Sulcatas do they need pellets?

[EJ]

Tell you what I'll do... You come on over and tell me how I can grow grass on this rich georgia clay...

You live in south Florida near the coast.

Didn't you say in previous posts that you did use Mazuri?

Just realized this is not ALDABRAMAN. I was wondering if his fame had gone to his head and he became one of those arrogant tortoise gods. I know he is more polite when offering advice or an opinion.

Originally Posted by ALDABRA MAN

in my opinion pellet foods this time of year are for lazy tortoise keepers , there is so much natural food about why would you want to use pellets. I have quite a few giant torts including sulcatas and Aldabras and I am a great believer in self feeding, but when the grazing starts to slow down I get off my but and go and find some. I never use pellets in the winter either. Hope this doesn't cause any offence its only my opinion .

[EJ]

You are not being blunt and to the point... you are being downright rude and opinionated.

There are plenty of civil discussions on the topic throughout the forum throughout the years... Don't be so lazy and try researching it a bit yourself before jumping in with both feet.

Originally Posted by ALDABRA MAN

please educate me with the reasons why pellet foods are used, as far as I am aware they are only a substitute for the real thing . If my questions or comments appear a little rood then I apologise I am some times a little blunt and to the point.

[EJ]

Sulcatas 'need' pellets as much as they 'need' weeds. Complete pellet diets can be beneficial if you cannot provide the variety of greens a tortoise would need to fulfill all its nutritional requirements for good health and growth. This inability to provide a good variety of greens could be because they are not available, you don't know what the nutritional value of each green is or you don't have the time or knowledge to gather the necessary greens.

Originally Posted by Jackie Stone

Little Ted has been bought up on pellets and grass and that is all for 3 years

I am introducing weeds which he is now accepting thankfully,does he need the grassland pellets at all,shall I just not bother or continue with these also?

Thanks Jackie

[ALDABRA MAN]

what a load of of old tot. You seem to be an EXPERT on rudeness my comments are aimed at sulcata tortoise keepers in the UK where weeds are plentiful This is the problem with this kind of site you will always find some one defending poor tortoise diet, if you can not give your sulcatas a more natural diet perhaps you should have considered this before you took them on , sorry I forgot Americans are always rite and the rest of us should follow. Just for the record I have an e-mail from ALDABRAMAN (USA) telling me that he only gives his torts a natural diet of weeds not pellets. Next you will be telling me that Mcdonalds is good for you. It sounds like to me that its you that needs to do more research. keeping any animal requires lots of our time and if you are unable to give this then you should think twice next time before taking on another animal. If you spent as much time looking for weeds as you do playing on your computer then you wouldn't need to use pellets either. The truth always hurts.

[Candy]

Hi Aldrabra Man. Nice to see you over here. I can't imagine with all of your huge tortoises that you would save any money at all feeding pellets. You'd have to have them trucked in if you did. I know of people who give pellets along with the regular food because if I'm correct some of them have vitamins, right? And it gives them another form of fiber, right?

[Pussygalore]

please note that aldabraman and aldabra man are two different posters the latter is a newcommer to the site

[Mrs Frog]

So if I feed just weeds is that ok for a sulcata?I can collect them all year round on my walks,hopefully,
Are just grass pellets ok if I cannot get the wider variety off weeds in winter as I would in the summer?
Do I need grasses and Hay?
Thanks
Jackie

[Pussygalore]

you can get zoo med grassland pellets and the pro alpine both of these are supplementary not complete and are just for extra roughage, if your tort will eat them then they would be ok fed with weeds/plants etc. I'm not sure if they contain vits/calcium etc as do the complete but my sully won't eat them so if yours already is I'd carry on, as if you stop he might not take to them again even if you only use them once a week or so.

[EJ]

Whoa there little fella... I can see the smoke comin' from your ears from all the way over here.

I haven't seen such anger issues in quite some time.

Sorry you don't see my point of view... carry on.

Originally Posted by ALDABRA MAN

what a load of of old tot. You seem to be an EXPERT on rudeness my comments are aimed at sulcata tortoise keepers in the UK where weeds are plentiful This is the problem with this kind of site you will always find some one defending poor tortoise diet, if you can not give your sulcatas a more natural diet perhaps you should have considered this before you took them on , sorry I forgot Americans are always rite and the rest of us should follow. Just for the record I have an e-mail from ALDABRAMAN (USA) telling me that he only gives his torts a natural diet of weeds not pellets. Next you will be telling me that Mcdonalds is good for you. It sounds like to me that its you that needs to do more research. keeping any animal requires lots of our time and if you are unable to give this then you should think twice next time before taking on another animal. If you spent as much time looking for weeds as you do playing on your computer then you wouldn't need to use pellets either. The truth always hurts.

[EJ]

Actually the weed diet is the best IF you can provide the necessary nutrition only using weeds. The easiest and best way to do this is to have a well planted yard where they can graze at will.

For a Sulcata... complete diets supplemented with hay ad lib will work just fine. I use Bermuda hay with the Mazuri that I use.

Originally Posted by Jackie Stone

So if I feed just weeds is that ok for a sulcata?I can collect them all year round on my walks,hopefully,
Are just grass pellets ok if I cannot get the wider variety off weeds in winter as I would in the summer?
Do I need grasses and Hay?
Thanks
Jackie