When you don’t have access to grass for your sulcata tortoise to eat, grass hay is the next best thing. Yes, during fall and winter, you can feed tortoise pellets, but hay is another option for a base diet for a sulcata during the cooler months. There are different types of hay for tortoises.
Best Grass Hay for Sulcata
Not all hay is equal, and not all hay is nutritionally balanced for tortoises. When choosing a grass hay for sulcata tortoises, the best hay for tortoises include timothy hay, meadow hay, oat hay, or orchard hay.
If your tortoise isn’t used to eating hay, you may have to chop the hay into smaller pieces and blend it with grocery store greens OR pre-winter, start introducing hay into your tortoise’s diet.
Timothy Hay for Sulcata Tortoises
Timothy hay is probably the most common and easily found grass hay for tortoises. It is a great source of fiber and has a great calcium to phosphorus ratio.
There are three different cuts of timothy hay.
First cut timothy hay is the first hay harvested for the year and is cut before the hay blooms. First cut timothy hay is thin and flexible and often has more of the fuzzy seed heads included.
Second cut timothy hay typically has more leaves and stems. It’s higher in protein and fat than first cut.
Third cut timothy hay is super soft and leafy. It’s from the third harvest of the year.
Buy Grass Hay for Tortoises
There are a variety of places you can buy grass hay for sulcatas.
Local feed stores that sell hay for horses is a great source for larger bales of hay.
Pet stores sell smaller bags of hay for rabbits and guinea pigs. However make sure to check all the ingredients, as these bags of hay often include other ingredients that are not healthy for tortoises.
Chewy.com, Amazon.com and other online stores have small, large and even mid-range sizes of a variety of types of grass hay.
