While you are being so helpful..

Question
I actually only have one pair of tortoises the rest are by themselves and I am quite content with the few I have. Any more would put too much strain financially and physically to care for. So I will happily settle with my Russian, Leopard (in her own enclosure), Red-foot, and Sulcatas. I have found through my years of tortoise raising that it is in fact I who am the pet in the relationship as I cater to allll their needs!

My sulcatas seem to be at the age/size where I am going to ween them off of the yummy collard/mustard greens and onto the proper high fiber low protein hay diet. As with any juvenile I am sure it will be a challenging road ahead because they will refuse the hay for some time. However, I'm truly all about tough love as it pertains to my little friends. In the warm summer months they are only fed what they find in my lawn. They have a large outdoor enclosure that they spend the summer in (the Russian as well). But now I would like to fully switch them onto the proper diet year round. I can only buy bagged hays such as orchard and timothy with a big bag of bermuda that I incorporate but they are completely dis-interested in the dry hay even though it looks green and delicious (to a tort). In the summer they will spend HOURS eating the lawn but indoors they will just pick at it. Do you have any suggestions? I tried mixing in lettuce, but of course they pick that out. I tried putting chopped greens and chopped hay into a bag and placing warm water in the bag so that the hay would taste more "lettucy" but that was to no avail as well. Leaving piles of hay in the enclosure really aggravates my allergies and asthma, so I would like to feed them per-diem. They receive one strawberry a week thats it, and NO PROTEIN under any circumstances besides the trace amounts in the high fiber hay.

Any advice? Tips? Tricks? Brands?

The Russian is healthy and happy and eating correctly same as the red-foot.

The leopard eats well and enjoys walking her enclosure. She is only the size of a dixie cup but I would have though her plastron/carapace would have hardened by now? If I told you I thought she was 1 year old would you expect her to have a much more rigid shell? I can pretty much squeeze her every which way with very very little force mind you, and she is nice and soft?

Thanks again!

Answer
Hi Phil,

Sorry, got busy for a while there--meant to get back to you sooner.  I hear you on the allergies; I can only use hay in my Russian's outdoor house.  It's great that your sulcatas are able to graze on grass in the summer.  Switching them to hay can take some time, but you should be able to do it eventually.  Oxbow brand makes a "salad" style hay, which is chopped and nice and soft.  Sometimes you can get them started on hay just by soaking the salad hay and mixing it with their greens, but it sounds like you've tried something similar.  You can use a blender, food processor, or even an old coffee grinder (clean) to chop the hay up into smaller bits, and shake those up with dampened greens so that the hay bits stick to the greens.  Start with just a small amount of the finely chopped hay mixed with the greens and they should eat it.  Then you can gradually increase the amount of hay, then increase the size of the hay bits, etc.  I have a friend who runs a turtle rescue, and she gets all the sulcata on hay using this method if they're not eating it already.  Good luck!

If your leo is a year old, her plastron should be hard.  Sometimes the carapace takes a while to harden completely, so there might be a little give when you press gently with your finger, but not much.  If you're able to hold her by the upper shell between your thumb and forefinger and there's give that way, something is wrong.  Are you sure she's a year old?

If you post back and set it to *private*, I'll give you my email and we'll see if we can figure it out.  I have a friend who breeds leos and I can consult with her if necessary.

Here's the info on the Oxbow salad hay:  http://www.oxbowanimalhealth.com/products/type/detail?object=1532