Sulcata tortoise diet

Question
I have tried for many months to try to ween my tortoise off his romaine lettuce diet and onto a stable hay diet.

Answer
Hi Nicholas,

Romaine can be addicting for tortoises, but since it's not very nutritious you're wise to get your sulcata off of it.  Rather than trying to switch directly to hay, first get him eating healthier greens.  Some good choices are turnip greens, mustard, collards, kale, endive, dandelion, chicory, etc., along with weeds such as sow thistle, mallow, clover, vetch, chickweed, etc. (not sure what weeds you have there).  Hibiscus leaves and flowers and opuntia cactus, as well as grape and mulberry leaves, are also very good for them.  Make sure everything is unsprayed.  Once you have him eating a good variety of healthy greens/weeds/cactus, you can work on adding hay to his diet.  Sulcata should get about 70% grass/hay and 30% greens, so you don't have to cut out greens entirely.  

To switch him, first you need to find a good, soft hay.  Orchard grass hay is the best, but if you can get bermuda hay that's good also.  Chop the hay up into small pieces, dampen the greens well, and mix with the hay so that the hay sticks to the greens.  Start with small amounts of hay at first.  If he won't eat the greens this way, you may have to chop up the greens and hay together.  If he won't eat it at first, wait him out.  A healthy tortoise won't starve, and eventually he'll start eating the greens/hay mixture.  Over time you can add more hay until he's eating a good diet.  Good luck!