Reptile & Amphibian Forums

HELP! WHAT IS THE BEST THING TO FEED A BABY SULCATA? HE WONT EAT ANY OF THE GREEN STUFF I PLACE IN THERE INCLUDING ALFALFA HAY TIMOTHY GRASS, PARSLEY. ALL HE'LL EAT IS STRAWBERRIES. WHAT WILL GIVE HIM THE BALANCED NUTRITION THAT HE NEEDS.

>>HELP! WHAT IS THE BEST THING TO FEED A BABY SULCATA? HE WONT EAT ANY OF THE GREEN STUFF I PLACE IN THERE INCLUDING ALFALFA HAY TIMOTHY GRASS, PARSLEY. ALL HE'LL EAT IS STRAWBERRIES. WHAT WILL GIVE HIM THE BALANCED NUTRITION THAT HE NEEDS.

Ok there is too much to say so I'll send you this link.
This place has IMO the best feeding guidelines for sulcata & it's easy to read.

sulcata diet

-----
PHRatz

thank you. another question is how do you know if youre giving enough calcium? also i read on another website that when their legs kinda twitch that means they need more calcium is that true? i love my new family member, hes sooo cute and more energetic than i thought

>>thank you. another question is how do you know if youre giving enough calcium? also i read on another website that when their legs kinda twitch that means they need more calcium is that true? i love my new family member, hes sooo cute and more energetic than i thought

Gosh how to know when you are giving enough calcium... somewhere I read that you should give a growing baby supplements often like 3 times per week.
I have a different experience with sulcata, we rescued ours, we aren't breeders or anything like that. Ours was found already fairly large compared to a box turtle & our soil is naturally very high in calcium so I don't have to supplement her. When we got her she was already large enough to stay outside to graze at will so she's always had enough calcium from eating the lawn.

It is true though that limb and/or "finger" twitching in reptiles can be caused by a lack of calcium, it's one of the first indicators that we can see with our eyes that they're beginning to have MBD (metabolic bone disease).
Some people use cuttlebones packaged for birds to get calcium into turtles and tortoises, it works for them.
Cuttlebones don't cost much & can be found even in grocery stores on the pet aisles.

Energetic, yes they are & what's so fun about them is they're very interactive with their humans too. Our tortoise will follow us around like a very slow dog. Our turtles won't do that unless they know I have food, then they stalk me until I feed them lol.
Our tortoise seeks us out for attention & she loves to be shell rubbed, scratched & petted, the turtles do not do that.
-----
PHRatz

You should go to Sulcata-station or african-tortoise.com. Both can help out.

Hope this helps
Shane