Orchard Hay for Tortoises

Which tortoise breeds eat hay?

Hays should only be offered to species of tortoise that can digest grass/hay such as leopard, indian star, sulcata tortoises. Some of these tortoises have more grasses/hays in their diet than others: for example Leopards have 70% grasses/hays, Indian star tortoises 50% and Sulcata ~70%.

What is special about Orchard Hay?

Orchard hay is a great hay to give your tortoise to eat, alongside a varied diet of tortoise-safe weeds and flowers. It is very high in fibre, low in protein, has a great calcium phosphorus ratio. It will help keep your grass-loving tortoise healthy when used as part of a balanced and varied diet.

Our Orchard Hay is a delicious, gourmet hay with lots of leaves and very few stems and seed heads (that can cause eye and mouth injuries), giving it a softer feel but still keeping it tasty and healthy meal for your tortoise. It is green in colour with some brown leaf present (batches will vary depending on mother nature!).

This hay is harvested in peak season by our suppliers and is bursting with nutrients to make this a highly palatable hay that your tortoise will love.

Hay options

Our hay comes in two different options:

• Regular: this is unchopped, unsorted so will have some seeds heads and other tougher stems that you should remove before offering to your tortoise. This product is suitable for tortoises >200g and should be chopped to suit tortoise bite size. Although this item is cheaper, it is the same great quality product but costs you less as you do the sorting and chopping instead of us!

• Chopped: this has been hand-sorted to remove seeds heads and other tougher stems, it has been chopped into bite size pieces, it is ready to feed your tortoise. This product is suitable for tortoises <200g. For tortoises <100g, you may need to chop the hay into even smaller pieces to suit your tortoise. Please check and remove any spikey, tough, long stems and leaves before use.

Extras

To make the hay a little more interesting, you can also choose to add either of the following:

• with dried flowers: tortoise-safe flowers such as hibiscus, rose petals, marigold. The selection may vary depending on availability. Packaged separately in a 10g bag for you to mix with the hay or you can soften with water first before mixing in with the hay. NB: 10g hay sample bags will have a smaller amount of dried flowers already mixed with the hay.

• with dried weeds: a variety of over 30 different tortoise-safe dried weeds and grasses mixed in with their hay. The selection may vary depending on availability. Packaged separately in a 10g bag for you to mix with the hay or you can soften with water first before mixing in with the hay. NB: 10g hay sample bags will have a smaller amount of dried weeds already mixed with the hay.

• none: nothing extra added, just hay and more hay!

Other Hays available, selection boxes and taster packs

Why not try some of our other hay selections:

• We sell other types of hay for your tortoise to enjoy such as Meadow Hay, Timothy Hay

• We also offer Taster Packs so you can try out which hay is your tortoise's favourite

• as well as Selection Boxes with all sorts of dried goodies to treat your shelled friend to.

Tips:

• For the fussy eaters that pick around the grasses/hays, chop up the hay extra small, spray the other foods with water so they hay sticks before adding the finely chopped hay and mixing well.

Feeding Recommendation

• Only suitable for grass-loving species of tortoise, such as Leopards, Indian Star and Sulcata tortoises

• Accompanies a fresh plant food diet (it should be used to alongside these foods, not as a replacement).

• It can be fed dry (mixed in with their natural, fresh foods) or it can be moistened with water so that it adheres to food

• Clear away any uneaten food daily