Newbie Sulcata Enclosure Help!

Myxxin

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Hello everyone, my name is Myxxin and I very recently became the proud owner of a Sulcata hatchling! When looking for correct housing I found that my plans for their enclosure were a little off and now I'm looking to build a new one. By springtime we should be able to give her a nice large outdoor space when the weather warms up, but right now we're indoor for the winter.

What I was wondering is what you all think of a 2-story tortoise habitat? I've been designing a 5'x4'x4.6' enclosure and wanted some thoughts!
Both levels would have about 10 square feet of unobstructed walking area +hides and ramps (which will be gently sloped and completely enclosed so the tortoise cant fall down). This is including at least 6 inches of substrate and 15 inches of open space height-wise in each level of the enclosure.
Any thoughts and opinions are welcome, and it's nice to meet you all!
 

vladimir

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Welcome!

What is the largest possible square footage you could use for your indoor enclosure? With a healthy growth rate, your tortoise would outgrow a 5' x 4' enclosure within a year or two, depending on how large it is now. I'd recommend trying to go as large as possible initially to avoid having to upgrade too soon.

After three previous smaller enclosures here's what I came up with. the box is elevated on a second story:


Let us know if you have questions :)
 

Myxxin

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Welcome!

What is the largest possible square footage you could use for your indoor enclosure? With a healthy growth rate, your tortoise would outgrow a 5' x 4' enclosure within a year or two, depending on how large it is now. I'd recommend trying to go as large as possible initially to avoid having to upgrade too soon.

After three previous smaller enclosures here's what I came up with. the box is elevated on a second story:


Let us know if you have questions :)
Thanks so much, lots of good info on that thread! We'd be building a Much Larger enclosure outdoor in 2 years when we have our own house, and an outdoor area added to this one in the spring when it's warmer!

+Our space is probably about a 5-6ft sq ft space for now.
 

Tjsalyers

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Hello welcome to the forum try to go as big as you can i try but it doesn't always work so hope she or he will do good. Tj
 

vladimir

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Thanks so much, lots of good info on that thread! We'd be building a Much Larger enclosure outdoor in 2 years when we have our own house, and an outdoor area added to this one in the spring when it's warmer!

+Our space is probably about a 5-6ft sq ft space for now.

Sounds good, I always like to give that advice up front.

How large is your tortoise currently? How old is it?
 

vladimir

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We adopted Vladimir when he was over 5 lbs and two years old, so I don't have much experience with enclosures for smaller tortoises. Personally I would be hesitant to let a tortoise outside without supervision until it was 5-10lbs or so. There's just too much that can happen with a small tortoise exposed outdoors.
 

Myxxin

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Thanks everyone! We'll keep him/her inside for a bit longer in the spring as well! I read Tom's guide and appreciate all the advice!
 
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vladimir

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You're welcome!

We love pictures of cute sulcatas, by the way :) Do you have any pics of yours?
 

Toddrickfl1

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Definitely! He/she is supposed to be sexed by an expert next week :) Meet Choccy!
You got a few years before you'll be able to sex your baby it's not possible at that size unless a VET does a surgical procedure.
 

Tom

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Definitely! He/she is supposed to be sexed by an expert next week :) Meet Choccy!
Understand that the vast majority of tortoise people are doing sulcatas wrong and have been doing them wrong for decades. I used to be one of them for almost 20 years starting back in the early 90s. Your "expert" is very likely to tell you that everything we've told you is all wrong, and this is a desert species, and humidity and moisture will cause shell rot and respiratory infection. All of that is wrong and the opposite of the truth, but that is still the state of tortoise knowledge the world over. No one can sex a baby by looking at it except a trained and experienced vet doing endoscopy, which is a surgical procedure that would cost hundreds of dollars, and require an incision and sticking a scope into the body cavity.

So be careful with any advice offered by the "expert". Most of them have not caught on that we were doing it wrong for all those years, and we've now figured out what is best and why its best. They can't be sexed until they get about 14-15 inches and the secondary sexual characteristics begin to show up.
 

Myxxin

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Understand that the vast majority of tortoise people are doing sulcatas wrong and have been doing them wrong for decades. I used to be one of them for almost 20 years starting back in the early 90s. Your "expert" is very likely to tell you that everything we've told you is all wrong, and this is a desert species, and humidity and moisture will cause shell rot and respiratory infection. All of that is wrong and the opposite of the truth, but that is still the state of tortoise knowledge the world over. No one can sex a baby by looking at it except a trained and experienced vet doing endoscopy, which is a surgical procedure that would cost hundreds of dollars, and require an incision and sticking a scope into the body cavity.

So be careful with any advice offered by the "expert". Most of them have not caught on that we were doing it wrong for all those years, and we've now figured out what is best and why its best. They can't be sexed until they get about 14-15 inches and the secondary sexual characteristics begin to show up.
Gotcha! Thank you so much for the advice! I'll definitely take the advice from the vet with a grain of salt. I'm going to her specifically because she owns a tortoise of her own and I'm hoping that because of that she might be better informed than most basic vets! But I understand that there's still a lot of outdated information so I'll be sure to fact check everything.
 

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