Questions! Help!

[Squirt58]

Has anyone shopped on the Oxbow Hay Company website? I was wondering what would be the best to feed my baby sulcata. Ive been giving him greens but I need to switch it up a bit so he wont have any health issues. Would any of the oxbow products be good to feed him every day? I also had a question about his enclosure. Well first off i am baby sitting him, but its starting to seem as if the person is leaving him with me.. so he is in a 20 gln tank which i no he shouldn't be in because of the lack of air flow. So should I go with a storage tub or some sort? I try and soak him every day, he is active at times but i made him an area to burrow under and he seems to stay under there most of the day, when I take him out he lets me touch his head when he gets soaked, he seems very dry (i know their dry land animals but is cracked looking skin okay?) I'm just so nervous because i have a lot of experience with reptiles but none with tortoises, i've read the threads for beginners already.

 

[Laura]

they dont really eat dry hay until older.. or you should chop it up and mix with damp greens.
Look into Mazuri to supplement.. but weeds and greens are good..

 

[Squirt58]

Would he be able to eat the hay pellets? I have been giving him greens but I know it says that the should only be given greens as a treat.

 

[schmodygirl]

I had mine eating timothy hay at 4 months old. It took some patience and I had to cut it up quite a bit. But they got used to it and it is the majority of their diet now.

 

[NudistApple]

Hay: Like Laura said, they usually aren't too interested in hay until they are older, but any of the hays or grasses (except alfala) should be fine. If you want to add a little variety, you can switch things up with a pelleted food like Mazuri or Grassland Tortoise. Greens and weeds are great though. You really don't want to do fruit.

Enclosure: There isn't really anything inherently wrong with tanks, if you have a tortoise that keeps trying to walk through walls, just putting up some paper will fix that. When sully's are babies they actually need really high humidity, so the lack of airflow is actually a good thing. That being said, a 20 gallon is probably muchmuch too small. Bin cages are great, you can do that, or I'd look into upgrading to a bigger tank soon.

Dry land animals: Again, especially as babies, they actually need high humidity to be health. You should check out these threads by another member here, he grows beautiful, healthy, smooth sullys and leopards using this method;
TOM's Threads
http://www.tortoiseforum.org/Thread-Begi...z1y6gfMklV
http://www.tortoiseforum.org/Thread-How-...z1y6gfMklV
http://www.tortoiseforum.org/Thread-The-...z1y6gfMklV

 

[Squirt58]

Awesome! I was looking online for the mazuri food and found some great tortoises tables handmade as well. Would those be too small for him I mean depending on the dimensions.

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http://www.tortoisesupply.com/products/Tortoise-Table.html

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He isn't too big yet either he still fits inside my hand. And he doesn't run into the walls lol he digs a lot. I have cypress bedding in his enclosure. Is it normal for him to allow me to rub his head though? I always thought turtles to be a tad skittish ( sorry for all the questions I'm just nervous I don't want him getting sick if he is going to stay with me.)

 

[Dizisdalife]

Babies probably won't eat the Oxbow Hay pellets unless they are re-hydrated (soaked very well). Even when it has been re-hydrated I am not sure a baby will eat them. As mentioned above, Babies just don't eat hay. I have been feeding timothy hay pellets to my tortoise for about 2 years. He is almost 3 years old now. I always soakthe pellets first so there are no hard pieces left and then mix it in with Mazuri. I started out by adding a small amount to his Mazuri and then slowly increased the amount of hay. Now he gets about 50% hay and 50% Mazuri 2 or 3 times a week. My tortoise lives outside, so he has fresh timothy grass and other weeds, leaves, cactus to eat almost all the time.

 

[NudistApple]

Awesome! I was looking online for the mazuri food and found some great tortoises tables handmade as well. Would those be too small for him I mean depending on the dimensions.

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http://www.tortoisesupply.com/products/Tortoise-Table.html

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He isn't too big yet either he still fits inside my hand. And he doesn't run into the walls lol he digs a lot. I have cypress bedding in his enclosure. Is it normal for him to allow me to rub his head though? I always thought turtles to be a tad skittish ( sorry for all the questions I'm just nervous I don't want him getting sick if he is going to stay with me.)

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The page says that it is only 18"x28", which is pretty small, especially for a Sulcata! They grow very fast, and aside from that, will really use the space you give them. They truck around. My greek tortoise is only like 4" long (I really ought to measure her) and she lives in a 40B tank (which is 36"x18") and uses ALL of it. I'm upgrading her to a 6'x2' enclosure really soon.

It's definitely well made, but he's just going to outgrow it, in my opinion, way sooner than I'd be happy about for that price.

You could get a big Christmas Tree tote for a quarter of the price, and use it much longer.

And some torts really seem to like have their necks scritched! Mine tolerates it reasonably well, but doesn't love it. It all comes down to the personality of the animal.



3.5". Apparently she is 3.5".

 

[TFCO]

I use the oxbow salade style hay i use it as a topper on his greens.

 

[Squirt58]

Thank you everyone for the advice, :] im glad he will be okay with the greens, what greens are you guys feeding your babies? I have been giving him the dole spring mix with these little orange tortoise bites he seems to like.