At what age did your leopard start eating grasses?

[Badgemash]

Hello everyone and happy new year (almost)!

Sorry I haven't posted in a while, we went back to NM for Christmas and I didn't take my computer (don't worry, the babies stayed with our vet and were very well taken care of).

For those of you on the forum who have adult or sub-adult leopards, when did they start eating grasses/hays? How did you introduce them to the new foods? I know ours are still a bit young (the older 2 are still only 8 months), but I'd like to get an idea what's to come and any issues that might come up.

Thanks,
-Devon

 

[SILVERSTAR]

im still wondering when my star will take to grass,supposedly he should be eatn mostly grass and i have wheat grass and other grasses i rotate in his tank in small pots but he hasnt taken to em yet,hes nine months now also.

 

[Neal]

I have hatchling leopards and sri lanka stars that have grass growing in their enclosures. They eat it regularly.

If you don't have grass growing in your enclosure for a young tortoise I would chop up some hay or grass into small pieces and sprinkle it on top of their food. If they eat it, then keep doing it, if not than stop for awhile and try again.

 

[onarock]

I keep both leopards and stars and they all graze. I got a subadult leopard a long time ago that never grazed and I just quit feeding him store baught and after about 2 days of that he started grazing. My hatchlings stars were a bit different. Six of the 8 started grazing as soon as I quit feeding them, the other 2 did not. I dont know if it was because I tried grazing them too soon and they were still a bit stressed from the move or what. I continued to feed them store bought for another week all the while offering less and less leafy greens. One morning I went out and they were eating grass. All the leopard hatchlings that I produce are started on weeds, grasses and flowers, so moving them to their outdoor pens and letting them graze is no big deal.

 

[Tom]

I started mine on grass at anywhere from 3-10 days old. Fresh grass, not hay.

Some leopards never take to the dry hay. You can chop it up with scissors, rehydrate it, and sprinkle it all over their other food. This will get them used to the taste and texture of it and after a few days or weeks they will see it as food.

 

[yagyujubei]

My hatchlings all eat grass everyday. I cut it into about 1/2" lengths.

 

[Badgemash]

I'll have to try mixing it in with their food then. For some reason I had it in my head that they wouldn't start eating it until they're about a year old.

Thanks,
-Devon

 

[yagyujubei]

It's frequently claimed on here that hatchlings won't eat grass.

 

[Yvonne G]

Several years ago I kept the first leopard tortoise that I ever hatched. The first year he was fed store bought greens and kept in an indoor habitat. His second summer I had him outside in a habitat with a grass bottom similar to the one Tom recently showed for grazing. I fed him his greens right on the grass. The grass consisted mostly of broad-leafed plants like clover, dichondra, fillaree and dandelion. Not much actual "grass." Because I fed the baby right on the grass, he sampled everything that grew in his pen. So, at about a year and a half he was "grazing."

Usually when we say that babies won't eat... blah, blah... We're talking about hay, not grass and weeds. Babies USUALLY won't eat hay until they're like three or four years old. Of course, there's always an exception or two to the rule.

 

[Badgemash]

Several years ago I kept the first leopard tortoise that I ever hatched. The first year he was fed store bought greens and kept in an indoor habitat. His second summer I had him outside in a habitat with a grass bottom similar to the one Tom recently showed for grazing. I fed him his greens right on the grass. The grass consisted mostly of broad-leafed plants like clover, dichondra, fillaree and dandelion. Not much actual "grass." Because I fed the baby right on the grass, he sampled everything that grew in his pen. So, at about a year and a half he was "grazing."

Usually when we say that babies won't eat... blah, blah... We're talking about hay, not grass and weeds. Babies USUALLY won't eat hay until they're like three or four years old. Of course, there's always an exception or two to the rule.

I have tried re-hydrating the hay and chopping it up, but so far they're just not interested. Right now they're in the same situation with the indoor setup, since we live in an apartment. But hopefully we'll be getting our first house in the next 6 months or so (fingers crossed) and that sounds like a brilliant way to transition them into eating/living outdoors.