Is feeding baby sulcata tortoises different from adults?

TiyahLove

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I'm getting a baby sulcata tortoise tomorrow and s/he has mainly been fed mazuri tortoise diet with some cactus and other greens, but I mainly want its diet to be grasses and hay with the occasional greens and the rare treat of fruit. Will it be hard to switch him/ her over to grasses and hay?
Since the babies are so small would feeding them be different from an adult?
I've been growing my own grasses and flowers such as fescue, timothy grass, clover, and dandelions. Does this sound okay?

Here is list of the foods I want to stick with until I can let him or her out in the yard:
Timothy hay
Dandelions
Clover
Red fescue
Timothy grass
Collard greens
Endive
Shredded carrot (in moderation)
cactus pads
Occasionally squash or pumpkin (whatever is available in my garden)

Does this list sound okay? Any recommendations?
 

mike taylor

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Sounds good you may have a problem with getting him on that diet . They don't like change. So add small amounts till he takes the grass / hay . Read the threads at the top of the sulcata section. Follow Tom and you can't go wrong .
 

Cowboy_Ken

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I sort of address the hatchling sulcata diet, and adult diet as two different specie of tortoises. The young are more of a broadleaf feeder, with occasional new growth narrow leaf grasses.
Adults more of a grazer of grasses and dried hays with the occasional broadleaf.
 

Yvonne G

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Hi Tiyahlove, and welcome to the forum!

Baby tortoises won't eat hay. Just not gonna' happen. So the answer to your question is, yes...feeding baby sulcatas is quite a bit different from feeding adults.
 

Dizisdalife

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Welcome to the Forum and congratulations on getting your baby sulcata. I recommend that you add the following foods to your list:
mulberry leaf
grape leaf
hibiscus leaf and flower
squash or pumpkin leaf and flower
Mallow
Plantain - I like the broad leaf variety
Chicory
Orchard grass (I think it is easier for babies to eat than timothy. And much easier for me to grow)

Variety is the key.
 

TiyahLove

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ImageUploadedByTortForum1383352193.867318.jpg

I had no trouble getting them to eat their grasses and greens. They ate the majority of the food I have them today one particularly loved the minced cactus pad the other went for more endive and fresh fescue. Yummy tortoise food!
 
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