mother of 5 and counting!

tklarissa

New Member
Joined
Sep 7, 2019
Messages
3
Location (City and/or State)
Houston
Hi.! I currently own two sulcatas, a russian, a box turtle, and a redfoot. I live in Houston Texas my sulcatas and redfoot currently live indoors until I renovate my backyard for everyone. I inserted pictures of what i have them in right now inside the house.

A360BC10-A7FA-450D-A7FE-A74A5085BA81.jpeg B0EAFBE6-C198-4F27-88F9-CF9B8B23CFFB.jpeg 82FB6BD5-D42C-452A-A7A1-074A09A5E117.jpeg 7606CF8C-51B1-4CA4-800C-07F7E633386E.jpeg 15F06A43-8BC5-4A96-B3CA-1E6058883E11.jpeg FB25C1F4-48E6-4BF2-B26E-7F4A802869F3.jpeg 808B7187-8FA9-45FD-B9C6-860FCF969D45.jpeg
 

Tom

The Dog Trainer
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Hello and welcome. Glad you found us and glad you posted pics. We can help you avert a few disasters.

First, your sulcatas are pyramiding. This is caused by growth in conditions that are too dry. You can't maintain the correct conditions for them, or for your RF in open topped, low-sided containers. They need closed chambers to hold in the heat and humidity.

Second, tortoises should never live in pairs. Your sulcatas each need their own enclosure.

Last thing I see in the pics: Russians are escape artists. The bricks you've used to contain him are not sturdy or tall enough. Just a question of time until he escapes and is gone forever. Make the walls twice that high and use something the doesn't give him a foot hold. Ideally, you'd also have an over-hanging lip around the top and capped corners.

Check these out:
https://tortoiseforum.org/threads/beginner-mistakes.45180/
https://tortoiseforum.org/threads/how-to-raise-a-healthy-sulcata-or-leopard-version-2-0.79895/
https://tortoiseforum.org/threads/for-those-who-have-a-young-sulcata.76744/

Its a hard pill to swallow for a lot of people, but most of the info out in the world for tortoise care is wrong. "Research" leads you to old, often repeated, wrong info. Questions and conversation are welcome. Our only intention is to help your tortoises have great lives.
 

Ray--Opo

Well-Known Member
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Messages
7,018
Location (City and/or State)
Palm Bay Fl
Welcome! What a crew! Love all their names.
 

tklarissa

New Member
Joined
Sep 7, 2019
Messages
3
Location (City and/or State)
Houston
Hello and welcome. Glad you found us and glad you posted pics. We can help you avert a few disasters.

First, your sulcatas are pyramiding. This is caused by growth in conditions that are too dry. You can't maintain the correct conditions for them, or for your RF in open topped, low-sided containers. They need closed chambers to hold in the heat and humidity.

Second, tortoises should never live in pairs. Your sulcatas each need their own enclosure.

Last thing I see in the pics: Russians are escape artists. The bricks you've used to contain him are not sturdy or tall enough. Just a question of time until he escapes and is gone forever. Make the walls twice that high and use something the doesn't give him a foot hold. Ideally, you'd also have an over-hanging lip around the top and capped corners.

Check these out:
https://tortoiseforum.org/threads/beginner-mistakes.45180/
https://tortoiseforum.org/threads/how-to-raise-a-healthy-sulcata-or-leopard-version-2-0.79895/
https://tortoiseforum.org/threads/for-those-who-have-a-young-sulcata.76744/

Its a hard pill to swallow for a lot of people, but most of the info out in the world for tortoise care is wrong. "Research" leads you to old, often repeated, wrong info. Questions and conversation are welcome. Our only intention is to help your tortoises have great lives.

thank you for your feedback.! I actually have rescued each of these tortoises over the past few years so im definitely watching their pyramiding and doing what i can to lessen it and stop it from continuing on.
My whole family has many sulcatas roaming throughout their yard so im not too concerned with them in the same enclosure for temporary purposes until I establish a new and better outdoor enclosure for them each individually. Theyve never been violent towards each other but i am very watchful on that.
The outdoor enclosure i have now is very secure. There is actually chicken wire all around the enclosure and it is partially covered to allow more sunlight. Under the enclosure there are wooden planks incase burrowing ever gets to an extreme. The temperatures are dropping slowly in texas so ive been doing my best to get materials for all of them to house them outside, its taken me a bit longer than usual but i do not plan on keeping my young tortoises indoors forever as i know how big they will get. But thank you so much.! I really appreciate feedback from other tortoise owners.!
 

