Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hey, is romain lettuce a good food for sulcatas?

romaine is OK at best...they certainly like it, but you want a diverse diet with grasses, high fiber, High Calcium and low Phosphorus. Of the lettuces, romaine is one of the best, but no lettuce is a good staple in my mind. Romaine OK, many other items are better. good luck, vic

whats an easy to find vegitable that i can use as i staple, mine shows not much interest in grass or hay. What vegitables are high in phospherous

Visit the San Diego Turtle and Tortoise Society website. Also the California Turtle and Tortoise Club web sites for good information on diet. Also Andy Highfield's books, be sure to understand that captive tortoises can be spoiled and addicted to substandard foods, i.e. lettuce. You need access to a wide variety of greens in my opinion, and I grow and collect from fields much of what I feed in addition to super market fare. Many sulcattas seem to enjoy grazing turf areas, and seem to do well on the grass diet. Read in Highfield and elsewhere about Calciumhosphorus ratio, important to food selection and long term care. I am sure there are many other excellent sources of info. and I am not slighting anyone, I just mentioned the two above because I agree with them and found them helpful. Our tortoise's deserve a good long term diet and you will avoid problems if you provide it. vic

I introduce new stuff cut up. When they wouldn't eat Opuntia cactus, I sliced it very thin. (Now they will take bites out of it.) When they wouldn't eat hay, I cut it in very small pieces and mixed it with other small pieces of favored veggies. They aren't that good at picking through it if it is small enough.

I got a Sulcata that was spoiled on European lettuce mix. When it didn't eat for a while, I'd give it a little to get those eating reflexes going. It is now a grass grazer and eats whatever mixed veggies/hat I offer. It's favored lettuce is down to nearly zero.

The tortoise ain't in charge.