Baby Sulcata Tortoise Diet
Grasses and hay 100 of the time.
Baby sulcata tortoise diet. Prickly pear cactus opuntia sp pads are affordable food that sulcatas eagerly consume. I highly recommend starting your baby tort on a commercially available tortoise food called mazuri tortoise diet ingredients listed in the appendix section. Finding the right sulcata tortoise breeder is also very important so they are used to eating the correct foods. Sulcata tortoises need access to grasses and hay on which to graze.
Young juvenile sulcatas can eat about a cup of food a day. Yes you can feed them grocery store greens but this should not. Grass should form the bulk of a captive sulcata s diet. Feed sulcatas between 6 and 12 months old about 1 4 to 1 2 cup of food a day.
It mainly requires a diet which is high in fiber and calcium and low in fat and protein. At least 75 of their diet should be given as grasses and hays along with some edible weeds and flowers. When feeding a baby sulcata tortoise up to six months old offer about 1 4 cup of grasses weeds and greens every day. Approved foods for sulcata tortoises grass.
They thrive on grass and hay from the the first days after hatching until they die. Baby tortoise care baby sulcata tortoise diet. The sulcata tortoise is a strict vegetarian and in wild just like cows and sheep it gazes dry fibrous grasses and hays as well as occasional fruits and blossoms. We feed our african sulcata tortoises a simple but very high quality diet of dandelion greens usually available at super market or produce market just ask someone.
Small amounts of other leafy green vegetables are okay but avoid foods high in oxalates. African spurred tortoises are herbivorous grazing tortoises and need a high fiber low protein diet. Sulcatas need a high fiber diet that is low in fat and proteins. An improper sulcata tortoise diet can cause shell deformities like pyramiding obesity metabolic bone disease and other health problems.
Sulcata tortoises are strictly herbivores. The bulk of their diet should be from pesticide and herbicide free grass and grass cuttings cheatgrass clover edible flowers nasturtium geraniums hibiscus rose petals and shrubs. This allows for much easier digestion and subsequent defecation.