Tom

The Dog Trainer
10 Year Member!
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Messages
63,269
Location (City and/or State)
Southern California
thank you for your feedback.! I actually have rescued each of these tortoises over the past few years so im definitely watching their pyramiding and doing what i can to lessen it and stop it from continuing on.
My whole family has many sulcatas roaming throughout their yard so im not too concerned with them in the same enclosure for temporary purposes until I establish a new and better outdoor enclosure for them each individually. Theyve never been violent towards each other but i am very watchful on that.
The outdoor enclosure i have now is very secure. There is actually chicken wire all around the enclosure and it is partially covered to allow more sunlight. Under the enclosure there are wooden planks incase burrowing ever gets to an extreme. The temperatures are dropping slowly in texas so ive been doing my best to get materials for all of them to house them outside, its taken me a bit longer than usual but i do not plan on keeping my young tortoises indoors forever as i know how big they will get. But thank you so much.! I really appreciate feedback from other tortoise owners.!
Here is my dilemma: You don't understand what is happening there and there are problems. I can A. Just let it go on and accept your dismissal, but this won't be good for your tortoises. Or B. I can upset you by arguing and hounding you in an effort to help you understand and make the needed changes.

If I do nothing, the tortoises suffer. If I make you mad and you leave because you think I'm a great big jerk, the tortoises suffer. I've got a rock and a hard place here. What to do?
 

Ray--Opo

Well-Known Member
5 Year Member
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Joined
Oct 14, 2017
Messages
7,018
Location (City and/or State)
Palm Bay Fl
There can be subtle things of dominance. Like sitting on the food or what looks like cuddling is really one trying to dominate the other. Or what might be perceived as sharing a hide is again dominance of one of the torts. It stresses out the less dominant tort and could lead to poor health and sickness or worse. It starts at a early age. It is instinctive to them.
Tom has been breeding different species for years. Not to mention the research he has done. He is just being honest and helpful not dominant. (I had to use dominant again to see how many times I could use the word):):tort::tort::tort::tort::tort:
Good luck! Keep us updated.
 

Tim Carlisle

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Nov 13, 2017
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Location (City and/or State)
Cincinnati, OH
Here is my dilemma: You don't understand what is happening there and there are problems. I can A. Just let it go on and accept your dismissal, but this won't be good for your tortoises. Or B. I can upset you by arguing and hounding you in an effort to help you understand and make the needed changes.

If I do nothing, the tortoises suffer. If I make you mad and you leave because you think I'm a great big jerk, the tortoises suffer. I've got a rock and a hard place here. What to do?
Tell us how you really feel. lol
 

Yvonne G

Old Timer
TFO Admin
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Hi @tklarissa and welcome to the Forum!

Please read this: https://tortoiseforum.org/threads/what-you-need-to-know-about-baby-tortoises.178141/ It will help to explain what Tom meant by old, outdated information on the web. The information in this link tells you how baby tortoises live after they hatch, and why we have been keeping them all wrong. They need moisture and humidity.

As to the sulcatas living in pairs thing he mentioned - yes, your family has lots of sulcatas living together. But that dynamic is much different from pairs. Groups work because the dominance is spread out among lots of tortoises. Pairs don't work because you only have one dominant and one subordinate.

I love the way you painted your flower pot shelters. Quite imaginative!
 

TammyJ

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5 Year Member
Joined
Jun 21, 2016
Messages
7,120
Location (City and/or State)
Jamaica
Hey there! Welcome to the best tortoise site on the internet! We have very experienced very caring people who really want to help your tortoises thrive and for you to be happy with their progress. You cannot do better than stick around, listen and learn and let's see some more pics!
I have redfoots and I live in Jamaica. Mine are a bit over three years old now and live outdoors all year round so far.
 

tklarissa

New Member
Joined
Sep 7, 2019
Messages
3
Location (City and/or State)
Houston
Here is my dilemma: You don't understand what is happening there and there are problems. I can A. Just let it go on and accept your dismissal, but this won't be good for your tortoises. Or B. I can upset you by arguing and hounding you in an effort to help you understand and make the needed changes.

If I do nothing, the tortoises suffer. If I make you mad and you leave because you think I'm a great big jerk, the tortoises suffer. I've got a rock and a hard place here. What to do?
Welcome to the forum! Your carfty decorations are cute...and I absolutely love the names you chose!

no you wont make me upset i came here to get feedback from others and i love that you are able to give advice. I am very watchful with them i work from home so im here all day woth them basically. When they are indoors it is mostly to keep them out of the cold fronts that come from time to time in houston or like right now that i am remodeling their outdoor enclosure. 80% of the time they are outdoors in a closed off space where the sun hits so theyll get their uva/uvb. i soak them everyday to help with shedding and their pyramiding as i of course do not want to raise them in bad health conditions. For their indoor enclosure, their hides have tons of moss and i water their enclosure daily to keep humidity at 80% to increase the life of the humidity i did add a closed off space with extra moss so that the humidity wouldn't escape as fast as usual. Thank you so much and i will keep y'all updated.! I appreciate it. I also read over your articles.! Right now since I rescued them from a seller on the side of the road, they began loving grass when at first they never would touch it. Im slowly doing everything i can to get them to a smooth shell while they're young.
 
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