1 month Sulcata Questions....

MadieM

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I purchased my sulcata today with a happy heart today. Think I got it from a sketchy man he was selling a chinchilla in a parking lot to these other couples too....anyways..... I have a couple of questions to ask mainly about the humidty. And please don't send me those links to read because I've read every single one of them. I even printed them out to study over them because that's what i do with every animal i adopt. And i really don't get how to keep the humidty in while also having uvb and such. I have hermits and they need heat and humidity and i have turtles and they need uvb and heat. It's easy with them but for the life of me i can't figure out how to work against physics with my baby sulcata! i could build a chamber for it but how does that keep in humidity? Also, I live in the dessert so could I have my sulcata outside for a couple of hours and then bring it in? I would still provide heat inside. As of now I currently have my baby inside a mixing concrete tub with a mix of coconut fiber substrate and bark from zoomed to help keep in humidity then i have one side cover with one acrylic slab....I want to cover the other side but i know my tort needs the heat, also for the hide i have a plastic thingy that used to have mushrooms inside of it i just flipped it over and cut out a opening having it sit on top of a heating pad. Is that safe? For food i cut up into small pieces a cactus pad and of course i have water provided.
I'll attach pictures when I have them. Thank you for everyone's help!:<3::)
 

Big Charlie

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The trick is a closed chamber. You wet the substrate, add your lights and cover the entire thing. You can cut holes in your lid for the lights and use foil to wrap around the edges of the lights. The heat plus the wet substrate creates humidity. You can take your sulcata outside supervised during the day as long as the temperatures are warm enough.
 

wellington

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What Big Charlie said. Closed Chamber. I wet the substrate with warm water for my young leopard, same care for a sulcatas. I also have a couple containers I keep warm water in that sits in the enclosure under the Che's. Then it's all closed up. The heat and the warm water makes the humidity and because it's closed chamber it stays. My babies substrate has not been dry since I put her in the enclosure last November. Every day to every other day I pour warm water over her substrate and refill the containers when needed. She also has a water dish that gets filled daily with luke warm water.
 

MadieM

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sweet! as for having my sulcata outside for natural UVB, I know if i make sure the substrate is moist and the hide is moist how long can i have my tort outside? I'll of course make sure half of the enclosure is in the shade while the other half is in sun
 

wellington

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A hatchling really only needs to spend any where from 1/2 hour to an hour or so. Little longer as they get older. You won't need UVB inside if you get her outside a few times a week.
 

Jodie

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Hi Maddie, and welcome to the forum. Closed chamber is the only way to hold in the heat and humidity. Heating pads are not safe for babies. Tortoises need heat from above. Babies will sit on a heating pad and burn themselves. For night heat, a popular great option is a ceramic heat emitter on a thermostat.
 

MadieM

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Thank you! I want to build a closed chamber but every chamber i look at looks so complicated to build.....Time to bring in the boyfriend i suppose :rolleyes:
 

Jodie

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I am using a lifetime raised garden bed. It works very well for several of us. I would build a flat platform to put it on. Because mine is in a tortoise room that is kept humid and warm, it does ok on the floor for me. Raised off the ground it will be easier to keep warm.
0730160823.jpg 0730160824.jpg
Amazon has them for about $100.
 

Pearly

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Hi Maddie, I struggled with this same dilemma at the beginning and this is how I solved itImageUploadedByTortoise Forum1472996962.960793.jpgImageUploadedByTortoise Forum1472997000.746780.jpgImageUploadedByTortoise Forum1472997054.537337.jpgl This works great for tank like mine where I'm raising my babies. The top of the tank is covered with the metal screen that i got at petstore from reptile section. My lamps sit on it. Then i found insulation material at Home Depot called Reflectix and special metal adhesive tape to secure it over the top. My daughter cut out openings in Reflectix to fit the lamps and fogger hose. Reflectix was very inexpensive and they have other fire/electrical safe insulation materials at home improvement stores. That was my worry: electricity & heat, I didn't want any surprises like things malfunctioning and cooking the babies inside or things catching on fire. Mine is 40 gal breeder tank which wouldn't really work for a sulcata, but whatever you pick for the "nursery" for your baby will be temporary till your baby grows, but by then if raised warm/humid with good calcium rich diet and lots of UVB it will be strong and won't need closed chamber.
 

MadieM

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Pearly! thank you so much that really helped, it looks easy and looks like it'll really work for my little one. Do the lamps ever melt the lids? i had an incident like that happen with my tortoises and it was not good....
 

leigti

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Just my opinion but I think an aquarium is going to be much too small for your baby sulcata before you know it. With in just a few months at the most. It would be cheaper to make or get something bigger such as the garden bed.
 

Tom

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If custom building your own is not your thing, we just had a member post this the other day:
http://www.apcages.com/home/

I haven't used one yet, but they seem ideal from what I can see.
 

itiswhatitis

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I am using a lifetime raised garden bed. It works very well for several of us. I would build a flat platform to put it on. Because mine is in a tortoise room that is kept humid and warm, it does ok on the floor for me. Raised off the ground it will be easier to keep warm.
View attachment 185763 View attachment 185764
Amazon has them for about $100.


Did it come with the green house cover ?
 

MadieM

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Sometime soon in the future I am moving into a bigger house with my boyfriend and with all our babies it's a dream of mine to actually have large enclosures that best replicate their homes. Except For my hatchling tortoise(s), what i have now is fine, until he grows out of it that is when it'll already have it's own tortoise home that'll last for years to come. I do really like the raised garden bed idea though, it's easy to build and affordable but if there was a way i could make it easy to transport without it breaking that would be ideal. I think when i do make one it'll have wheels so i can move the baby in different locations. Btw another silly question, my baby has been outside soaking the sun but i obviously can't control the sun so when it moves I'm constantly moving my tort everywhere the sun is shinning. Does my tort get the same amount of UVB in the shade as much as there is direct sunlight? Thanks again everyone :<3::)
 

Big Charlie

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They get some UVB in the shade but more in the sun. When you place them outside, they should be in a container that has partial shade so they can escape the heat if they want to.
 

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