I just wanted to introduce myself, as I'm sure I will be spending quite a bit of time foraging for sulcata information from this site. To be honest I've had a tortoise for the past year and a half and have been very ill-equipped at rearing it. My sister was the original owner and I offered to watch the small tort while her family went on vacation, I was given the same "care instructions" she had received when she bought the little guy:
- feed only red leaf lettuce
- soak occassionally, but it's not necessary to leave out water since they absorbe all their hydration through the lettuce
- keep the bark chips clean
- keep warm
....
My sister decided to let "Chips" hang out with us indefinately and we've had him/her since.

We have a few animal friends in our family already, including dogs/fish/red eared slider, and anything else my boys can sneak into the house. We've always enjoyed creature comfort I guess. Anyways I was completely guilt stricken and ashamed when I decided a few days ago that I really needed to learn more about our not-so-new addition to the family, shockingly I have learned through this forum and other sites that I have not been providing the necessary care for our friend... I feel horrible.

So tomorrow I will be building an outdoor enclosure for my buddy, using a rough guideline of one of the tort tables I have found online. Currently my sulcata is living in an vivatarium 2x12ish... definately WAY too small (so I have learned), with a bark chip substrate (strike 2?). He has barely grown since we've had him, and it appears his shell is starting to pyramid (which I thought was normal). And now that I am more equipped with sulcata environment and care I'm hoping I can take part in healthy tort parenting.

I chose to register in this forum to better inform and educate myself, as well as hopefully informing and educating others who may find themselves in the same shoes. Please don't mis-judge me, when I first got the tortoise I thought it was a box turtle... I had no idea the gravity of magnificence I was taking ito my hands.

I will post pictures of our project tomorrow, as well as pics of "Chips" for everyone to see. Thank you all for the great conversations and knowledge you have shared on this forum, it's made a difference.

Welcome to the forum! We are glad you are here and glad you are taking the responsibility to give Chips proper care. I am sure you will find all the info here that you need. But always ask questions everyone is here to help! We love pics!

Don't be so hard on yourself. Most of us have been where you are. Its too bad our turtles have to suffer so that we can learn, but that's the way its been for most of us! Welcome to the forum. I think you will find us "kind" and "gentle!" We won't bite your head off for "mis-treating" your tortoise.

I love the name "Chip", but your username is Yertle?

The best food for a young sulcata is to be allowed to graze on weeds and grasses. If you can't do that because of weather or whatever, the second best thing is dark, leafy greens, such as endive, escarole, turnip greens, etc. There is a packaged salad mixture called "Spring mix" that consists of young, tender shoots of greens. Its good too. Then you can buy an already prepared cup up hay and sprinkel it over the greens. I buy my hay (salad-style hay) from carolinapetsupply.com/ but oxbow.com/ sells it too.

Yvonne

Thank you for the kind responses, I have found so much helpful information here. The tort's full name is "Chips and Salsa", we call him Chips for short. And my screen name was intentional, "when I first got the tortoise I thought it was a box turtle..." Besides, it's always been one of my favorite Dr. Suess stories.

Now off to Petsmart and Home Depot for our project! I will post pics soon!

Chips 'n Salsa!!! LOL! LOL!

Yvonne

Like Yvonne told you, you have nothing to be criticized for. Most of us started out doing things all wrong. Fact is, information is still evolving about tortoise care everyday. All of us have more learning to do. Anybody willing to learn and change things they are doing wrong has nothing to feel bad about.

I had a laugh at the Chips and Salsa name. We had a mare named Salsa and I had named her foal Chips.

OK, here's what we have so far. I'm pretty happy with how it's turning out, and I know Chips is going to love it. It measures 2.4ft x 8ft, which is about six times larger than his current home. I'm trying to get it finished today so he can start his day out there tomorrow. I'm going to use the tubs for different environments, this is what I was thinking:
- River rocks w/ bathing saucer
- sand/substrate
- various plants
- planted bermuda grass
- sand/substrate w/ shelter
I couldn't find any potted plants that I could be positive didn't have pesticides so I'm going to grow my own. Therefore the enclosure will be a bit bare until the plants start to grow (or I find some pre-grown items).



Any suggestions on the environments?

You are doing a great job. Were you a carpenter in your previous life? I know that Chips is just a little guy, but I think you're going to be sorry you didn't make it wider. Chips hasn't done much growing because he was kept in the house under not ideal conditions and feed, but once he's outside and on the correct diet, he's going to take off. The tubs are ok, but you could provide the same thing on the bare ground. With the tubs you would have to drill holes in their bottoms so when you water it will drain. I would break up the ground and incorporate something to make it lighter. Mix it all up, smooth it out and plant your seeds. You could sink a flower-pot saucer down to ground level for a water dish and put a few small rocks in the bottom of the saucer to make it easier for him to get in and out without tipping over. If you want to separate it into different kinds of areas, you could just place bricks down into the dirt to separate say the grass area from the feeding area, etc. However, your tub idea would work too. I'm interested to see it when you are all finished. Buy a shrub or small tree that is in a 1 gallon pot to have shading the hiding place. Any hiding place that you put out for the tortoise is like a little oven in the sun. If you place the potted shrub so that it casts a shadow over the hiding place he will be cooler. Also, you will need to leave the pot outside of the pen for about a month while you water it and leach out all of the fertilizers and pesticides that the nursery puts in there. Or you can put a small piece of plywood over the section where the hiding place is.

I love that you put a little lip around the top of the enclosure. He's too small to climb now, but that lip inhibits his ability to climb out when he gets bigger.

Good job!

Yvonne

Thanks Yvonne! I really appreciate the suggestions. I finished up so late it was too dark to take pics. I will definitely incorporate a side shrub to allow for some shading, great idea. And I totally agree about the width, while I think it works for the time being I built the enclosure so it can accommodate Chips growth. The back end against the wall isn't secured, the unit is buried in the ground to prevent from being pushed over. By the end of summer I am planning to expand to a 4x8 enclosure. This was such a cool family project, I've never built anything by hand and my husband is everything short of a handyman himself but between us and our boys we were able to pull it together.

I do have a question though, in 2 of the trays I have planted grass in one and flowers in the other. They will obviously need proper watering, is this ok for Chips habitat? In research I'm pretty spooked about creating too much humidity and wet ground, but on the other hand I understand sulcatas enjoy mud baths... so I'm unsure if this is safe for him.

Also, because he has only really dined on leafy greens his entire life do you think it will be hard for him to transition to grass hay? And if so, how can I help with this feeding transition? He is REALLY picky, I've experimented before with sweet potato and strawberries, he won't touch anything unless it's a green leafy type meal (he loves Spring Mix salad for sure). I put some Burmuda hay in his temp pen tonight and he hasn't touched it yet. Any thoughts?

Thank you for your help! And I'll post happy Chips pics soon!

And also, going back to a previous thread "It's not good enough for you to keep the room he's in at 75 degrees. 75 feels comfortable to you because your body temperature is 98.6. If your tortoise is kept in a room with a temp of 75 then the tortoise's temp is 75 degrees. If YOU are 98.6 degrees wouldn't you think that a tortoise might be more comfy around that temp?" - It's all coming together now.