I exchanged my previous sulcata baby and the pet shop gave me a new one

[Via Infinito]

I felt stressed and felt like failing my previous one because he had plenty of varied veggies, weeds, grass + reptile pellets + mazuri + plenty of sunshine and for 4 months he did not gain a single gram! He was 50g when I got him and 50g when I gave him away ( he's six month old). He still has a relatively soft belly since the beginning despite me really trying to give him more calcium, but otherwise he was active and healthy

I relocated him to back to the petstore ( this petstore is quite good cuz they specialised in reptiles) and they gave me another one at 79g and this one already had a firm plastron at 4 month old! The exchange is to test whether I have been raising him wrong, if the petstore can nurture my tortoise for growth then I will take him back.
This new one is more shy and less social and literally refuses to eat anything but grass out in my yard and it's already 83g in 7 days....

I don't know whether to laugh or to cry

 

[wellington]

Lol, enjoy and try to get him to eat more natural foods then just grass. Grass is good for them but still not the only thing they should eat. If you can try adding some more natural foods and add it too a pile of grass, maybe he will start eating the other things too. Kinda hide it into the grass, tricking him.

 

[Jay Bagley]

Lol, enjoy and try to get him to eat more natural foods then just grass. Grass is good for them but still not the only thing they should eat. If you can try adding some more natural foods and add it too a pile of grass, maybe he will start eating the other things too. Kinda hide it into the grass, tricking him.

Isnt grass as natural as you can go with a Sulcata?

 

[Bambam1989]

Isnt grass as natural as you can go with a Sulcata?

It's always good to vary the diet. Doing so will help your tort get all the different nutrients, vitamins, and minerals it needs.
Grass is fed to my sulcata(4months old) every day but I mix in a variety of other things too. If I had to guess I would say that grass makes up about 1/4- 1/3 of my little ones daily meal.

 

[Jay Bagley]

It's always good to vary the diet. Doing so will help your tort get all the different nutrients, vitamins, and minerals it needs.
Grass is fed to my sulcata(4months old) every day but I mix in a variety of other things too. If I had to guess I would say that grass makes up about 1/4- 1/3 of my little ones daily meal.

I try to vary as well, still a newbie at this. I was just curious is grass supposed to be 75% of their diet?

 

[Jay Bagley]

I try to vary as well, still a newbie at this. I was just curious is grass supposed to be 75% of their diet?

This was just one of the few post I had read where they were struggling to get there sulcata tortoise to eat something other than grass. Usually the ones I have read are the other way around and they struggle to get them to eat anything other than grocery store greens. I wish mine would eat more grass.

 

[Bambam1989]

I try to vary as well, still a newbie at this. I was just curious is grass supposed to be 75% of their diet?

For a full grown sulcata that would probably be a good percentage. For a baby I would go with around 20-35%. More experienced folks can feel free to correct me.[emoji6]

 

[Big Charlie]

This was just one of the few post I had read where they were struggling to get there sulcata tortoise to eat something other than grass. Usually the ones I have read are the other way around and they struggle to get them to eat anything other than grocery store greens. I wish mine would eat more grass.

Most people have trouble getting babies to eat grass. It is something they start eating more when they get bigger. They might be more inclined to eat it when they can graze. I think Charlie likes pulling it out of the ground.

 

[Jay Bagley]

Most people have trouble getting babies to eat grass. It is something they start eating more when they get bigger. They might be more inclined to eat it when they can graze. I think Charlie likes pulling it out of the ground.

I'm sure you are right, I was just curious, and just thought it was really cool how much grass her baby was eating already. You read about so many people who have chop the grass up and almost "smuggle" it into a plate full of grocery store stuff. More or less I was just really impressed with what an interest in grass it had already. You guys know way more than me.

 

[Via Infinito]

It is definitely a grazing behaviour,
I always provide a mix of veggies and weeds in the indoor enclosure, but the new one doesn't seem to show an interest. it doesn't even show an interest for carrots.
But on my yard it would walk around and graze here and there pulling out grass.

 

[wellington]

I don't know the % but feeding one thing is never good. As I said in my post above. Grass is good for them, but not the only thing they should eat. It doesn't give them everything they need.

 

[ZEROPILOT]

Was sunlight your only UVB source?
Was the sunlight through a window or a window screen?
Lack of UVB or not enough would cause what you've described.

 

[Via Infinito]

Was sunlight your only UVB source?
Was the sunlight through a window or a window screen?
Lack of UVB or not enough would cause what you've described.

Hmmm I don't think it's the lack of UVB since it is outside more than 1 hour a day
and the sun in tropical countries is HOT
Plus there is a UVB light on in the indoor enclosure as well

 

[Anyfoot]

Hmmm I don't think it's the lack of UVB since it is outside more than 1 hour a day
and the sun in tropical countries is HOT
Plus there is a UVB light on in the indoor enclosure as well

Was you soaking the other tortoise daily?