Reptile & Amphibian Forums

hey i just got a sulcata hatchling yesterday and i did plenty of research before hand and alot of people have different opinion on lettuces and such. right now it's on bermuda grass subsrate, with a basking temp of about 97 and i put in dandelion greens today and i's been eating them up.

anyways i was just wondering if someone could post what they feed their sulcata hatchling or adult throughout the week.

thanks

I FEED MY BABIES AND ALDUTS JUST ABOUT ANYTHING FROM YOUR LOCAL GROCIERY STORES PRODUCE SECTION. PEOPLE SAY TO STAY AWAY FROM THE RED LEAF LETTUCE BUT I HAVE NEVER HAD A PROBLEM WITH IT. YOU CAN ALSO FEED THEM FRUITS WHICH THEY LOVE VERY MUCH. REMEMBER THAT YOUR SULCATA GETS ALL OF ITS WATER FROM THE FOOD IT EATS. A WATER DISH (FROM MY EXOERIENCE) IS ONLY GOOD FOR SOAKING IN A POOPING IN. HOWEVER WHEN FEEDING HIM REMEMBER TO LIMIT THE INTAKE OF SUPPLIMENTS BECAUSE TO MUCH SUPPLIMENTS WILL CAUSE HIM TO GET PYRAMIDING AND TO LITTLE VARIATION OF HIS DIET WILL CAUSE A DIFFICIENCY. THERE IS A BOOK OUT THERE AND AS SOON AS I DIG IT UP I WILL EMAIL YOU THE TITLE AND ISB SO THAT YOU MAY GET IT. I HAVE FOUND IT IS THE MOST INFORMATIVE BOOK I HAVE AND IT USUALLY SELLS FOR ABOUT 5-10 DOLLARS.

THANKS JASON
www.midwestreptileexpo.com

Jason, I have to disagree with you.

You Said:
I FEED MY BABIES AND ADULTS JUST ABOUT ANYTHING FROM YOUR LOCAL GROCERY STORES PRODUCE SECTION. PEOPLE SAY TO STAY AWAY FROM THE RED LEAF LETTUCE BUT I HAVE NEVER HAD A PROBLEM WITH IT. YOU CAN ALSO FEED THEM FRUITS WHICH THEY LOVE VERY MUCH.

Everything I have read pretty much says you should stay AWAY from the grocery store. Instead, try to duplicate the diet the animal would encounter in the wild. Namely grasses and weeds. Use both fresh grass and hay (orchard grass hay or timothy hay). Cactus pads are good too. Leafy grocery store stuff should make up like less than 10% of their diet.

Yes, they love fruit, but then again dogs love chocolate and children love candy...does that mean you should give it to them??? No it does not.

You Said:
REMEMBER THAT YOUR SULCATA GETS ALL OF ITS WATER FROM THE FOOD IT EATS. A WATER DISH (FROM MY EXOERIENCE) IS ONLY GOOD FOR SOAKING IN A POOPING IN.

Again I have to disagree. My 35 lb male will drink when I offer him water a couple of times a week. And when he does, he expels urea (that nasty white stuff). If he does not have water, he might hold that stuff in and could develop a bladder stone. I am not saying you have to make it available 24 hours a day, but a good soak a few times a week will alow your baby tortoise a chance to drink.

HOWEVER WHEN FEEDING HIM REMEMBER TO LIMIT THE INTAKE OF SUPPLIMENTS BECAUSE TO MUCH SUPPLIMENTS WILL CAUSE HIM TO GET PYRAMIDING AND TOO LITTLE VARIATION OF HIS DIET WILL CAUSE A DIFFICIENCY. THERE IS A BOOK OUT THERE AND AS SOON AS I DIG IT UP I WILL EMAIL YOU THE TITLE AND ISB SO THAT YOU MAY GET IT. I HAVE FOUND IT IS THE MOST INFORMATIVE BOOK I HAVE AND IT USUALLY SELLS FOR ABOUT 5-10 DOLLARS.

Here we agree. A good calcium supplement once or twice a week is a good idea.

