Overseeding

[You Me and Mr T]

I'm not sure if this belongs in enclosures or diet, so feel free to move if necessary...

In the next month or so I typically overseed my ~1000 sq. ft. Bermuda lawn with Rye grass for the winter here in Phoenix. I typically mow the grass really short (scalp the lawn), plant new seed, and cover with topsoil. The new grass takes about 2 weeks to sprout and another 2 weeks to look somewhat good.

This is my first year with my sulcata, Mr. T. His main diet consists of the Bermuda grass from my lawn. What should I do during this transitional period? What do other folks do who overseed and have a grazing tortoise?

~Jason

 

[Yvonne G]

My Dudley just has to keep right on a-grazin' that old, dead Bermuda grass. I don't overseed, and I don't feed him. But when the weather cools down some, the winter weeds start to sprout, so he eats weeds and dead Bermuda grass.

I guess if Mr. T's buffet is scalped, you'll just have to provide him with grocery store greens and veggies until the winter grass comes in.

Yvonne

 

[Millerlite]

I know a lot of people have two enclosures and would have one for the sulcata to stay in, then when they munch all the grass away they move them in the other enclosure where the grass is good and keep rotating.. I had to do this for my russian tortoise group because they would eat all the grass down to the dirt. Its a little harder for a sulcata though since they take a bunch of room,

 

[tortoisenerd]

Might you have a place to safely collect pesticide-free weeds for him? Neighbors who don't use fertilizers and wouldn't mind their weeds pulled? Otherwise, sounds like you will be buying out the produce department! You can even ask if they are throwing out some lettuces, that you will come pick them up. A couple weeks of "junk" lettuce (spring mix, dandelion greens, etc are better, but if you could get free stuff that is awesome) isn't too horrible, especially if you don't have an other option. You may want to plan for next year though.

 

[dmmj]

What about buying some hay while the transition is happening?

 

[Yvonne G]

This is also where having them acclimated to eating something like Mazuri comes in handy.

Yvonne

 

[You Me and Mr T]

So how much hay/grass/produce should I feed Mr. T per day? I read somewhere that about 8 cups is a good amout for an adult sulcata. Does this sound right?

 

[Yvonne G]

I don't think anyone would be able to tell you the answer to that...I mean the quantity thing.

If he has access to a big pile of grass hay, he'll eat what he wants. You shouldn't limit the amount, but give him more than he'll eat. And as for the grocery store stuff, maybe a couple heads or bunches of something every other day would be good. I use Mazuri Tortoise Diet once a week just to be sure my grazing tortoises are getting the vitamins and minerals that might be missing from the grass. You can buy Mazuri at any feed dealer that sells Purina products. They probably don't have it in stock, but they can order it for you. A 20lb bag is less that $20.

Yvonne

 

[tortoisenerd]

If Mr. T is active and moving around, the quantity of food should be a non-issue. It's when the tort is in a small enclosure they tend to be over-fed. Also this is a relatively short amount of time, so no worries. Mazuri is usually well-liked by torts. You can take full advantage of his size and get a good deal on the big bag! The one pound bags plus shipping aren't much cheaper than the big bags, for us with the little torts.