Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi. I just took in a baby sulcata (2.5 inches shell length), and it is healthy by all standards and checks, and has a voracious appetite.

However, the previous owner had been feeding it veggies only and no grass for a few weeks and I don't know what it had been eating before that. I would like to get it to eat dry hay that I can easily get in the form of timothy hay, orchard hay, bermuda grass hay etc. that is easily available to me.

I tried giving it just the hay in dry form, cut into small bits and it did try to eat it, but spat it back out. So I tried to cut up small bits of the hay, then cut up some leafy greens (about 40%) and a tiny (REALLY tiny) bit of carrot, soaked the grass in warm water for 15 mins, and mixed all of it together. The tortoise started eating but it seemed to select the greens. It probably did eat a little of the hay stuck to the leaves, but not much. I also saw it deliberately biting onto the soaked timothy hay, but as soon as it was in its mouth, it spat it back out.

How can I get it to eat dry hay??

While I'm on the subject, I have seen a lot of conflicting advice on temperatures.
Most seem to agree that temps during the day should be about 80 - 85, but some say that the BASKING temp should be 100.
Currently, I have two digital thermometers. The probe is set on the FLOOR, one on the cool end, and one right under the basking bulb. The temperature IMMEDIATELY UNDER the light was 98 when I had the 100 watt MVB that I had gotten for it, and about 85 on the cool end. This was a bit too hot perhaps?
I have currently switched to a 60 watt normal bulb temporarily (no UVB, hey, I've taken it in for a day, not everything is resolved yet). The temps are currently 93 - 94 on the hot end DIRECTLY under the light, and 82 on the floor of the cool end. Does this seem more appropriate?

Should I get a 60 watt MVB? Or keep the 100 watt and move the table to a cooler area? The weather is currently very very rainy and storms every week so I can't house it outside.

Your temps seem fine. To clear things up, while a thermo range is often given (say 82 cool end, 90 hot end) an additional basking temperature (100) is also recommended to boost temperature potential. THe basking spot is a more localized area that the tort can select. Esp with these tiny critters, make sure they don't dry out, and offer a humid hide somewhere in the otherwise dry enclosure (sans waterdish). When larger, a basking temp above 100 is fine too, the tort will decide how long it'd like to use it for.

As for the food... Don't worry to much and be patient with the grass. It is likely that young'ns don't eat as much grass as older counterparts in the wild. Mine didn't really start taking off on grazing until 2-3 years of age and is now a cow at heart.

I would continue with blending up a varied diet, and select high fibre foods for the bulk. Broccoli stems, all the stocks from the leafy foods that it'll eat, carrots, and fresh (not dried) grass clippings.

Good luck and have fun

Ian

Hi. What can I do to get it a proper diet when it isn't eating the grass? I got some FRESH weeds today to see if he will eat it instead of the dry hay, and boy was he enthusiastic about them. He went to try to eat them right away, BUT it seems that he is still too small and weak to bite pieces off the grass. He would bite onto a blade of grass, try hard to bite off a piece, then give up.
I cut the grass into small pieces, so it can swallow individual pieces, but now he won't eat them. He is chooseing the big pieces. Its not that he's unwilling to eat them, he can't bite them yet.

What do I do?

Keep offering the weeds and such; the grass will come with time. It sounds like your tort will do well

Ian