I searched for similar topics here, but couldn’t really find much.
My wife and I have had “Rocky”, a male sulcata, for about 10 years. He’s a valued member of the family and we enjoy interacting with him, but we find ourselves in a bit of a quandary. “Rocky" is about 32” long, from his head to the rear of his shell. He has a nice house that’s heated during the winter months, is active, and seems to have be enjoying life.
Rocky’s primary food is our lawn, supplemented by some dry food and greens, and this has worked well. After we got him we no longer needed a gardener, which was nice. After becoming his main food group the lawn never looked very green and lush again, but my wife re-seeded and watered frequently, and there was a balance -- the lawn looked ok and Rocky had enough to eat.
We live in So Cal and this has all changed with the new water restrictions. Our yard and lawn are not very big, but under the new 2 times a week water restrictions, we are pretty sure it will slowly die and then Rocky won’t have enough to eat. We’re wondering what our options are.
We've been seeding the lawn with perennial ryegrass. Is there another grass that would survive on less water and still give Rocky what he needs?
Might I be able to get lawn cuttings from a nearby golf course or something, and give that to Rocky? How “fresh” would it need to be? There’s an equestrian center nearby - would hay or some other animal feed be an option? If so, any idea about the amount I’d need to buy, the frequency, and the cost?
Further complicating things, we’re nearing retirement and plan to move overseas in about 2 years. Taking Rocky with us won't be an option and we know we’ll need to find him a new home. Maybe we need to bite the bullet and do that now, but that too is a puzzle. Is there any chance that a zoo in California or a nearby state would take him? Correct me if I’m wrong, but I don’t think he can safely be moved to the wild. I guess that just leaves finding a new owner but I wonder if that might be very difficult too, since they could face the same problem that we do now.
Your advice is appreciated, thanks in advance.
My wife and I have had “Rocky”, a male sulcata, for about 10 years. He’s a valued member of the family and we enjoy interacting with him, but we find ourselves in a bit of a quandary. “Rocky" is about 32” long, from his head to the rear of his shell. He has a nice house that’s heated during the winter months, is active, and seems to have be enjoying life.
Rocky’s primary food is our lawn, supplemented by some dry food and greens, and this has worked well. After we got him we no longer needed a gardener, which was nice. After becoming his main food group the lawn never looked very green and lush again, but my wife re-seeded and watered frequently, and there was a balance -- the lawn looked ok and Rocky had enough to eat.
We live in So Cal and this has all changed with the new water restrictions. Our yard and lawn are not very big, but under the new 2 times a week water restrictions, we are pretty sure it will slowly die and then Rocky won’t have enough to eat. We’re wondering what our options are.
We've been seeding the lawn with perennial ryegrass. Is there another grass that would survive on less water and still give Rocky what he needs?
Might I be able to get lawn cuttings from a nearby golf course or something, and give that to Rocky? How “fresh” would it need to be? There’s an equestrian center nearby - would hay or some other animal feed be an option? If so, any idea about the amount I’d need to buy, the frequency, and the cost?
Further complicating things, we’re nearing retirement and plan to move overseas in about 2 years. Taking Rocky with us won't be an option and we know we’ll need to find him a new home. Maybe we need to bite the bullet and do that now, but that too is a puzzle. Is there any chance that a zoo in California or a nearby state would take him? Correct me if I’m wrong, but I don’t think he can safely be moved to the wild. I guess that just leaves finding a new owner but I wonder if that might be very difficult too, since they could face the same problem that we do now.
Your advice is appreciated, thanks in advance.
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