NUTRITION
Adult wombats of all species feed predominantly on native grasses (Casey et al. 2021). For optimal dental and gastrointestinal health, managed care diets should be based largely on an ad libitum supply of assorted grasses and/or coarse grass hays.
If supplementary pellets are offered, a forage-based low to moderate protein, high- fibre formulation should be selected and the quantity restricted to less than 20% of the total diet. Vegetables should only be given in very small quantities. Although managed care rations commonly include cereal grains (e.g. rolled oats), fruit (e.g. apple) and vegetables (e.g. sweet potato and carrot) (Stannard et al. 2021), these items likely contribute to a diet with excessive energy and simple carbohydrate levels, insufficient fibre and one that is unbalanced with respect to key nutrients (see Chapter 14 for more detail). Nutritional support for inappetent wombats can be provided via liquidised or pureed forage blends and commercial gruels suitable for other herbivores.4.
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