Reptile & Amphibian Forums

We have been feeding out Sulcata hatchling one quarter cup of food a day as recommended on many web sites and by many of you wonderful folks here. However, it doesn't always finish and we give it more later, which it eats some also. The diet consists of: Romaine lettuce, hay which has been shreaded in a blender, alfalfa dust, green grass, all sprinkled with calcium. Does this seem to be a sound diet for the little hatchling? We had trouble getting it to eat hay to begin with but once we shreaded it and mixed it with the food it is eating it. Thanks.

1/4 cup of food a day is good for a hatchling. putting calcium on the food every day is a bad thing though. you should only do the calcium 2 or 3 times a week. also, romaine is not suggested in a sulcata's diet. i feed my hatchling a mixture of escarole, dandelion greens, raddicio, and grated yellow squash. i then mix in finely chopped bermuda grass hay. i feed a little in the morning and then some more at night because the food will dry out if not eaten in a good amount of time. i also give my hatchling some pieces of cactus pads as a treat 2 times a week. i hope this helps out.

Thanks. It's interesting that various web sites say that Romaine lettuce is ok and some say it's not, but 70% of their diet should be grass/hay......which it is.