sulcata & hay

[lawlessangel76]

i have a 8 year old sulcata,he's about 35 lbs,plz don't beat me up,i have been trying for 6 years to get him to eat hay,he eats very little grass,mostly weeds and hibiscus,every know and then leafy greens,cactus pads,texas mallow,pumpkin during the fall, carrots,yellow squash and a couple days during the summer he will get strawberries or watermelon,i have tried timothy and orchard hay and have mixed it with everything water,mazuri pellets,cucumber,watermelon,watermelon juice,cucumber and juice,cut up roses and hibiscus,all orange vegetable baby food,will he die or get sick if he never eats hay? i know he's underweight and i know thats probably cause he won't eat hay or grass,we have bahia and i think st Augustine? i don't have the money to put down bermuda grass,my yard is a little under 1 acre,what can i do to fatten him up and of course eat more grass and start eating hay...tthank you in advance,shanti

 

[Tom]

You have to introduce it slowly and in tiny amounts at first. Grab one strand of orchard grass hay, fold it over several times, and cut it into tiny little pieces. Soak the pieces in warm water for an hour. Mix the warm, wet, tiny pieces with a big pile of chopped greens. There will be so little in there that the tortoise can't even tell. The next day do it again. After a few days of this, cut up two strands. Then three. Etc... Do it every day, and the tortoise will eventually get used to it and recognize it as food. Alternatively, you can do the same thing if you soak one single broken piece of one orchard grass hay pellet. Then one whole pellet, then two, etc... Same technique with the grass.

Another method is to simply feed every meal on a bed of grass hay. I use a big plastic tray, spread out some loose hay all over it, and feed the tortoise everything it eat on the bed of hay. In time, they will just start eating the hay along with everything else. After a month or two, leave the hay out all the time, and start skipping a meal now and then, or only "feed" the tortoise every other day. A hungry tortoise is not a picky tortoise. Your tortoise can eat the grass or the grass hay any time it wants, so you are not starving it to death.

 

[TammyJ]

Hi and thanks for coming here. Your Sulcata, as you know, is in poor condition, but this is not likely caused by his not eating hay, if he is getting a good variety of other suitable and nutritious food including grass and weeds. It seems that he may actually have Metabolic bone disease from insufficient and incorrect diet. How many other species are all together in the same space? I see a RES and a box turtle? Just trying to help you by getting more information 🙂

 

[lawlessangel76]

Hi and thanks for coming here. Your Sulcata, as you know, is in poor condition, but this is not likely caused by his not eating hay, if he is getting a good variety of other suitable and nutritious food including grass and weeds. It seems that he may actually have Metabolic bone disease from insufficient and incorrect diet. How many other species are all together in the same space? I see a RES and a box turtle? Just trying to help you by getting more information 🙂

well my box turtle was euthanized on 11-25-23 due to severe pneumonia, i had her for 16 years the red ear has the pond but the box turtle liked coming over and swimming with her,they didn't sleep or live ttogether and i watched them the whole time and the sulcata just came over cause he likes to eat the floating pellets,he does not have MBD,he is pyramided cause my brother had him for the first 2 years of his life and didn't pay attention to soaking and humidity,he was more interesteed in smoking dope and partying!! so i walked in one day and walked out with newyear,my brother didn't even care,he used to be extremely bumpy on every scute,after 6 years of being in sunlight pretty much year round,i live in florida,he has really smoothed out,so how underweight is 35 lbs for a 8 year old sulcata,the sulcata has his own area too,they were all together on that day,just a cute pic!

 

[Len B]

well my box turtle was euthanized on 11-25-23 due to severe pneumonia, i had her for 16 years the red ear has the pond but the box turtle liked coming over and swimming with her,they didn't sleep or live ttogether and i watched them the whole time and the sulcata just came over cause he likes to eat the floating pellets,he does not have MBD,he is pyramided cause my brother had him for the first 2 years of his life and didn't pay attention to soaking and humidity,he was more interesteed in smoking dope and partying!! so i walked in one day and walked out with newyear,my brother didn't even care,he used to be extremely bumpy on every scute,after 6 years of being in sunlight pretty much year round,i live in florida,he has really smoothed out,so how underweight is 35 lbs for a 8 year old sulcata,the sulcata has his own area too,they were all together on that day,just a cute pic!