To sum it up. High fiber. Low protein. No fruit. Limited amounts of leafy vegetables. Small amounts of supplenments. This will lead to a healthy, smooth shelled (non-pyrimided) tortoise.

Also, you can use orchard grass as bedding (available at your local feed store hopefully). It smells a lot better than rabbit pellets, and they can eat it. Also, rabbit pellets easily mold, and are too high in protein if they eat them. Orchard grass hay is also cheaper then rabbit pellets. I just switched over recently and I love it.

>>REMEMBER THAT YOUR SULCATA GETS ALL OF ITS WATER FROM THE FOOD IT EATS. A WATER DISH (FROM MY EXOERIENCE) IS ONLY GOOD FOR SOAKING IN A POOPING IN.
>>
>>Again I have to disagree. My 35 lb male will drink when I offer him water a couple of times a week. And when he does, he expels urea (that nasty white stuff). If he does not have water, he might hold that stuff in and could develop a bladder stone. I am not saying you have to make it available 24 hours a day, but a good soak a few times a week will alow your baby tortoise a chance to drink.

I missed that statement somehow..
My sulcata drinks from her dish nearly every day. She soaks in it when it's hot out. They do need water offered so that they can drink at will or I agree with this too:
"a good soak a few times a week" I think that will work.

Like I said before I buy turnip greens and serve them to mine sopping wet usually during July when it's the hottest, driest month of the year.. when it's like that the grass sounds/feels crunchy as you walk on it (even if you water it it's still this way) which means she's eating very dry grass every day, so I give her the wet leafy greens because if I don't she'll become constipated. How I know this is through experience, I've learned as we go. She's been constipated once since we got her, which made her feel very bad then I figured out that dry lawn aka dry food is the reason why.

Just because they are a desert tortoise that doesn't mean they don't need regular access to water.
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PHRatz

>>>>If he does not have water, he might hold that stuff in and could develop a bladder stone.

btw I met someone 3 years ago just a few weeks after we acquired our sulcata. His herp vet is my herp vet.
He has a sulcata tortoise too & his tortoise has had surgery twice to remove bladder stones since I met him.
This person lives in the same desert town I do but apparently doesn't have a lawn for his tortoise to graze as I do.

I've been told that before he had a vet to guide him he'd fed this tortoise lettuce & raw hamburger meat (OH MY GOD!)
After he found the vet he stopped with the meat & began to feed his tortoise a mixture of grocery store greens (but still he makes poor choices by using lettuce & who knows what else) he also feeds tortoise pellet food, & fruit.
He believes that sulcata are simply prone to developing stones but I disagree. They are prone to it IF you don't care for them properly.
His tortoise having had surgery twice for bladder stones since I met him 3 years ago tells me that the real problems is that he's not feeding it correctly.
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PHRatz

We got a hatchling around 1 1/2 weeks ago. It is abot 5 weeks old. We feed it 1/4 grass w/ clover every day. and once a week it gets a small piece of romain lettuce. We also give it timothy grass.

Also every other day we give it a calcium supplement with d3. We also soak it everyday this seems to be when he drinks the most water. Just watch out because they will pee and poop in it.

We don't feed ours very often, she has an half acre of Bermuda grass with lots of broad leafed green weeds, mulberry leaves & spineless cactus to munch on so I just don't have the need to buy grocery store foods for her. When it's really hot & dry in June/July I'll buy her some turnip greens & feed them to her soaking wet so that she won't get constipated. Our soil is extremely high in calcium so she doesn't need supplements.. we live in a real desert though so it's similar to her native land.

This link I am adding is an excellent article on feeding sulcatas. I've followed their advice since the day we got her & we've watched the horrible pyramiding she came with diminish greatly (thankfully)
Sulcata Diet

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PHRatz

ok the book i would recomend is called THE AFRICAN SPURRED TORTOISE (GEOCHELONE SULCATA) IN CAPTIVITY and it is by Russ Gurly and if you need to go to your local book store to see if they have it just give them the isbn and they should be able to find it right away.the isbn is 1-885209-25-8 and like i said i usually see them at sales and swaps for about 5-10 dollars.

thanks jason