Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have recently acquired a 1 year old? sulcata. I try to walk it daily for at least 2 hours. I have been noticing that it has been eating lots of protein rich foods, and I'm wondering if that is a problem. I have found it trying to eat chewed up chicken bones,cat food,dead insects, and a partly decomposed mouse skeleton.

Aside from that behavior it is healthy and gets soaked daily. So any thoughts on its food consumption?

Maybe he is lacking in something? If he is going for bones a lot, try giving it a cuttle bone. He might also just be curious . . . my tortoise tries everything new at least once, wether they are edible or not.

Hi,
These animals come from an ecosystem where all they typically have to feed on are grasses and a few wild flowers if they are lucky. Nature has instilled in them the urge to eat anything that smells like food, but the only thing their bodies can handle larger amounts of are grasses.
So in the wild they might eat a dead beetle, bits of a skeleton ( calcuim yum!) or the droppings of another animal just because they are very near the point of starvation and every little thing helps.
HOWEVER-
The way we keep sulcata's they typically have plenty to eat and can feed nonstop year round. Stay away from feeding them any animal matter with the exception of cuttlefish bone. It's bad for them to eat high amounts of protein even tho they will do it if you let them. Different organs will fail and all kinds of bad things will eventually happen.
Stick to grasses.
--Jeff