Sulcatta Tortoise diet ?

[BallPython17]

What can I feed my tortoise? I use to have a red foot who I would feed romaine lettuce, tomatoes, and carrots. Can I feed this to my sulcatta?

[wafisherman]

Sulcatas should have a wide variety of grasses and weeds. They are very different from redfoots. Mine live off of various grass, hay, dandilions, clovers, and other weeds they find in my yard. I give them a few treats from my garden, but very limitted. Just a little squash or pumpkin here and there. I also give them a little lettuce, mustard greens, collard greens, and spring mix salad during the winter. The older they get, the more they should have hay, grass, and weeds and less of the salads...

How old is your sulcata? How big? Any pics?

Romaine is OK, but does not offer enough fiber and other nutrition. But better than iceburg... Carrots are OK for a rare treat and in limitted amounts. Same for tomatoes. They really just need to graze on high fiber grasses and weeds.

Other things to consider... Substrate (espeically for hatchlings and yearlings), humidity, heat (hot and cool side), digging\burrowing, exercise, UVB\Sun. Keep in mind these guys get BIG and can be distructive to houses and landscapes. They are very strong and determined and known for escaping yards and getting into other trouble.

[Patrick Long]

I do not feed any lettuce to my torts, only green leaf and grasses.

Mazuri chow is very good, they seem to like that. Chad pretty much hit the nail on the head about them being destructive.

I do give my big guy an apple every now and then.

[BallPython17]

I'll get pics up in a bit. He's only 12 days old (I picked him up at the Daytona show). He's currently in a 10 gallon tank with cypress mulch as bedding, a half log for a hide (he doesn't go in it, he just burrows in the mulch), and a food bowl. I'm getting a UVB light this weekend, but he does have a heat lamp on him. Oh what would be a good brand of UVB light to use? Pics would help too.

Thanks

[wafisherman]

A 10 gal is way too small. I'd look into getting a plastic sweater or christmas tree box. They need exercise and don't usually do well in glass tanks.

You can go with a mega-ray bulb (MVB type bulb that combines UVB and heat in one bulb). But they can be a bit much for a tiny tort.

Read up here for some good care info (inlcuding some recommended UVB bulbs):

http://www.sulcata-station.org/pdf/S...esheet2003.pdf

[wafisherman]

Oh, and here is a pic of my young sulcata tort table. It is a book case layed down on its back. About 3ft wide by 6 feet long with 15 or so inch sides.




This was right after I set it up. I made a few changes since then. You'll see some cuttlebone in there. Good for calcium and natural beak trimming.

I use organic soil mixed with a little play sand. 2 shallow water dishes (only one is needed, but I had room for 2). A warm basking area for UVB and heat. A dark warm humid hide area complete with good moist soil to dig down into. And plenty of room to roam, climb, explore. I planted some tort seed mix as well.



If you click my iherp link, you can see the plastic utility tub I converted into a tort table for my Russian Tort - this would also work great for your little guy.