something that could have bigger effects on humidity and hygiene.
 

Yvonne G

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All of my tortoises are outside, so I don't have first hand experience with growing grass indoors, but I've heard that you can plant the grass seeds in a kitty litter pan. After they sprout and are growing nicely you just dig down in to your substrate and sink the kitty litter pan down low enough for the tortoise to be able to climb in.

Yvonne
 

terryo

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I planted some Spring Mix in there and it was doing nice before Pio ate it all. I also planted Irish Moss, dandilion and small Rose of Sharon, and that does well too.
 

Isa

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I am trying to grow seeds indoor since the the begining of the summer, unfortunatly it still did not work, the seeds starts to grow a little but after it dies out. Last week I planted some white clovers, dandelions and bermuda grass, the grass does not grow at all, but the clovers and dandies, yes a little. I hope it will work this time.

Good luck
 

Crazy1

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If you are gowing these indoors are you using a uva (plant) bulb? Remember anything grown in a container takes more food and water. So make sure your food is organic when feeding your plants.
 

elegans

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So sorry for the bad news, but you will never be able to grow grass long term indoors. It simply needs more light than you could possibly ever afford to give it. I say this coming from a horticultural background, so please do not think that I am saying that it is you. I grew up raising orchids under lights and in greenhouses in Northern Colorado. So I really have learned; many times the hard way, that some things just won't happen. I have areas in pens here in South Florida that are shaded enough of the day that I can't keep grass alive in them :( So it goes. If you have even a small space outside where you could set up a cold frame you could extend your growing season by months for some crops. Feel free to PM me for more info or call me at 305-246-3129. I do not sell any of these items, so I have nothing to gain. Best wishes Douglas
 

elegans

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As a side note, fertilizer is fertilizer. As long as it is not sprayed on the food objects and consumed it makes no difference if it is organic or not. The plants do not know the difference. Just as your body does not know the difference between plant protein and animal protein. When it is broken down it is all the same on a cellular level. I do like organic when available, but really not a big deal one way or the other. Douglas
 

Isa

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elegans said:
As a side note, fertilizer is fertilizer. As long as it is not sprayed on the food objects and consumed it makes no difference if it is organic or not. The plants do not know the difference. Just as your body does not know the difference between plant protein and animal protein. When it is broken down it is all the same on a cellular level. I do like organic when available, but really not a big deal one way or the other. Douglas

Thanks for the info Douglas.

Unfortunatly, where I live, we have snow ( a lot of snow) starting in November until April. That is why I am trying very hard to grow seeds inside.
 
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