How often can I feed my 8 month old Sulcata Veg?

[Lovebrickuk]

The amount of contradictory advice I am reading about how much Veg I should or should not be feeding my 8 month old Sulcata tortoise is driving me MAD!! Winnifred is happy/healthy and full of beans (don't worry not of the vegetable variety!!) ... and currently I give her/him a small portion of either carrot, sweetpotato, cauliflower, butternut squash, radish, pak choi or kale every morning after her bath and a handful of leafy weeds.. Winnifred has meadow hay in her sleeping quarters and everyday spends an hour or two grazing in the garden. Winnifred weighs 136g .
So Is this an ok amount of veggies or should I feed the veg every other day etc.? Really don't want to be poisoning our beloved Sulcata with too many vitamins???
Please help

 

[Chubbs the tegu]

Hi and welcome! I wouldnt feed kale or veggies everyday. Kale is fine maybe once a week, sweet potato, carrot, squash, cauliflower is fine once in a while( maybe once a month) weeds and young tender grasses are great and add some greens such as chicory, escarole, collards, romaine, mustards, etc for Variety a few times a week. I would get rid of the hay because u want his sleeping quarters high humidity and the hay will mold. Heres a great thread to read thru and come back with any questions.

The Best Way To Raise A Sulcata, Leopard, Or Star Tortoise

I chose the title of this care sheet very carefully. Are there other ways to raise babies? Yes. Yes there are, but those ways are not as good. What follows is the BEST way, according to 30 years of research and experimentation with hundreds of babies of many species. Babies hatch during the...

www.tortoiseforum.org

 

[Lovebrickuk]

Thankyou so much for your reply and information sent.
We have only had Winnifred for 2months now, the breeder we got her from has been absolutely useless in helping answer any questions we have had.
We have a tortoise table, the humidity in the hide is around 80% So I have been changing the hay regularly but will now just get rid of altogether.
The substrate we were told to use was Organic topsoil (from garden Centre) I have been spraying it regularly to keep humidity high but will now purchase the Orchard bark.
I am worried that Winnifred has eaten too much veg in these last 2 months ? Will it effect her in the long run?
Once again thankyou for your help.

 

[Chubbs the tegu]

Thankyou so much for your reply and information sent.
We have only had Winnifred for 2months now, the breeder we got her from has been absolutely useless in helping answer any questions we have had.
We have a tortoise table, the humidity in the hide is around 80% So I have been changing the hay regularly but will now just get rid of altogether.
The substrate we were told to use was Organic topsoil (from garden Centre) I have been spraying it regularly to keep humidity high but will now purchase the Orchard bark.
I am worried that Winnifred has eaten too much veg in these last 2 months ? Will it effect her in the long run?
Once again thankyou for your help.

He’ll be fine. Just follow the caresheet given and all will be great? Good luck! And get ready to have a bulldozer in a few years

 

[Lovebrickuk]

Hi , I have read through the care sheet given (above) and am still confused as to what closed chamber I should purchase in the U.K for my 8 month old Sulcata.
I have been fighting with my tortoise table (Habistat : £73.09 purchased and advised to buy from Swell Reptiles 2 months ago)
I know a Closed chamber would solve my problems as to keeping humidity/temp levels correct : just wondered if anyone had any recommendations? As I don't want to purchase the wrong enclosure again !!
Swell Reptiles will not give me my money back for the tortoise table because the item is used.. even though one of their advisers agreed that the Habistat should have been designed with some kind of mesh cover to keep humidity In etc. I said I would buy the upgrade with them but unfortunately after being on hold for over an hour NO JOY!!
SO Please help and advise on what to buy and how to keep the ideal ventilation flowing correctly.
Many thanks .

 

[wellington]

Hi , I have read through the care sheet given (above) and am still confused as to what closed chamber I should purchase in the U.K for my 8 month old Sulcata.
I have been fighting with my tortoise table (Habistat : £73.09 purchased and advised to buy from Swell Reptiles 2 months ago)
I know a Closed chamber would solve my problems as to keeping humidity/temp levels correct : just wondered if anyone had any recommendations? As I don't want to purchase the wrong enclosure again !!
Swell Reptiles will not give me my money back for the tortoise table because the item is used.. even though one of their advisers agreed that the Habistat should have been designed with some kind of mesh cover to keep humidity In etc. I said I would buy the upgrade with them but unfortunately after being on hold for over an hour NO JOY!!
SO Please help and advise on what to buy and how to keep the ideal ventilation flowing correctly.
Many thanks .

Their solution of a mesh cover wouldn't work anyway, so glad you decided to give up on them. In fact, forget their advice, they don't seem to have the correct knowledge and are in the business of selling and making money.
As for your table. Build or buy a saw horse. Place it over your table and drape plastic over it to cover the table. Some have also used pvc pipe to build a frame o hold the plastic. Try sealing all sides with tape leaving one side so you can get into the tort but still having that side covering the whole side.
You can also buy a pop up portable greenhouse and place the table inside.

 

[Lovebrickuk]

Love the portable pop up greenhouse idea ! That's given me some food for thought.. Thankyou so much for your advice.
I am so glad I have the tortoise forum in my life now, thanks again.

 

[Tom]

Love the portable pop up greenhouse idea ! That's given me some food for thought.. Thankyou so much for your advice.
I am so glad I have the tortoise forum in my life now, thanks again.

I can never remember the name, but there are now at least two companies in the UK making large custom closed chambers (aka: vivariums over there). And the cost is reasonable too.

Dry grass hay os for older sulcatas, not for babies. All great advice from Chubbs about the diet items.

Get rid of that soil ASAP, and figure out a way to hold in all the heat and humidity.

Glad you found us!

 

[Krista S]

Here’s a link to the place @Tom was tasking about.

https://southdown-aquatics.co.uk/product-category/8ft-vivariums/

 

[LARRY5469]

He’ll be fine. Just follow the caresheet given and all will be great? Good luck! And get ready to have a bulldozer in a few years

No kidding, we have a 70 pound "bulldozer" here and he pushed a railroad tie out of the way so he could escape from his pen. We were able to recover him and made a much harder to escape from enclosure for him.