How to keep an adult sulcata indoors?

Aurum0

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Hi there. I have an adult sulcata... 7 years old, and I want to keep him inside. I plan to let him roam the house, specifically the large kitchen or my room. I live in Florida, and what I do with my other turtles/tortoises is let them eat and bask in the sun for a couple hours, then bring them in. I have a lot of windows at my house, and the turtles like to bask where the sunlight hits the floor. They all are healthy, they eat well, and their shells are well rounded. However, I just want to see if anything will be different with the sulcata?

Also, will he damage the walls or floor by trying to dig or something like that?
 

wellington

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You live in Florida but want to keep your torts inside. Bad idea for anyone that doesnt have to house inside.
It's dangerous for them to roam your house, we have many threads about that.
Yes, he will damage walls and floors and anything else he wants to try and go through.
All your tortoises should be housed outside once they are around 3-4 years old.
 

Sleppo

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Tom

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Hi there. I have an adult sulcata... 7 years old, and I want to keep him inside. I plan to let him roam the house, specifically the large kitchen or my room. I live in Florida, and what I do with my other turtles/tortoises is let them eat and bask in the sun for a couple hours, then bring them in. I have a lot of windows at my house, and the turtles like to bask where the sunlight hits the floor. They all are healthy, they eat well, and their shells are well rounded. However, I just want to see if anything will be different with the sulcata?

Also, will he damage the walls or floor by trying to dig or something like that?
No turtle or tortoise should be roaming loose in a house. Its a disaster waiting to happen. All sorts of life ending problems occur when people do this. We see it all the time. People often get mad or defensive when we tell them they shouldn't be doing this. They inform us that they are not stupid and they've made it safe and they supervise closely. We warm them again, and usually its just of question of time, and a question of injury, illness, or death for the tortoise, until they realize we were right.

Learn from the mistakes of others. Don't let your tortoise roam the house. Make them their own large secure enclosures either inside or outside and let them rule their little worlds.
 

ZEROPILOT

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Your Avatar states you are 13 years old.
Is it that you need assistance with how to build enclosures or that your parents won't allow it?
Something else?
Curious.
Outdoors enclosures are the only way to go and you're LUCKY to live in Florida where it's much easier to house tortoises outdoors than most other spots in the world.
 

Yvonne G

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Besides what others have already told you, tortoise species should never be mixed together. You say your other tortoises have free run of the house. These tortoises also need their own yard outside. . . and each species in his or her own yard. Here's a thread on mixing species:
https://tortoiseforum.org/threads/mixing-species.70250/
 

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