Sulcata Diet

[Spikes Dad]

Hello
I just got my lil guy Spike 5 days ago he is approximately 2 or 3 months old, I'm waiting on a call from the breeder to find out for sure.
Anyways my question is what is a good diet for him the store I bought him from gave me a breeders book that says lots of romaine lettuce is good very minimal fruit no spinach and timothy hay plus the calcium. But what I have found online from researching myself says to stay away from alot of green leafy vegetables such as Romaine lettuce and so on and so forth. Any input would be greatly appreciated.
Thank You
Spikes Dad

 

[ALDABRAMAN]

Welcome.

 

[dmarcus]

Hello and welcome to the forum...

You should feed dark leafy greens, like collard, dandelion, etc.. or you can buy spring mix from the grocery store. You don't want to feed romaine that much and fruit is not needed for a sulcata, maybe a piece on rare occasions.

 

[wellington]

WELCOME check out the threads at the bottom of my post, all great reads for sulcatas. Also, the best, correct help/advice will be found on this forum. Most likely not the pet store you got him from and probably not the book. A lot of bad outdated info out there, but not here.

 

[Arizona Sulcata]

Welcome! Spring mix lettuces, Mazuri, grasses, weeds, cactus, leaves. All good foods for sulcatas. Good luck!

 

[pam]

Welcome

 

[Yvonne G]

Hi Spikes Dad:

Welcome to the Tortoise Forum!!

What would you like us to call you?

...and may we know appx. where in the world you are?

Baby sulcatas won't eat hay. When you read on the 'net to feed sulcatas hay, they're talking about older tortoises. To get your little guy started eating and gaining nutrition, you have to feed him some dark, leafy greens. You can include clean weeds from outside in that "dark, leafy greens" category. If you put a leaf of romaine next to a leaf of collards or turnip greens, you can see that romaine is NOT in the DARK category. So, turnip greens, dandelion greens, beet tops, collard greens, spring mix are all good food items for a baby sulcata. Just don't get stuck in a rut feeding the same thing over and over. Once you've finished off a head or bunch of one type greens, buy a different one next time, and so on.

 

[Jacob]

Welcome!

 

[Spikes Dad]

Well thank you everybody for your input. You can call me Jonah and I am in Tempe Arizona.

 

[Spikes Dad]

Oh and my lil guy seems to love the hay over the romaine, I mix them together and he eats all the hay and some Romaine.

 

[Tom]

Here are a couple of care sheets and some good info for you.
http://www.tortoiseforum.org/Thread-Helpful-Threads#axzz1s3U3CceG

Have you heard all about keeping them humid and NOT dry. Daily soaks, sunshine,etc...?

 

[Spikes Dad]

Yes I keep his enclosure humid he gets daily soaks i have a soft baby tooth brush that I use on his shell to keep the dirt out of the little creases and I rub a small amount of canola oil on his shell which I plan on doing once a week. He gets out in the sun for atleast 30 minutes a day plus his UVB light.

 

[ALDABRAMAN]

Welcome.

 

[Tom]

Yes I keep his enclosure humid he gets daily soaks i have a soft baby tooth brush that I use on his shell to keep the dirt out of the little creases and I rub a small amount of canola oil on his shell which I plan on doing once a week. He gets out in the sun for atleast 30 minutes a day plus his UVB light.

Sweet! You are way ahead of the curve.

Since you are a new member, I'm wondering where you learned all that stuff. You've given me a glimmer of hope that the word is getting around beyond our fantastic forum here.

 

[Spikes Dad]

Unfortunately I don't believe it is although I just joined yesterday I have been on here reading posts and thats how I have learned all I know so far. But I must say a big thank you to everyone for sharing all their knowledge.

 

[TORTOISEMAN1]

Welcome!!

 

[Spikes Dad]

Thank you for the welcome everyone