Natural instinct of tortoises

Bee62

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Hello everyone,

today I want to tell you a ( for me ) amazing little story of my Sulcata tortoises ( 10 months old ) and want to ask if you have had the same experience with your torts.
Yesterday they have been outside for the very first time and I was watching curious what they do. After a short while of runnig around in their new outside enclosure one of them began to eat gras !
I know they are grazers but before yesterday they never had regulary gras to eat.
I did not force them to eat gras and it looks that I am right: The natural instinct of these tortoises " tells" them to eat gras when they grow older ( and are hungry .... :) ) I think the other 3 torts taste and eat gras in a few day too.
Or has someone a sulcata tortoise that don`t want to eat gras ?

:tort::tort::tort::tort:
 

Yvonne G

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I'm always amazed that they understand that grass is something to eat too. It must be some sort of instinct!
 

Big Charlie

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I didn't know they were natural diggers until we moved and I dumped Charlie in an enclosed yard in the middle of summer, thinking he would be okay for a few days while I figured out some kind of enclosure for him. Before I knew it, he had a burrow.
 

Tom

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I've had this go both ways. I've had babies that instantly took to eating stomachfuls of grass and others that really had no interest in it at all. Same with Mazuri or any other food. I introduce it to my hatchlings in their first few days and continually after that, so my babies all tend to eat it from day one with their new owners. It can be introduced more slowly for those sulcatas that don't take to it right away.
 

Bee62

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Thank you all for your answers:

@Yvonne G
Yes, it must be a natural instinct to eat gras but where is their natural instinct when they try to eat every disgusting thing they will find and little stones and plastic etc. ? These tortoises force me to brush my gras and soil with a haircomb before I can allow them to graze.....:)

@Big Charlie
My little ones have digged their own burrow in their indoor enclosure. Yes, they are natural diggers !:)

@Tom
You are a good breeder to introduce your babies to gras from the beginning. I know that my little ones had been fed with iceberg lettuce from their breeder. I know that is the worst grocery green for torts.
I will never feed this kind of lettuce, but I have a lot of gras ...:)
 
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