I wouldn't worry about the weight. The new growth looks good. I don't feed store bought hay, I feed grasses and weeds from my yard. In the spring and summer they get fresh cut greens. I harvest the grass and weeds during the growing seasons and dry them out and during the colder months I rehydrate it by soaking in water and feed it to them. I live near Washington DC so get cold winters. One thing you didn't mention was calcium in the diet. If you haven't, you could get a cuttlebone and put it out for him to chew on. He may not go after it at first but he probably will in time.

 

[lawlessangel76]

I wouldn't worry about the weight. The new growth looks good. I don't feed store bought hay, I feed grasses and weeds from my yard. In the spring and summer they get fresh cut greens. I harvest the grass and weeds during the growing seasons and dry them out and during the colder months I rehydrate it by soaking in water and feed it to them. I live near Washington DC so get cold winters. One thing you didn't mention was calcium in the diet. If you haven't, you could get a cuttlebone and put it out for him to chew on. He may not go after it at first but he probably will in time.

lol he eats like 2-3 cuttlebones a week,he loves his cuttlebones!! i bring him in during the cold nights here in the tampa,fl area,if its sunny and above 60 degrees i let him out during the day,his burrow got crushed when the stupid city mowed by his burrow,he dug it right to the edge of the chain link fence,and they mowed right by it,thank god we saw the whole,and thank god he wasn't in therw,he hasn't dug a new one yet thats why he comes inside,thank you for the suggestion on the grass

 

[Yvonne G]

(Am I understanding correctly that your name is Shanti?)

Hi Shanti! You did a good thing taking over the care of your brother's sulcata.

If you really want the tortoise to eat hay, Tom gave you good advice. But far as I'm concerned, hay's really not necessary. I see the tortoise lives outside. Grazing on weeds and grasses and any edible weeds he can find is a pretty good diet.If you think he's not getting enough, you can supplement his grazing with grocery store greens like dandelion and turnip and collard greens, raddichio, escarole, endive, green and red leaf lettuce, romaine, etc. Another food that's good for their growth is moistened Mazuri Tortoise Diet and Zoo Med Tortoise Diet. If you know someone with a mulberry tree, the tortoises LOVE mulberry leaves - grape leaves too.

Good luck with your tortoise. Glad to meet you, and good to have you here as a member!

 

[lawlessangel76]

(Am I understanding correctly that your name is Shanti?)

Hi Shanti! You did a good thing taking over the care of your brother's sulcata.

If you really want the tortoise to eat hay, Tom gave you good advice. But far as I'm concerned, hay's really not necessary. I see the tortoise lives outside. Grazing on weeds and grasses and any edible weeds he can find is a pretty good diet.If you think he's not getting enough, you can supplement his grazing with grocery store greens like dandelion and turnip and collard greens, raddichio, escarole, endive, green and red leaf lettuce, romaine, etc. Another food that's good for their growth is moistened Mazuri Tortoise Diet and Zoo Med Tortoise Diet. If you know someone with a mulberry tree, the tortoises LOVE mulberry leaves - grape leaves too.

Good luck with your tortoise. Glad to meet you, and good to have you here as a member!

thank you,i do give him red leaf lettuce and dandelion greens from whoole foods store,which i also give to my 7 month old redfoot,i give them both collards,endive,radiccio,turnip greens,yellow squash,zucchini and romaine,of course the redfoot also gets a nightcrawler ir boiled egg once a week and a white mushroom once a month, also strawberrries,pineapple,mango and melon 3 times a week with calcium powder,big guy has cuttlebones,he mainly eats weeds and a little grass through out the day,both get hibiscus,optunia and texas mallow,I'm more worried about him being 8 yyears old and 35 lbs,i have seen 6 year olds weighing 60 lbs,is there anything i can do to fatten him up?

