I hope you meant hay can be the main food item for adult sulcatas rather than should. Charlie is 26 years old and has never been fed hay. He free feeds on the grass, weeds and flowers growing in the yard. I thought hay was just an alternative.
Sulcata dehydrated?
- Thread starter torttor
- Start date
I live in the PacificNorthWest...they need hay to eat when the ground is covered with ice and snow
Yeah, I understand that, and @Tom uses it during the summer because he doesn't irrigate. The way I interpreted his comment was that sulcatas SHOULD be eating hay, not that it was an option. I have plenty of things growing year round so it isn't necessary for me.
They can certainly survive without it, and there is no need for it if a person has huge pastures and can provide enough fresh grass instead all year round, but for most people, there is no practical way to provide the volume needed all year in every season. I don't give them hay when there is enough grasses and weeds in the winter when we get our rains. They just walk out of their boxes and graze all day in that case. But for every other person and every other case, hay is a necessity.
Are you able to maintain loads of grass all year long? Even in fall before the rains come? Everything out my way dies and dries up by October/November, and then I have to wait for enough rain and time for the weeds and wild grasses to grow. There is a period of at least 2-3 months every fall where I have no more cactus pads, no more mulberry leaves or grape leaves, no weeds or flowers, and I have to rely on grocery store greens mixed with all the good stuff and grass hay. I get lots of pumpkins at the beginning of November, but that doesn't last long with my big herds. Mazuri is good for a couple days a week during that time too.
What do you do?
I only have one tortoise and I have sprinklers. I keep wondering when his eating will outpace the growing but it isn't happening. It's a pretty big yard. He free grazes. Hibiscus during the summer. Roses grow year round. I've had to put those in a raised planter box so he won't destroy them. I've never used Mazuri. I've tried cactus pads a few times but he doesn't eat them.
honestly, I never had a tort who would eat cactus pads either...I grow, Rose of Sharon which is a species of hibiscus that is freeze hardy, I grow several grape vines for the leafs and grapes for the box turtles, I grow dandelions and a buncha unknown weeds, squash and pumpkin use the fruit and the blooms...all for the torts, this is the first year I am attempting corn for me...lol
I have these lavender colored RoS, I have white w/red centers, white, and one whole tree that blooms red, white and blue...lol
one of my grape vines covers this cherry tree and has HUGE freaking grape clusters...just outta reach...
dandelion
I have these lavender colored RoS, I have white w/red centers, white, and one whole tree that blooms red, white and blue...lol
one of my grape vines covers this cherry tree and has HUGE freaking grape clusters...just outta reach...
dandelion
I have the lavender ROS like yours but mine is disappointing. The plant has stayed small and goes completely dormant in the winter. I get most of the hibiscus to feed Charlie from my neighbors' trees. They hang over my fence. I have a lot of that weed that looks like dandelions but is bigger.
