Re: Sulcatta and Romaine

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Posted by Kathy on June 08, 2000 at 15:44:30:

In Reply to: Sulcatta and Romaine posted by David on June 08, 2000 at 11:51:51:

Terry gave you good advice (along with the Sulcata Station link), but kind of skipped over something she said that really worked well for me. When weaning off of the romaine, grab a handful of timothy hay (buy a mini bale at a pet store), wet the timothy hay, and use your scissors to cut it into approx. 1/2" pcs. Then mix these pcs. with a 'salad' of endive, romaine, mustard greens, yard clippings, etc. and it will provide alot more fiber in her diet. You might want to add a vitamin supplement, along with calcium with D3 to the salad once a week or so. Also, if you are feeding bean sprouts as a large portion of diet, that is not good for her. The protein level in bean sprouts is high and the recommended protein intake for sulcatas should be very low. As Terry wrote, opuntia cactus is great, but you may leave that out until her stools firm up (as well as all fruit, even those fruits that people think of as veggies-->tomatoes, cucumbers, etc.). Even if she's captive bred, I would get her into the vet asap to rule out worms/parasites and for an overall health evaluation.
Any reason she can't be outside all the time? A 30-gallon is pretty small for a sulcata (and tanks aren't really recommended for torts; there are some good tortoise tables you can make shown at the sulcata station site if she has to stay indoors.) Also, you may try leaving a very shallow water dish big enough for her to soak in her tank all the time. If she's got worms, she may need the extra liquid and I don't think a once a week water offering is adequate (this is a constantly debated issue), and it might help to alleviate some of the boredom if she's in a tank for a while. A cuttlebone might be something for her to chew on it will provide her with additional calcium. She may not chew on it for a while (if ever), but it can't hurt. You can get those in the bird section at the pet store. Anyway, I hope I haven't offended you with anything I've written and wish you the best of luck with your tort!
Kathy

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: Terry gave you good advice (along with the Sulcata Station link), but kind of skipped over something she said that really worked well for me. When weaning off of the romaine, grab a handful of timothy hay (buy a mini bale at a pet store), wet the timothy hay, and use your scissors to cut it into approx. 1/2" pcs. Then mix these pcs. with a 'salad' of endive, romaine, mustard greens, yard clippings, etc. and it will provide alot more fiber in her diet. You might want to add a vitamin supplement, along with calcium with D3 to the salad once a week or so. Also, if you are feeding bean sprouts as a large portion of diet, that is not good for her. The protein level in bean sprouts is high and the recommended protein intake for sulcatas should be very low. As Terry wrote, opuntia cactus is great, but you may leave that out until her stools firm up (as well as all fruit, even those fruits that people think of as veggies-->tomatoes, cucumbers, etc.). Even if she's captive bred, I would get her into the vet asap to rule out worms/parasites and for an overall health evaluation. : Any reason she can't be outside all the time? A 30-gallon is pretty small for a sulcata (and tanks aren't really recommended for torts; there are some good tortoise tables you can make shown at the sulcata station site if she has to stay indoors.) Also, you may try leaving a very shallow water dish big enough for her to soak in her tank all the time. If she's got worms, she may need the extra liquid and I don't think a once a week water offering is adequate (this is a constantly debated issue), and it might help to alleviate some of the boredom if she's in a tank for a while. A cuttlebone might be something for her to chew on it will provide her with additional calcium. She may not chew on it for a while (if ever), but it can't hurt. You can get those in the bird section at the pet store. Anyway, I hope I haven't offended you with anything I've written and wish you the best of luck with your tort! : Kathy

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