 

[Yvonne G]

Yes, like I mentioned, Mazuri Tortoise Diet.

 

[jaizei]

thank you,i do give him red leaf lettuce and dandelion greens from whoole foods store,which i also give to my 7 month old redfoot,i give them both collards,endive,radiccio,turnip greens,yellow squash,zucchini and romaine,of course the redfoot also gets a nightcrawler ir boiled egg once a week and a white mushroom once a month, also strawberrries,pineapple,mango and melon 3 times a week with calcium powder,big guy has cuttlebones,he mainly eats weeds and a little grass through out the day,both get hibiscus,optunia and texas mallow,I'm more worried about him being 8 yyears old and 35 lbs,i have seen 6 year olds weighing 60 lbs,is there anything i can do to fatten him up?View attachment 368344

Not to harp on about the Mazuri, but here's a thread from a while back where a member shared the growth his sulcata had after just a month on Mazuri.

Update on Vegas and Tejas

So we purchased and started feeding both our Sulcata's Mazuri on April 7th with the intentions of it just being another option to grocery store greens. I had no expectations on how they would like it. So right now Vegas get's Dean's tort lasagna in the a.m. and some greens or cactus in the...

tortoiseforum.org

 

[Len B]

I lived in Palmetto for a while back in the 70s and prier to that I spent a lot of time in Bradenton so I have an idea what your weather is like. To help the growth and weight gain of your tortoise is to build him a small heated house with some bottom heat to help keep his core temperature up during the cooler times. This would also keep you from having to bring him inside during those time's. It wouldn't have to be fancy just a place so he could warm up. He may also stop digging a burrow. None of my 4 sulcatas all males are diggers and they range from 4 to 28 years and up to 167 pounds.

 

[lawlessangel76]

I lived in Palmetto for a while back in the 70s and prier to that I spent a lot of time in Bradenton so I have an idea what your weather is like. To help the growth and weight gain of your tortoise is to build him a small heated house with some bottom heat to help keep his core temperature up during the cooler times. This would also keep you from having to bring him inside during those time's. It wouldn't have to be fancy just a place so he could warm up. He may also stop digging a burrow. None of my 4 sulcatas all males are diggers and they range from 4 to 28 years and up to 167 pounds.

wow 28 years old,I'm 47,i hope to see him into his 20's,oh is it bad for them to dig burrows? i would rather him have a burrow than a dog house set up,but if they are not suppose to have a burrow,then i will try the little house thing,thank you

 

[Tom]

wow 28 years old,I'm 47,i hope to see him into his 20's,oh is it bad for them to dig burrows? i would rather him have a burrow than a dog house set up,but if they are not suppose to have a burrow,then i will try the little house thing,thank you

In parts of the country where the temps soar above 100 on a regular basis all summer long, like here where I am, or in Phoenix AZ, a burrow is a necessity. Its the only way they can escape the heat.

Where you are it isn't "necessary", but its is still good for the hotter months, as long as it doesn't flood in your copious summer rains. For early spring, late fall, and winter, they ned to sleep in a heated shelter. Indoors in your house isn't warm enough, unless your thermostat is set to about 90-95 degrees which wold keep the floor of your house around 80 on a cold winter night.

Here are two examples of night boxes. Come fall, I cover the burrow entrance with a sheet of plywood and make them start sleeping in their heated night boxes:

Single Tortoise Night Box

I like my larger tortoises to live outside full time. My climate permits this year round with a little help. For people who live where it snows all winter, this type of box is still good for warmer weather, getting them out earlier in Spring, and keeping them out a bit later into fall. You'll...

tortoiseforum.org

Double Door Night Box

As the years have gone by and I build more of these boxes, I learn more and more each time. This one is the latest and I incorporated everything I've learned over the years. I also tried to take lots of pics so I can explain in more detail some of what is going on. It will take multiple posts to...

tortoiseforum.org