hello everyone...quick question

[preston897]

hi there! i am new to the forums. and i really hope to gain alot of good info. i am doing all of my reasearch to get a baby sulcata. it will be my first tortoise but definatly not my first reptile. also please feel free to ask me anything about myself...as for my question...i am trying to figure out what weeds in texas are toxic for the torts. i have found list of native texas weeds...but not in relation to torts. i have also found list of weeds that are bad for sullys but i did not recognize alot of them. does anyone have any clue where to look? or what people in texas...particularly near the DFW area allow their torts to eat?

 

[Maggie Cummings]

Welcome to the forum. Please don't take this wrong, but Sulcata hatchlings are very fragile and as a new keeper I don't think a hatchling is a good idea for you. It seems they go along fine then one thing turns them around and they are sick and dying and it happens overnite. Read this about Tank and that's typical. You would do better with a yearling. They are still small and cute but are more established. What are you gonna do when he gets big? Do you have the room for a big tortoise and by that I mean 20 or 30 pounds. Your yard is in jeopardy when they are about that size. This is just my opinion, and if you do still get a hatchling, we will still be here to help you...

http://tortoiseforum.org/thread-15663.html

also you need to take the Sulcata challenge but someone else will have to give that to you as I can't find it anymore...

 

[preston897]

i actually know a guy near here that breeds them. he was one that is 2 years old that i would be able to get. its about as big as a softball. and yes i will have a back yard that he can live in. as well as a fully insulated 12'x12' shed for him to cool off in during the summer. and it will be equipped with heat and UVB in the winter for him. i just want to make sure i dont have any weeds that are going to kill him. and i would take the sulcata challenge. and it will porbably be a bit till i get one. i still have tons of reasearch to do. i dont buy then research. i learn first so i can give the best home possible to my animals

 

[Laura]

You wont need to pay for one.. locate a rescue, they will be looking for good homes for them..
I dont know about Texas weeds...

 

[preston897]

i have been looking for rescues. i will keep on my search for one.

 

[Tom]

I had your problem a few years ago. I built a 6000 square foot pen for my three adult sulcatas out here in the CA high desert. There were 3 weeds that I knew and knew were safe and around 12 more that I had no idea. Mind you, I didn't have this forum at that time. I took pics and collected samples. I spent weeks going to local nurseries and searching on line. Some of them would take a couple of weeks just to get identified, then I'd spend more weeks trying to find ANYTHING on whether or not they were edible or toxic. I now have them all identified, but even to this day I don't know the toxicity on some of them. My strategy has always been to pull the weed, if I'm not absolutely sure its safe. New ones sprout up from time to time and with the help of the kind folks here on the forum, I get them IDed almost immediately. This just happened in the last few days with "Morning Glory". I took a pic, posted it, and within minutes had several answers. They all said "toxic", so I went right out and pulled every bit of it and chucked it in the dumpster. Problem solved.

There really is no shortcut. It just takes a lot of leg work on your part. If you spend an hour or two here in the plant ID section of our forum, you'll probably find most of them already IDed and toxicity, or lack thereof, listed. I wish I had know this years ago as it would have saved weeks of my time. Any that you are not sure of can be pulled and simply not fed. There are plenty of good things to feed them, without having to worry about every little weed.

 

[preston897]

i will spend some more time in the plant id area. my concern is not what to feed them. its what not to feed. as im sure yours was. there are tons of things to feed. but once they go outside i have less control over what they eat. new things like to pop up in the grass and well they will get interested and eat it. is there any sort of weed killer that can be used? or just good ol fasion yard work?

 

[Tom]

I won't use any chemicals out there. I just water heavily and let it soak in for a bit, then pull them up with the root and all. One by one by one..... I had to pull a whole hill side of fiddleneck. Ugh! What a pain in the... well, you know.

 

[Yvonne G]

Hi Preston:

Welcome to the forum!!

Now this is my opinion, and NOT something official from a scientist or nutritionist: I don't worry about toxic plants and weeds. I give the tortoise enough credit to know what he can and can't eat. All my tortoises live outside in large pens and graze on whatever grows out there. They occasionally DO eat something on the toxic list (once dug up and ate several iris bulbs), but in my opinion, tortoises physiology is much better able to handle the alkaloids in plants than mammals are.

All this changes if you keep your tortoise in a small area and offer the foods to him on a plate. If allowed to pick his own food, I think he will make the right choice.

 

[preston897]

that makes it easier. i have been hoping sombody would say that to me! has your tot ever gotten sick from eating anything he was not supposed to?

 

[Yvonne G]

No, but they have the choice of plenty of other foods to eat. They aren't forced to eat the toxic plants because they're not hungry and have lots to choose from.

 

[preston897]

ok. and im guessing if they do get into a bad plant for whatever reason....they will learn not to eat that one anymore.

 

[GBtortoises]

I agree with Yvonne's point of view on tortoises and toxic plants.

My tortoises not only have access to all natural grazing in their enclosures, which may have some locally known toxic plants, but I also pick large bags of weeds around the area and scatter throughout the enclosures for additional food. I most certainly introduce some toxic plants when doing so since I don't sort through any of the bags that I pick and feed them. I've never worried about it and have also never seen a problem because of it.

 

[Maggie Cummings]

Please take the time to read this. It may answer some questions you have and it certainly will open your eyes as to keeping Sulcata...

http://turtlerescues.com/sulcata_challenge.htm

 

[preston897]

that is an interesting article. i have read it before. but i read it again just to be on the safe side. as far as food for babies. could i actually put plants and grass inside is baby enclosure so he can eat as he wants?