worrying on my sulcata diet

[wijaya]

Hi all,

I have checked through the list for the diet on sulcata, as we are in tropical country will be a bit hard to find the desert type of diet.

What I fed her for now is mazuri pellet, brassica rapa - parachinensis and pekinensis (napa cabbage) and dandelion leafs and she really fond of vigna cylindrica (L) is this harmful? I will try to get the timothy hay for her, but even for this is not easily available in town.

Any advice is much appreciated.

Ed

 

[Tom]

Look in the weed ID section and see if any of that looks familiar. Weeds are good stuff for them. Grape vines and spineless opuntia cactus should grow there for you too. How about mulberry trees? Are those around your area? There must be some grass near you. Grass is everywhere.

If nothing else you can always use more variety from the store bought type foods.

 

[October]

The cabbage and is not the greatest option. Also, are you feeding your tort the pods of the vigna? That is skeels, right? I'm not so sure the pods would be safe, the leaves I am uncertain about.

You can also buy seed mixes. Sulcatafood.com, carolinapetsupply.com, etc. I'm lazy, so all I do is pull back some gravel, throw down a handful of seeds, throw compost on top and water. Comes up in about a week. You can also order other seeds too - dandelion, plantain (not the fruit), spurge, filligree, etc.

Kudzu is edible and should grow quite well there too. Should be able to find it around your neighborhood. Most dark leafy greens are a good option. Some, like spinach, disrupt calcium absorbtion though, so a huge variety is a good way to go.

 

[Sky2Mina]

Wow you have dandelions in Indonesia?
I had no luck finding them in Thailand.

As for grasses... you must have some kinds of grass like Malaysian Grass or Paragrass?
And you can maybe find Hay, that they usually sell for rabbits.

With Asian Veggies, try to find those that are high fiber/low protein. Don't ask me which though, still trying to find out.

 

[wijaya]

Guys, thanks for the advice, more input will be great.
@Tom, weeds give me an idea, as sulcata are grazing tortoise, I will try to find the grass that used to feed cows, should be safe enough rite?
@October, thanks for the link, I will try to look at them and deleted the vigna off the diet menu then.
@Sky2mina, hello neighbor, yes planning to buy Timothy hay, can get it but for the fresh supply I need to get them from Malaysia.

 

[Laura]

timothy hay will probably Not be eaten if your tort is young. if you chop it up and sprinkle over damp greens they might eat some, and that will help them aquire a taste for it..

 

[wijaya]

Dear all thanks for the input and advice, finally I can find the hibiscus and cactus pad and ordered some seeds mixed from the link given by October. Also an outdoor pen is in progress, I will update what the pen looks like later on when they are done.

This is the pic of my sulcata: (sorry for the bad quality - snapped using phone camera)

 

[October]

What a pretty little thing. How old is s/he?

Have you checked out Tom's guide on juvenile sulcatas yet? It's full of great information, especially pertaining to pyramiding.
http://www.tortoiseforum.org/Thread-How-To-Raise-Sulcata-Hatchlings-and-Babies#axzz1PVcZYfsk

Glad I could be of help!

 

[wijaya]

@October: not sure how old is she, but the measurement is at 11 cm and weigh around 220 grams for now. And thanks for the link on juvenile sulcata thread, yes I have read thru and those are great information.

 

[Maggie Cummings]

That yearling is already heading towards pyramiding. I might suggest you research diet and get it involved in Tom's swampy way of raising it. I am surprised it is pyramiding there as humidity is high in your country and that generally what helps prevent pyramiding. Anyhow you need to do some research and set that animal up in the best way possible and get it on a good varied diet, not cabbage, and sun with lots of exercise...

 

[wijaya]

@Maggie: thanks for the information and concern, I got her from June 5, 2011, so probably was fed wrongly from the supplier. Now, started with grass weeds and hibiscus diet plus occasionally opuntia cactus. I managed to find seeds on bermuda and timothy grass, soon will have them available, also bought some seeds mixed for desert tortoise from sulcatafood.com.

And just finished building an outdoor pen for her, the size is at 120 cm x 420 cm, with smaller house for resting at night and bigger garden for exercising and grazing. (will post some pic of the new outdoor pen)