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