Juvenile Feeding Q's

[Linzbragg]

Hi forum, long time, no chat. Summer was a breeze, at least for finding a large variety of plants for Franklin to eat because he mostly grazed outside or I could pick stuff somewhere. Now it's cold in VA. He's been eating a mixture of dandelion leaves, cactus leaf, and Mazuri. The Mazuri package says he should also be eating grass hay, which I did know, but I think now that he's older, I should get him into the habit of eating it. So my questions are: What are some of the different hays I should feed him? Where could I possibly find the hay (co-op or something, and is there anything else that y'all feed your Sulcata that I could find? Franklin is currently weighing in at 12.5lbs, and his plastron is almost 16" long and 9.5" wide. Thank you all, and of course, here's a pic of him today enjoying lunch. Can't you see that huge smile?

P.S.- How is his carapace looking? The points on it are just at the tips of each scute, the bottoms are flat. Does it just look like old pyramiding ( because he was a bit when I got him 2 yrs ago) or possibly current pyramiding? Thanks again!

 

[Yvonne G]

Hi Lindsey:

Look in the yellow pages for "feed store". Then find one near you. When you get there, explain that you only have one little tortoise and you'd like just a little grass hay, and would it be ok if you were to scrape up some of the "crumbs" or leavings around the grass hay stack and put it into a bag. You'd be happy to pay for it. (but they probably will give it to you for free). What you want is any of the grass hay - orchard, bermuda, brome, fescue, rye, wheat - any of the grasses. You can use alfalfa, but I wouldn't feed it exclusively.

 

[Dizisdalife]

The feed store near me actually will sell flakes (part of a bale) of hay. I like to feed orchard hay, but Chuck will eat bermuda or timothy. The timothy hay I have to cut up finer than orchard because there are just too many stems in it. You can also buy hay in pellet form. Usually comes in 40 or 50 pound bags at the feed store. Some of the tortoise food sites sell small bags of it if 40 lbs seems to to be too much. I started my tortoise out with pellets mixed in with Mazuri. I would soak them and smash them up just like I did the Mazuri. Started with a small amount and added more of the hay as he got accustom to eating it. The hay pellets rehydrate very well and look like fresh cut grass. For me it was easier to store around the house than a full bale of hay. Here is what I used:
http://www.tractorsupply.com/en/store/standlee-hay-certified-premium-timothy-grass-hay-pellets-40-lb

I liked it because it is pure Timothy. Once I had a little fun with Chuck's dinner and made a pie using Mazuri for the crust and Timothy for the filler.

 

[Linzbragg]

That's just what I needed to know, thank you! Happy holidays

 

[Yvonne G]

Geez I love this Forum! Somebody, somewhere will always come up with a good response to the problem!

 

[Tom]

And be patient. Sometimes they take months to get onto new foods. You might have to mix in very small amount of the new stuff with the old favorites before they eat it readily. Sometimes it takes a couple of months. In the mean time try to use more other variety too. If you are buying your dandelions at the store, try some endive or escarole sometimes. Or collards, kale, mustard greens, cilantro, carrot tops, etc... More variety is more better.

Carapace looks to be growing very nicely now, after a bumpy start.

 

[Len B]

Thanks for the info and link Joe J. I will stop by a TS tomorrow while in Maryland and pic up a bag and give it a try.

 

[Jenblalock003]

Hi Lindsey:

Look in the yellow pages for "feed store". Then find one near you. When you get there, explain that you only have one little tortoise and you'd like just a little grass hay, and would it be ok if you were to scrape up some of the "crumbs" or leavings around the grass hay stack and put it into a bag. You'd be happy to pay for it. (but they probably will give it to you for free). What you want is any of the grass hay - orchard, bermuda, brome, fescue, rye, wheat - any of the grasses. You can use alfalfa, but I wouldn't feed it exclusively.

Hi Yvonne!

I saw your thread about using Tin foil over the enclosure to help keep humidity up. This might be a dumb question but any help is well appreciated! My question is this: I have an aquarium, I have the mercury vapor bulb, but the light is on the screen as I don't have a fixture (next tank light will be inside) but I saw where you said to cover up the whole top plus the light...is your light inside the tank? Can I cover up the light if it's sitting on the screen? Or is that dangerous? Any help would be great! I have the humidity at 80 (using damp towel and spraying a thousand times a day) but I think I can do better so that it's not a constant fight to get it bk up.

Thank you so much!

Jen