2 questions for an expert

[krh11b23]

Hello I got a couple of questions. First is how long do I keep my tort humid? Mine is a slow grower so I'm wondering at what size do they no longer need a humid hide/enclosure? Or do they always need it. Second question is when and how should I start to indroduce hay to the diet? At what size/age, and a good way to do so? Thank u

 

[samsmom]

Not sure about the first question but the answer to the second is "yesterday"! I bought timothy hay, orchard grass and bermuda grass (all dry), mix it together and use my blender to chop it up pretty fine and sprinkle some on his greens everyday. As he gets older/bigger i will chop the mixture more coarse with longer strands, until eventually i'm not chopping it at all. Hope this helps!

 

[Yvonne G]

Well, I've always said the first year is the most important, but now that you call my attention to it, tortoises do go by size rather than age. So I would say you need to continue the humid environment until the tortoise gets to be as big as a normal one and a half year old sulcata. Of course, if the tortoise is in the house, you can just conintue to keep the substrate moist all the time. But after he gets bigger, I don't think the humid air is as helpful. Just my guess and opinion. It will be interesting to see what Tom thinks about it.

 

[krh11b23]

Thanks for the advice I will get some hay asap