I have never fed my sulcata hay and he is 15. I read that alot of people do. Maybe I'll try. Do you wet it first? Is it very nutritious. I have never fed him a live creature before either (ie earth worms, pink rats). I know people that do with box turtles. Do any of you feed yours live critters and if so what do you feed a 15 year old sulcata?
Hay for your sulcata
- Thread starter elisabw
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Hay isn't something that is absolutely necessary to feed your sulcata. If he's eating grass and weeds, then you don't have to worry about getting him to eat hay.
If you have to have him in the house during the winter months, and there isn't any way for him to go outside to graze, then its good to have him eat hay. Hay is just something for you to fall back on in the feeding department...when there isn't anything else to feed him.
And no, sulcatas don't eat bugs and worms or meat of any kind. They are herbivores, that is, they eat vegetation.
If you have to have him in the house during the winter months, and there isn't any way for him to go outside to graze, then its good to have him eat hay. Hay is just something for you to fall back on in the feeding department...when there isn't anything else to feed him.
And no, sulcatas don't eat bugs and worms or meat of any kind. They are herbivores, that is, they eat vegetation.
I use hay because from about June or July until Dec or Jan, when the rains come back, there is no graze here. It all dries up and shrivels. They eat the dry bermuda grass hay in addition to all their other stuff. It costs about $14 dollars for a 110 pound bale. For my three adults a bale last 6-8 months. Its really good for them too. I just drop a dry flake in their enclosure and they eat it up. They eat some every day, even when they are getting other things. This tells me they need the fiber or some other element that the grass provides. I also like this routine, because, to some degree, it simulates the wild where they come from. They don't have a lush, green garden to eat from all year long over there. For much of the year they eat dead dry grasses.
Mine just took to it from day one, but if you had a reluctant one, you could spray a handful of the dry hay with water and give it a few minutes to rehydrate. Then mix it in with some other favorite foods. Over time, increase the proportion of grass and start wetting it less and less. Pretty soon he'll be munching right out of a dry pile.
BTW, for anyone else reading this, we are talking about older, bigger sulcatas. Most little ones aren't too interested in hay. Nothing wrong with mixing some fresh grass into the mix for babies though.
Mine just took to it from day one, but if you had a reluctant one, you could spray a handful of the dry hay with water and give it a few minutes to rehydrate. Then mix it in with some other favorite foods. Over time, increase the proportion of grass and start wetting it less and less. Pretty soon he'll be munching right out of a dry pile.
BTW, for anyone else reading this, we are talking about older, bigger sulcatas. Most little ones aren't too interested in hay. Nothing wrong with mixing some fresh grass into the mix for babies though.
I NEVER offer live feed, but if they should happen upon something they find yummy...fair game! In the past year I've only seen Mortimer down a snail...and my cousin (who now has Mortie) says he snacked on a baby bird that fell out of its nest.
DeanS said:
You should have just seen my face as I read that last part of your posting......
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