Possible to set a leopard up to self sustain in their outdoor enclosure?

[Renee_H]

Not opposed to serving hand selected diet, just wondering if it’s possible to grow the right varieties that allow them to graze and without consistent supplemental feeds? Working on my growing list now. FWIW I live in SoCal and I’m pretty sure I can grow a lot year round. Still very much in the learning stage(so please forgive my ignorance). I’ve been reading every thread I can find and haven’t seen this addressed specifically. Apologies if I’ve missed it!

 

[Maro2Bear]

Not opposed to serving hand selected diet, just wondering if it’s possible to grow the right varieties that allow them to graze and without consistent supplemental feeds? Working on my growing list now. FWIW I live in SoCal and I’m pretty sure I can grow a lot year round. Still very much in the learning stage(so please forgive my ignorance). I’ve been reading every thread I can find and haven’t seen this addressed specifically. Apologies if I’ve missed it!

Greetings! I’m sure that it is possible in your nice California climate! @Tom will know!

ps - how large of a garden & yard do you have?

 

[Renee_H]

Greetings! I’m sure that it is possible in your nice California climate! @Tom will know!

ps - how large of a garden & yard do you have?

My enclosure is in progress. I hired someone to build it for me and he will start on the 8th. I don’t have a tort yet. The enclosure will go in the back corner of my yard. The fence will be somewhere around 10’x13’x31’x14’ angular L shape with a gate. I plan to do a mix of in ground, potted and garden beds some inside and some just outside the enclosure along the fence.

 

[wellington]

I do it in the summer months with my leopards in Chicago. About once a month or so I feed them mazuri which can fill in whatever they don't get from the weeds and leaves they graze on.

 

[Tom]

Not opposed to serving hand selected diet, just wondering if it’s possible to grow the right varieties that allow them to graze and without consistent supplemental feeds? Working on my growing list now. FWIW I live in SoCal and I’m pretty sure I can grow a lot year round. Still very much in the learning stage(so please forgive my ignorance). I’ve been reading every thread I can find and haven’t seen this addressed specifically. Apologies if I’ve missed it!

It is possible, and I think you have enough room to do it there. The tortoise will likely eat its favorites to the ground and ignore other things that are perfectly edible until they get hungry. It will take some management, but you can do a lot.

I let the natural weeds take over in my larger pens and I don't have to "feed" several pens for about 4 months of every year. I hand pull any bad weeds and leave the ones I want. I get lots of mallow, fillaree, sow thistle, prickly lettuce, wild mustard, wild onion/garlic, Bermuda grass, and several other types of grass that all turn into foxtails when it all dries out. Here it is on Feb 22:


Here is a little video from a month later in March:
View attachment IMG_1201.MOV


I don't "feed" the tortoises in this pen for several months each year, but they sure do eat a lot, as seen from the copious quantities of tortoise turds everywhere. In another month it will all be brown and yellow and dried out, and then I will be feeding them mulberry leaves, cactus pads, grass hay and pellets, Mazuri, grape leaves, and any late season weeds or grasses I can find.

 

[Renee_H]

It is possible, and I think you have enough room to do it there. The tortoise will likely eat its favorites to the ground and ignore other things that are perfectly edible until they get hungry. It will take some management, but you can do a lot.

I let the natural weeds take over in my larger pens and I don't have to "feed" several pens for about 4 months of every year. I hand pull any bad weeds and leave the ones I want. I get lots of mallow, fillaree, sow thistle, prickly lettuce, wild mustard, wild onion/garlic, Bermuda grass, and several other types of grass that all turn into foxtails when it all dries out. Here it is on Feb 22:
View attachment 368732

Here is a little video from a month later in March:
View attachment 368733


I don't "feed" the tortoises in this pen for several months each year, but they sure do eat a lot, as seen from the copious quantities of tortoise turds everywhere. In another month it will all be brown and yellow and dried out, and then I will be feeding them mulberry leaves, cactus pads, grass hay and pellets, Mazuri, grape leaves, and any late season weeds or grasses I can find.

Awesome!

 

[SinLA]

Hmmm you SURE you don’t have one of @KarenSoCal’s puppies???

 

[Tom]

Hmmm you SURE you don’t have one of @KarenSoCal’s puppies???

No, I do not have "one" of Karen's puppies.