Hey all i was wondering what hay to feed?

[RayRay]

My sulcata is outside from when I wake up to night time now in an enclosure outside and he has eaten most of the grass and only has a little left that's not short.

I was wondering what type of hay is acceptable? Is just any local hay or does it have to be horse grade or what? I dont know much about hay and theres 2 spots to get it from near by.

How do I get him to eat the hay if he never has eaten hay before? Mix it in with spring mix or what?

Linking pictures of my tortoise also.

 

[Yvonne G]

Long time no see!

I like orchard grass hay best. I buy it at the feed store.

Also, babies don't seem to care for eating grass or hay until they get a bit bigger/older. But you can take the scissors and cut up the grass or hay into bite-sized pieces and mix it in with the greens.

 

[RayRay]

Yeah it's been a while and I'm still listed as active lol

I'll have to see what kinds I can get at the local feed store here. They come in square bales.

 

[Tom]

I also prefer the orchard grass hay, with Bermuda grass hay being my second favorite.

What size is your tortoise? Mine don't usually eat hay until they are around 12". I introduce it by feeding them all their meals on a bed of the grass hay. Sometimes, I will do that in combination with Yvonne's method and that usually speeds up the process.

Be sure there is always ample fresh water, and also soak a bit more than usual when they start eating hay since it is so dry. I also like to feed spineless opuntia pads due to their high water content. The combo of opuntia and hay has worked well for me. My adult Sulcatas and SA leopards have a flake of grass hay always available and I supplement them with the opuntia pads and other stuff like mulberry or grape leaves, pumpkins in fall, sporadically.

 

[Yvonne G]

Yeah it's been a while and I'm still listed as active lol

I'll have to see what kinds I can get at the local feed store here. They come in square bales.

If they have grass hay they may allow you to rake up the 'leavings' from around the stack and bag it up instead of buying a whole bale.

 

[RayRay]

I will look into what types they have thanks.

Sorry that I forgot to check back here.

My tortoise is about a basket ball sized

 

[Crush da Baum]

That is a pretty tort! Rare to see Sulcatas that grow smooth and no pyramiding.

 

[RayRay]

I also prefer the orchard grass hay, with Bermuda grass hay being my second favorite.

What size is your tortoise? Mine don't usually eat hay until they are around 12". I introduce it by feeding them all their meals on a bed of the grass hay. Sometimes, I will do that in combination with Yvonne's method and that usually speeds up the process.

Be sure there is always ample fresh water, and also soak a bit more than usual when they start eating hay since it is so dry. I also like to feed spineless opuntia pads due to their high water content. The combo of opuntia and hay has worked well for me. My adult Sulcatas and SA leopards have a flake of grass hay always available and I supplement them with the opuntia pads and other stuff like mulberry or grape leaves, pumpkins in fall, sporadically.

I just saw on a local facebook group eye grass and coastal grass round bales for 65 bucks that seems like a steal would that be a good diet for my tortoise of hay?

 

[Tom]

I just saw on a local facebook group eye grass and coastal grass round bales for 65 bucks that seems like a steal would that be a good diet for my tortoise of hay?

I've never used either of those, so I can't comment either way. Orchard grass and Bermuda grass hay work great, so I prefer to stick to those.

If you are talking about those giant round bales, I think that is way too much. It would take a single tortoise 3 years to eat all that, and the hay will get moldy and rotten in the weather long before that. I like Yvonne's idea of asking the local feed store if you can collect some of the leavings from around the bales in a plastic bag. One bag will last you a long time.