Waffles hates hay

[leash_wish]

Hi everyone. When I brought home Waffles I made sure to get him hay grass for food since I read that 70% of his diet should be hay. I put it in loose, didn't eat it. Cut it in smaller pieces in his food bowl, nothing. Put a big clump in the corner and he feels that makes a great bed. I bought Zoomed tortoise pellets and soak them so they fluff up and he won't eat that either. He loves his dark leafy greens though. How do I get a stubborn tortoise to eat his hay?

 

[Laura]

is this the tiny one in the picture? hatchlings don't eat hay. They eat fresh green grass sprouts, or Spring Mix lettuce...
Even some adults dont eat hay... some love it.. I have to mix it in with fresh picked grass for mine to eat it.. but they have plenty of graze to eat..

 

[Tom]

Yeah what she said.

And they don't need 70% hay. They need a pretty good amount of GRASS. It can be 10-90% of the diet and its fine. Actually you can raise one with no grass at all, but I think its very good for them. Most sulcatas won't eat dry hay until they are about 12" or longer. You can start them earlier by mixing finely chopped, rehydrated grass hay with finely chopped other greens. Personally I prefer to just feed them real grass. Hay works as a nice substitute if I don't have time to collect the real grass. They have their own grass growing for about 5 months out of the year, but I have to feed them the other 7 months because the grass and weeds all dry up. If you can plant some pasture seed mix that is grass heavy and let him graze on his own, that would be best.

Grass can be grown in pots or trays indoors if your climate does not allow grass growing in winter. Some people fit shallow trays into their enclosure and rotate trays of grass sprouts in and out as they get eaten.

 

[leash_wish]

Thank you so much for telling me that. He has a hearty appetite and from what the folks at the store told me, he should be eating hay. He is about 4 months old so if hay is not part of his diet at this point, I will continue his salad diet.

 

[SmileyKylie623]

I encountered the same thing with my Sulcacats in the past. They did not start to eat hay until they were 2 or 3 and even then they did not appear to touch it unless they were "starving". As far and feeding the zoomed, what I do for my Russian hatchling is get it damp and mush it up and make little burritos or sandwiches using lettuce leaves with the zoomed in the middle and hand feed it to him this way so he has to eat the pellets because he won't eat them on his own yet. Works great! I don't feed him a lot of the grassland food however, just like once-twice a week depending on how his poos look (Sometimes he appears to need more fiber then others so I monitor and adjust). Keep in mind this is and RT I am talking about not a Sulcata but this trick should work beautifully.

 

[Tom]

Thank you so much for telling me that. He has a hearty appetite and from what the folks at the store told me, he should be eating hay. He is about 4 months old so if hay is not part of his diet at this point, I will continue his salad diet.

The best diet for them is grass, weeds and leaves. When you say salad, I'm taking that to mean grocery store foods. Grocery store foods should be a last resort if you can't find anything better, in my opinion. The nice thing is that the best things for them are free. You just have to find them from safe sources, or grow them yourself. I do a little of both. Well... I do a LOT of both.

 

[theelectraco]

Not sure what they are called, but the little fluffy ends of certain strands of hay, is my tortoises new favorite food. I chop them up and add a little water and he goes to town on it.

 

[Tom]

Those are the seed heads. Timothy hay?

 

[theelectraco]

Yeah Timothy hay.

 

[leash_wish]

Currently he is eating dandelion, kale and spinach. Can't wait for spring because our neighbour neglects his lawn so it is full of untreated grass and dandelions.

 

[Jbandy]

What about squash and zucchini ? My little guy loves hibiscus flowers and leaves and grass. My bigger one loves squash and zucchini. Oh and both love dandelions. Also does anyone know if grass will grow on a turtle table?

 

[Roxie]

So if my guy has good access to grass year round, hay is not an issue? I wondered about that. He's 30lbs.

 

[Tom]

Currently he is eating dandelion, kale and spinach. Can't wait for spring because our neighbour neglects his lawn so it is full of untreated grass and dandelions.

All three of those foods are fine as part of a varied diet, but none of them should be fed as a staple. Endive and escarole are good staples. All the lettuces are lacking in nutrition a bit, but at least they don't have such high levels of oxalates and goitrogens. I like to mix in cilantro too.

A really easy thing to do is fine a grassy yard that is not chemically treated and use scissors to cut clumps of grass out and mix that in with your greens. For hatchlings I chop up the grass finely. You can use this as a "filler" and it will make your expensive store bought greens last longer. Maybe not a big concern for one baby, but give it a few months and you are going to be astounded at the amount of food that disappears right before your eyes. Also, its really good for them.

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What about squash and zucchini ? My little guy loves hibiscus flowers and leaves and grass. My bigger one loves squash and zucchini. Oh and both love dandelions. Also does anyone know if grass will grow on a turtle table?

Squash, zucchini, dandelions and hibiscus flowers are all good foods, but should not be a large percentage of the diet. More like an occasional mix in treat. Hibiscus leaves and grass are great as staples. You need to use the whole finely chopped and mix in techniques to get your bigger one eating more grass and fibrous weeds.

Grass will sprout on a table, but whether it continues to grow is a function of lighting and proper soil depth and nutrient levels.

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So if my guy has good access to grass year round, hay is not an issue? I wondered about that. He's 30lbs.

Correct. Hay is just grass that is dried up and bailed. The real deal is better for them in my opinion. Out here in the Southwest it ain't so easy growing grass. Takes a lot of effort and irrigation. In our summers, the hot sun just burns it. Hay is an easy way for us to offer a good diet.

 

[DeanS]

Read the second and third links in my signature for recipes that include hay...and YES! Bay sulcatas do eat hay...you just gotta trick 'em. Orchard grass and alfalfa work BEST!

 

[leash_wish]

Thank you for all the input. Waffles is my first ever reptile and I am learning so much

 

[Menno]

Is chicory good to give? Or does it contain too much water?