Sulcatas and Guinea Grass

tortadise

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so until moving to south Texas and adding a horticulturist to our board of trustees. I had no clue what Guinea grass was. Well it's quite invasive as a species in general. It's been introduced into almost every nation. Very drought tolerant, conditions soil systems, feed livestock, and even has been utilized in famine stricken nations.

It provides a large large variety of nutrients. It's a broad leaf grass but has a lot of protein. Depending on soil nutrients it can provide 6-25% protein levels. Which of course many say proteins in high amounts are not good, however the proteins found in flora can vary greatly than animal proteins. That's another debate or topic for discussion.

So this species Megathyrsus maximus (Guinea grass) is natively found and originated in the Sahel of North Africa. This is where the native range of the Sulcata tortoise is found, so basically I feed lots and lots of Guinea grass to these big boys.

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The tortoises all consume this readily. But prefer clipped or smaller new growth grass blades.
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bouaboua

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OH. I do remember them.....

Yes! ! !They are very health indeed! ! ! This is how I remember them...........:D:D:D:D

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wellington

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Kelly, do you know if that grass will grow freely here in the northern states and if leopards can eat it as much as the sulcatas? Is it easy to find?
 

tortadise

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Kelly, do you know if that grass will grow freely here in the northern states and if leopards can eat it as much as the sulcatas? Is it easy to find?
I'm not sure. I've been doing lots of reading on it to try and find the exact percentages of nutrients. I did find the lows and highs it can withstand. I'm pretty certain it cannot withstand cold or freezing temps. BUT the species has numerous hybrids and has been introduced into colder climate nations. So I'd say yes. But probably not the seeds from ours down here. You could always try it. It's highly invasive though.
 

HI Tortoise Rescue

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I had two acres of it back in Louisiana, & am glad I had a tractor to mow it! My Sulcatas ate it, & so did my Leopards & boxies, so I guess it must taste good to all of them. Doesn't grow out here in Hawaii, or at least I've never seen it. Kelly, could I hit you up for some seeds? Everything else grows like crazy out here - we get three cane sugar crops a year! - so guinea grass should have no problem.

Ken
 

tortadise

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I had two acres of it back in Louisiana, & am glad I had a tractor to mow it! My Sulcatas ate it, & so did my Leopards & boxies, so I guess it must taste good to all of them. Doesn't grow out here in Hawaii, or at least I've never seen it. Kelly, could I hit you up for some seeds? Everything else grows like crazy out here - we get three cane sugar crops a year! - so guinea grass should have no problem.

Ken

Hi Ken,
You should be able to find it in Hawaii! However it's an illegal crop in your state. Was highly invasive in the 70s i read. They may gotten rid of it all. It is a great grass for Chelonian species.
 

HI Tortoise Rescue

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Aloha, Kelly- No, it's not illegal out here according to the County rep I just spoke with, but there's a big effort to eradicate it on Hawaii Island, so the turf companies have stopped selling it. I'll be happy to pay you for a couple of pounds of seed so I can get some grass plats grown for our hardshell buddies. It won't get out of our yard.

Ken
 

tortadise

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Aloha, Kelly- No, it's not illegal out here according to the County rep I just spoke with, but there's a big effort to eradicate it on Hawaii Island, so the turf companies have stopped selling it. I'll be happy to pay you for a couple of pounds of seed so I can get some grass plats grown for our hardshell buddies. It won't get out of our yard.

Ken
Well alright. If it's a go then I can certainly get some seeds. The pods are flowered up top, each seed pods contains a couple thousand.
 

dmmj

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if it is Hardy and grows fast then it's probably a good idea to use it.
 

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