Feeding

[dcoolguy68]

How much do baby sulcatas eat? I feel like my tortoises are either not eating or eating very little.... But somehow they're still very active... Im confused lol

 

[Yvonne G]

Baby sulcatas are eating machines. If you don't see them eating very much maybe a look at your tortoise keeping is in order. Are they warm enough? If a tortoise "knows" he's not going to be able to get his temp. up to about 80 degrees, he's not going to eat. Do they feel safe? Baby tortoises are prey and will scurry around trying to find a good hiding place so that "bird" can't get them and carry them away. How long have you had the babies? It takes a while for them to settle in and get used to their new surroundings. I'd give them about 2 weeks, but a month isn't unreasonable.

Yvonne

 

[dcoolguy68]

well they used to eat pretty pets for 2 weeks.. then i started giving them hay and they werent eating it so i had to mix it with some spring mix and they only ate the spring mix stuff but left the hay, then i bought them salad style hay which came in yesterday and they ate some of it.. but today it didnt seem like they ate anything... they live in 20gal aquarium but im working on their bigger home which is going to be 4x5 feet long

 

[Yvonne G]

I know that all the new reading material tells you that Sulcatas should be fed hay, but really, that is info for older tortoises. The very young guys don't and won't eat hay. There's absolutely NOTHING wrong with feeding your babies Spring Mix or the packages of mixed greens that you find in the grocery store. Until you get your other habitat built, try taping newspaper around the sides of the aquarium so they can't see out. It might make them feel a little more protected. And if they used to eat Pretty Pets, then you might consider investing in a bag of Mazuri. You can put down a bed of spring mix then a glob of Mazuri on top. Or even a glob of Pretty Pets. I don't approve of Pretty Pets, but if it gets them eating again, its worth a try.

Yvonne

 

[dcoolguy68]

Oh I see... I've read on other forums that spring mix was bad for them so i stopped feeding it to them... why would others say its bad, and others say its good..im confused lol... what should i feed them when i do build my other habitat? I am such a noob.

 

[Yvonne G]

Spring mix consists of the very young leaves of oak leaf lettuce, lollo rosa, red and & green chard, mizuna arugula, mache, frisee, radicchio, red & green leaf lettuce, romaine, etc. To the spring mix you can add dandelion and turnip greens...any other greens that you can find in the produce section. You may have to cut them up for the babies, but allowing them to bite off the pieces helps to keep the beak in shape. I haven't heard that spring mix is bad for them. It does occasionally contain spinach, which shouldn't be fed too frequently, but its such a small amount of the whole that I don't think its bad. Next time you're on that forum, ask them why spring mix is bad. I'd like to know. We all live and learn!!

Yvonne

 

[dcoolguy68]

Lol... well thank you very much I will feed them spring mix now... When do i start introducing them to hay?

 

[Yvonne G]

Go to www.carolinapetsupply.com/ or www.oxbow.com/ and purchase a small bag of cut up hay. Its called "salad-style hay" at Carolina. Set out a handful of the greens at the feeding station (moistened) then take a pinch of the salad style hay and sprinkle it over the top of the greens. They usually don't eat it, but it sticks to the greens and sometimes they get a bite or two of hay. As they get bigger, the hay seems to be more attractive as a food source. So when they are maybe 3 or 4 years old they will eat more hay. By that time the babies should be outside in a safe habitat and will be grazing on grasses and weeds, so the hay isn't that important as a food source. But if you can get them interested in eating hay, then when you have to have them in the house for the winter, its easier to feed them because they'll eat hay!!

Yvonne

 

[dcoolguy68]

yeah thats what im trying to do lol

 

[Maggie Cummings]

How much do baby sulcatas eat? I feel like my tortoises are either not eating or eating very little.... But somehow they're still very active... Im confused lol

I agree with Yvonne on the Spring Mix, I have head started many babies on the mix, I also add weeds and blossoms and leaves. But small tortoises just can't bite long strands of hay. My 3 year old Sulcata has just recently started eating hay. So I wouldn't worry about feeding it to your baby just yet. But the chopped salad type hay can be lightly sprinkled over the greens. Sprinkled lightly...not heavily.
My 14 yr old Sulcata passes up on hay if he can steal some greens from Tony...so they really don't like hay. I feed my smaller tortoises twice a day as much as they can eat in about 15 minutes, and I feed them Spring Mix with the other stuff I mentioned.
So if spring mix was bad for tortoises I've been raising some bad torts...lol