wheatgrass

[tortoiseluvr]

I have a sulcata and I am working on improving his diet and I noticed that wheatgrass is readily available at my grocery store (safe for human and tortoise consumption). Is this ok or healthy for him?

 

[tortoisenerd]

As part of a varied diet wheatgrass is great. I would recommend the organic type. Some torts, especially hatchlings, just don't like grass though. What are you feeding currently? From there, maybe we have some suggestions. What size yard do you have? Growing your own chemical free graze is the best way to go, and with a sulcata, you will need to eventually (if not already) have a large yard full of graze. You can scatter seeds for weeds, greens, lettuces. Plant edible flowers, trees, shrubs.

 

[tortoiseluvr]

As part of a varied diet wheatgrass is great. I would recommend the organic type. Some torts, especially hatchlings, just don't like grass though. What are you feeding currently? From there, maybe we have some suggestions. What size yard do you have? Growing your own chemical free graze is the best way to go, and with a sulcata, you will need to eventually (if not already) have a large yard full of graze. You can scatter seeds for weeds, greens, lettuces. Plant edible flowers, trees, shrubs.

Currently I am feeding him a variety of greens(trying to stick with dark leafy ones) which include dandelion greens, mustard greens, a red leaf lettuce, green leaf lettuce, collard greens, and a some others that I am forgetting. I recently have been trying turnip greens, broccoli greens, and kale. I have a good sized yard with a particular spot fenced away from my dogs that I am planning on using to start growing some of my own stuff. Almost all of my yard will be redone very soon and I am planning on having them plant that area and setup an irrigation system. I am researching tortoise safe and enjoyable plants but if you have any recommendations please let me know.

 

[tortoisenerd]

Glad to heat you are starting a garden! You can get some seed mixes online for some some great variety for cheap (vs. buying the items individually). How old is your sully? As it gets older you can start introducing grass and/or hay. You can moisten a salad style hay and increase the amount you mix into the greens. Its good to have a mix of items lower and higher in oxalic acid, which can bind to calcium and cause other problems like stones. Kale is good to limit as its a goitrogen. With a large variation, you don't have to pay as much attention to that stuff though as any one food item isn't a large percentage of the diet. What you listed is good (I would not feed broccoli greens but that is a personal choice). Some other ideas are spring mix (no spinach), radish greens, watercress, endive, and small amounts of cactus, butternut squash, and pumpkin. You can consult an edible tort food list and plant weeds, veggies for the greens (except tomato), grapes for the leaves, flowers like hibiscus/roses/pansies, squash blossoms, etc. Make sure its organic. If you need to use a fertilizer, stick to stuff like manure or fish fertilizer. Are you setting up an outdoor pen? You can have the graze in the pen and pick it if your tort is indoors due to weather.

 

[HarleyK]

I tried feeding my RF wheatgrass beacuse i thought it would be a fun project to plant my own, but too bad rf's don't like the stuff. Look up youtube videos on growing your own wheatgrass!

 

[tortoiseluvr]

Glad to heat you are starting a garden! You can get some seed mixes online for some some great variety for cheap (vs. buying the items individually). How old is your sully? As it gets older you can start introducing grass and/or hay. You can moisten a salad style hay and increase the amount you mix into the greens. Its good to have a mix of items lower and higher in oxalic acid, which can bind to calcium and cause other problems like stones. Kale is good to limit as its a goitrogen. With a large variation, you don't have to pay as much attention to that stuff though as any one food item isn't a large percentage of the diet. What you listed is good (I would not feed broccoli greens but that is a personal choice). Some other ideas are spring mix (no spinach), radish greens, watercress, endive, and small amounts of cactus, butternut squash, and pumpkin. You can consult an edible tort food list and plant weeds, veggies for the greens (except tomato), grapes for the leaves, flowers like hibiscus/roses/pansies, squash blossoms, etc. Make sure its organic. If you need to use a fertilizer, stick to stuff like manure or fish fertilizer. Are you setting up an outdoor pen? You can have the graze in the pen and pick it if your tort is indoors due to weather.

He is almost two years old. Why would you not feed broccoli greens? I was also on the fence about letting him try them and only let him have a small portion. I am planning on setting the garden up so he can graze and eat a variety of things while he is in there. I am hoping I can use to serve the purpose as both an outdoor pen and garden.

 

[tortoisenerd]

They are a goitrogen, but in small portions are fine (its just my preference to not feed them at all because when you buy a head of something its a waste to only feed a small amount, and I have enough variety of foods to feed that I like to pick what I think are better choices). Awesome!

 

[Annieski]

Hi, Tortoiseluvr---my name is Annie,too. My Mortimer loved wheatgrass. It made my life so easy when I found it in the store[especially, during the winter]. I would get all the "normal" greens ready for his "meal" and then cut the wheatgrass into thirds, over the top. It was almost as if he just "inhaled" every last piece. It also helped when I started to introduce the drier grasses and hay, during the winter.

 

[geekinpink]

i planted some wheat grass and gave it my tort but she does not like it at all She doesn't like most grass except for buffalo grass, even that she eats very little sad because it's the easiest plant to grow! lol So my cat eats the wheat grass instead...

how do you introduce dry timothy hay to torts? do you wet them and cut it in small pcs before giving it? Also dry alfalfa (i heard it's not too good for them, but if dried they are ok?)

 

[Gus]

All my star dun eat grass I have try it many time

i planted some wheat grass and gave it my tort but she does not like it at all She doesn't like most grass except for buffalo grass, even that she eats very little sad because it's the easiest plant to grow! lol So my cat eats the wheat grass instead...

how do you introduce dry timothy hay to torts? do you wet them and cut it in small pcs before giving it? Also dry alfalfa (i heard it's not too good for them, but if dried they are ok?)

 

[pinpin]

Hi Tortoiseluvr, welcome to the forum! I'm new too, but I found these websites helpful and thought I'd pass them on. Sulcata station has a list of grasses towards the end of the site which may be good to plant (you're lucky to have gardening space!)

This site has a list of what is good and what to avoid, but I haven't checked the USDA references myself, so I don't know if it is 100% accurate. It seems pretty comprehensive though. If you want an even larger list, the pdf from the SD turtle and tortoise society is here: http://www.sdturtle.org/public_documents/PlantsThatPoison.pdf

Hope those help!