Reptile & Amphibian Forums

hi, this is my first time posting, but anyway, i just picked up a small sulcata on a trip to florida. i felt kind of bad for the thing seing it had no UV rays or heat sources of an kind, and many of them were kept in a small ten gallon tank. once i brought the little guy home he wouldnt touch anything except for romaine and ellow squash but he would eat alot of it and remained active. i have now had him for around a week and have gotten him to eat small amounts of grass (orchard, and bermuda)sulcata station said that is what they needed, and so did a book i read, i was just wondering if anyone had any suggestions on how to get him to eat right. any information would be appreciated. this isnt my first tort, i have a russian that is around three along with some other small reptiles so i have an idea of what it needs, its just that my knowledge on sulcatas is limited, thankyou.

I've heard from several people that they've had good luck with getting a baby to eat by chopping up the hay/grass into very small bites. Sometimes soaking hay/grass in water for a little while entices them to eat.
When we first took ours in she was 9 lbs, 12 inches long or so but obviously had never been fed a proper diet.
She was starving & the person who drove her to my house told me that in the back of his pick-up were loose bits of dry dog food.. she ate those on the ride over.
I fed her greens for a few days then on her own she began grazing on the grass in the yard.
I gradually fed her less & less food.. today I seldom feed her at all.. usually just a few treats of cactus & some greens now & then.
My point about that is keep trying with your new baby because it may take a little time to convert the diet.
Try the tricks with the hay & see if it helps.. then please let us know how it goes.
Congrats on your new baby.
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PHRatz

thanks for the advice, i will deffinatly try that

>>thanks for the advice, i will deffinatly try that

Let us know how it goes & if need be I can look through old info to see if I can come up with more suggestions.

There is one bit of good news in your favor- I have several rescued box turtles, my vet has a few rescued sulcatas and box turtles.. comparing notes we've both found that the box turtles are MUCH more picky & difficult to feed than the tortoises are.
There's a lot of hope for you in getting yours to eat what it should eat.
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PHRatz

that news is very encouraging, and thankyou for the help. ill post again and say how the tort is doing.