It's been a few years since I've been on the forum. We live in Ohio and 8 years ago we adopted a 8yo Male sulcata. Now that's he's aIround 61 lbs. I often wonder if I'm feeding him enough and all the variety he should have. A couple times a week he gets Mazuri. He gets grasses, plantain, and dandelion daily, either by grazing or me cutting some from our lawn and giving it to him. I also give him a few hibiscus, Hosta, & petunia flowers a few times/wk, & occasionally cactus. His outdoor pin is really picked over now. I would love to plant some grasses and plants he can eat in his outdoor pin. Any suggestions or examples of food varieties and amounts to feed + plants we can grow in his pin for him to graze on?
How much and what types of food do I need to feed a 60lb Sulcata tortoise each day?
- Thread starter Loribwp
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- food quantity plants
Hope this'thread helps. You can try to add orchard grass hay too.
Thread 'Sulcata Diet Sheet' https://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/sulcata-diet-sheet.64290/
Thread 'Sulcata Diet Sheet' https://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/sulcata-diet-sheet.64290/
That depends...this is her favorite meal...
Grape leafs. and Rose of Sharon leafs and blooms. She eats what I give her in about 15 minutes, then she grazes on the grass and eats the hay I buy her...locally grown grass hay...she gets zucchini and other squashes...as a treat. I let one pen rest... I reseed it and I put her in a different pen. she is a rescue... already pyramided when I got her...
The local farm store sells a large bag of the loose hay from their bales. For $10 I get about 1/4 of a bale in a huge bag...Then I dump it in her shed and she eats it, poops in it and sleeps in it...hth
Basically variety and quantity is key. Use in season flowers and leaves for grazing.
At 60lbs he should be finding the majority of his food in his yard (grazing). Grass, weeds and plants. If there's nothing edible growing in his yard, offer him grocery store greens, but mainly moistened orchard grass hay. And give him as much as he wants to eat. In the real world, they eat all day, or any time they want to.
Thank you everyone. I do have a rose of Sharon next to the pin but I only give him a few blooms and numerous leaves every other day. We do get hay bails in winter since too cold to let him graze. Is there a reputable place to order plants/grass seeds to grow some food for him? I want to put some things in his pin.
You probably need to look at bushes and plants to put in rather than a packet of weed seeds as they eat lots. If you click on forums and search sulcata food there are previous posts inc squashes and cactus.
Depending on space you could grow separatly outside of the enclosure and then feed from that supply....
Depending on space you could grow separatly outside of the enclosure and then feed from that supply....
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You are doing great. You're already offering a great variety.
I use orchard grass hay as a base. They have a constant supply of that whenever they want it, and they eat a ton of it. I add in weeds, grass, mulberry and grape leaves, assorted flowers, and spineless opuntia cactus pads when convenient. The Mazuri is a great way to ensure they are getting all the nutrition that they should be getting.
Jenna524
Member
If you water it. , it must be removed if not eaten, it will rott and mold. We put pulled off dry all over the property so on their trips around there is always a pile to eat and they eat and eat and eat. Wildlife officer said ours is now over 200 pounds
The only time I wet it is when I'm trying to introduce it to a new tortoise that doesn't eat dry hay. I chop handfuls of the grass hay into small pieces with scissors and soak it in a tub with warm water. Then I take the rehydrated wet hay and mix it in with the torts favorite greens. After a week or two of that routine, most larger torts of grass eating species will start eating the hay dry and by itself.
I seldom use the above method. Most of the time, I just start feeding 12 inch+ sulcatas their "regular" foods on top of a bed of dry grass hay. Over time, they just begin eating the hay with the food. Once I see that they are eating the dry hay, I just leave a whole flake of it for them. Usually in a large plastic tray of some sort to keep it out of the dirt. On the rare occasion we get rain, I replace the wet hay with dry.
Robivens
New Member
Good to see there is another Ohio Sulcata owner. My tort is not large yet but I may need to pick your brain as Herc grows.
