Sulcata diet question

We had the tort out today for his morning walkies (:P) and we noticed him eating a lot of dead stuff. I know their diet is supposed to consist of a lot of hay and dried/dead grasses so I wasn't concerned about him eating the dried grass. But then he started trying to eat a rock (my guess was calcium) and then he moved on to gobbling up the topsoil and even trying to eat some bark from a tree. Can anyone tell me what he is lacking in his diet that would cause him to try to eat those things? I don't know what he was fed before, but right now he has all the orchard grass he can eat, plus whatever he unearths on his twice daily outside walks. We're going to be getting him some specialized sulcata grass seeds/sprouts from an online store as well. The previous owner gave us what looks like grass pellets ... :confused: It's a zoo med product so I don't put too much store by it. He also gave us reptile calcium which is supposed to be sprinkled on crickets (but torts don't eat crickets ... so ... :confuzd:) and some shell conditioner.

Advice? Info?

Just bumping - hoping to get some info...

They will try to eat a ton of stuff they should not.

My 11yr old. When he was a small one, ate wet cement and almost died.

When they are small i try and pick out all the "bad" stuff and try to make it JUST grasses n weeds.

I supplement Mazuri Tortoise Diet, But i live in the Desert....have everything they want here.

I think that is just a young tort trying new things. Sometimes they are just really curious and will try about anything.

Just make sure you have a cuttlebone in his enclosure and that should ensure he gets all the calscium he needs. Other than that, just keep up with the various hay grasses (like timothy, orchard grass, but NO alphalpha).

Access to fresh water and occassional soakings would be good too.

Nice looking tort by the way. Good sized already for sucn a young one. My little guys is supposed to be almost 3yrs old and he's still only 4-5 inches. But he had back care before me.

Just like Xgetsome said, mazuri tort diet. I was told 3 times a week or so, also a nice soak for 10 minutes or so is good for them as well. Otherwise, he's being just like my beast, and tryiing to bite everything. Good luck

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Originally Posted by wafisherman

Nice looking tort by the way. Good sized already for sucn a young one. My little guys is supposed to be almost 3yrs old and he's still only 4-5 inches. But he had back care before me.

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Where do you see pictures?!?!?!?!?

:confused::confused::confused:

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Originally Posted by Patrick Long

Where do you see pictures?!?!?!?!?

:confused::confused::confused:

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http://www.ball-pythons.net/forums/s...ad.php?t=93522