Young sulcata diet

[Sulcata520]

I'm the owner of a young 2" sulcata and I'm just asking for some diet tips; what has worked for your tortoise? Thanks!

 

[Arizona Sulcata]

Spring mix, cactus pads (finely cut up), Mazuri, grass, weeds, as well as bush and tree leaves (don't know their names) that I've found they love.

 

[Tom]

Feed them everything. Lots of variety early on helps make them less picky later on. Grape leaves, mulberry, rose and hibiscus leaves, as many weeds as you can identify and from safe sources, clover, dandelions, mallow, sow thistle, filaree, etc..., and lots and lots of chopped up grass. I like to mix in the grass with just about every meal. I find it much easier to grow your own too. It can be grown outside on the ground or in trays that you can sink into the substrate in the indoor enclosure so they can graze. If you grow several trays, you can rotate them in and out as your baby mows them down.

These things are just a few suggestions from a couple of guys. There are tons of lists of edible plants for tortoises. Check into it and then either find or grow your own stuff.

 

[Blakem]

Feed them everything. Lots of variety early on helps make them less picky later on. Grape leaves, mulberry, rose and hibiscus leaves, as many weeds as you can identify and from safe sources, clover, dandelions, mallow, sow thistle, filaree, etc..., and lots and lots of chopped up grass. I like to mix in the grass with just about every meal. I find it much easier to grow your own too. It can be grown outside on the ground or in trays that you can sink into the substrate in the indoor enclosure so they can graze. If you grow several trays, you can rotate them in and out as your baby mows them down.

These things are just a few suggestions from a couple of guys. There are tons of lists of edible plants for tortoises. Check into it and then either find or grow your own stuff.

Isn't the hay and grass supposed to be 75% of the diet? Just checking for myself and the person asking.

 

[Tom]

I've never heard any percentage, and if I did, it would likely just be someone's opinion. They can thrive with no grass at all, but grass IS very good for them. Sometimes mine get nothing but grass for a meal, but most of the time it's grass mixed with other stuff for young ones. My adults get all sorts of stuff thrown at them, but they always have grass hay available, and no matter what other stuff I'm feeding them, the hay disappears. The adults also have a lot of grass growing in their enclosure for about 5 or 6 months out of the year. The rest of the time, I either have to grow it or find it somewhere else. This is when I really appreciate the convenience of the grass hays.

 

[Blakem]

Good to know. Also, grass and hay is cheap, if not free!

 

[DeanS]

If you buy hay...don't buy any of that pet store bagged crap. Fork up the bucks for a REAL bale of hay. Sometimes you can go to the feed store and ask to bag what has gathered on the floor around the bales...

My month-olds are eating a little Mazuri, a little Marion, a little cactus...and a lot of grass and weeds. They have two night pens...one that I keep loaded with orchard grass hay. They burrow into it...and they eat it too! Of course, I cut all the hay down to 1 or two inch lengths...but they do nibble on it!

 

[Blakem]

My girlfriends dad owns a Feedstore so I get the "shake". Wheat hay and alfalfa

 

[Carlos83]

whats the best hay And cactus for them ?

 

[Sulcata520]

I buy cactus pads from the Hispanic markets in my area and hay from feed stores