Help with feeding adult sucatas

Kadels

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May 3, 2015
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@Kadels asked: "Picking up on something the OP said -- I am in AZ and I have a grapevine. I don't know what kind, but last year it produced green grapes (that the birds ate before I could even see if they were edible for humans). Could I cut off some of the vines and let my Sulcata (nearly age 9) eat the leaves off the vines???"

Yes you can. I find it better to pull leaves and offer them separately, but you can cut whole vines too. Grape leaves are a great tortoise food. Look around the neighborhood and see if you can also find a mulberry tree. The leaves are great tortoise food. You should also be growing some spineless opuntia.
Thanks Tom. I have planted three spineless opuntia. One was growing pretty well last year, but in the past 8 months or so, they haven’t seem to have grown at all.
 

MsParedes

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I just want to let everyone know how it's going. I have been soaking hay and mixing it with grass and leaves, but they seem to be very good at picking the green stuff out. So, that will be a battle of wills.
I bought a Corona 14ft pruner and I LOVE LOVE LOVE it.
I have 5 Mulberry trees and 2 huge grape vines that have wondered into nearby trees. The pruner has made things easier for me in many ways, one being the ability to feed **** and Annie a wider variety of food daily.
That is the best $70 I could have spent, so thanks for that advice.
 

Tom

The Dog Trainer
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Thanks Tom. I have planted three spineless opuntia. One was growing pretty well last year, but in the past 8 months or so, they haven’t seem to have grown at all.
They go dormant in fall/winter.
 

Sheldon the sulcata

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Nov 10, 2021
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Location (City and/or State)
oceanside ,California
I have 2 sulcatas, male and female, both over 25 years old. (They are both fine so I'm going to skip their stats)
I'm looking for help with feeding. They have been grazing (grasses, leaves, roses, cactus) since they have been outside full time, more than 15 years, no problems.
We live in California and the last few years our drought has made watering the lawn (for maximum growth) a little challenging.
Besides grass, I have mature mulberry trees and grape vines, all with lots of leaves. The problem is, that requires me getting up on a ladder, and I'm not as gracefully as I use to be (or as young).
I'm looking for feeding suggestion. I got a bag of Timothy grass pellets that I tried to feed wet, but they are not having it.
I'd like to say that caring for sulcatas this size, is not easy, but if you have a suggestion on how to integrate a food I don't have to gather, I'd appreciate it.
Please fight the urge to tell me to read the care sheet. I know that no 2 tortoises are not the same, but I'm looking for some advice that has been successful for you.
Thank you in advance.
Hi I didn't see that anyone answered how to get a picky adult sulcata to eat hay. I am a new tortoise mom. I was looking for the same answer and found bits and pieces of information. Hopefully you figured it out by now, but if not... I bought Timothy orchard, and alpha hay at feed store. No luck with timothy, but he loves to sleep in it. Yes I know alpha is not good in large amount but it worked as a bate. First I soaked alpha in large salad bowl for 30 min. then chopped it with kitchen scissors, added mazuri pellets, soaked longer 10 min. Chopped up collared greens, and escarole, drained, hand mixed it all together. Worked like a charm!!! After I did that a couple times I was able to mix in the orchard grass taking out the alpha. Now I am able to do orchard soaked not chopped, with fresh collard and escarole on top, adding 1 cup Mazuri every other day. I also offer him a pile of dry orchard and sometimes he goes for it. Be ware!! he turned into a poop machine lol
Also feel free to let me know if I did this wrong. I was looking for the same answer.
 

MsParedes

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Atwater CA
How old is your tortoise? Since mine are older, they are really set in their ways. I'm trying to say, no matter what I tried, they were not eating dead grasses. So I decided to go a different way. I have a few raised flower beds that I was not using(10x6) and decided to plant grass and weeds from seed. I rotate taking cuttings and feed that.

Btw, I think you are doing a good job.
 
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