A Tale of Two Tortoises

[Deac77]

My sullys live outdoors almost year round and are only a year old I feed spring mix and mazuri but they graze mainly. When they are indoors it's in a 110 gallon horse trough I just mist it 3-4 times a days and mine are very similar to yours tom

 

[Yellow Turtle]

I'm always interested to read different ways of care for tortoise and the parameters that I always look for are pyramiding and growth. These two methods that Tom describes, I also think too many variables to consider, and I think genetic is the main issue. We see that Sudan sulcata grows much bigger, so I assume they will also grow at much faster pace too. Second thing, is it only me, but I think the ones raised outside appear to be slightly pyramided compare to the sudanese.

I hope someone will have similar experiment but with same clutch torts.

 

[Tom]

My sullys live outdoors almost year round and are only a year old I feed spring mix and mazuri but they graze mainly. When they are indoors it's in a 110 gallon horse trough I just mist it 3-4 times a days and mine are very similar to yours tom

Which group?

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I'm always interested to read different ways of care for tortoise and the parameters that I always look for are pyramiding and growth. These two methods that Tom describes, I also think too many variables to consider, and I think genetic is the main issue. We see that Sudan sulcata grows much bigger, so I assume they will also grow at much faster pace too. Second thing, is it only me, but I think the ones raised outside appear to be slightly pyramided compare to the sudanese.

I hope someone will have similar experiment but with same clutch torts.

I do have another group from the same father and a one in three chance of being from the same mother, that were raised in the same enclosure with the Sudans. They are growing at the same rate as the Sudans.

The outdoor raised group IS slightly more pyramided. I attribute this to the dry conditions here, but the pyramiding is a lot less than I anticipated. I am attributing this to their indoor overnight accommodations.

 

[Len B]

I am only working with one young sulcata, not groups like you all have, This one is the same age as Toms older group, she will be 11 months old in the last week of April.I have raised her different than any tortoise I have raised before. Basically to simplify it, her set up is the same as Toms closed chamber but without the basking area or the use of a CHE. When inside she has a constant temperature as close to 85 as I can keep it throughout the entire enclosure.When outside where the temps vary she has temps that change with the day.She is not perfectly smooth but much better than I have had before. Today she weighed 772 grams and is 6 inches,took these pics at about 3 pm eastern time today.She does get Mazuri along with as much home grown food as I can grow. During the winter it is a little limited,opuntia, honeysuckle leaves,strawberry leaves,clover, and what ever grass and weeds that are available, the rest is made up of store bought greens.

 

[Tom]

Ver nice Len. So the whole enclosure is kept at 85 day and night with no hot spot? I find this very interesting. No cool down at night?

I've always thought that the basking lamps had a negative drying effect that contributes to or worsens pyramiding. I use floods to spread the heat out because of this notion and I believe that my humid closed chambers mitigate at least some of the effect. It seems t me that simply NOT drying out the carapace in the first place might be a good way to go.

Your enclosure and techniques interest me greatly. May I request a detailed thread with pics, equipment used and all the minutia? I may want to imitate your style and see what I can produce here with it.

 

[Yellow Turtle]

I do have another group from the same father and a one in three chance of being from the same mother, that were raised in the same enclosure with the Sudans. They are growing at the same rate as the Sudans.

The outdoor raised group IS slightly more pyramided. I attribute this to the dry conditions here, but the pyramiding is a lot less than I anticipated. I am attributing this to their indoor overnight accommodations.

Thank you for explaining more, Tom. I think you spray the shells several times a day for the outdoor group, and in my case I see it helps a lot.

Too bad I can't afford too much torts of my own to experiment with...

Waiting for new updates of your sudanese and outdoor groups, as well as the african leopards.

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I am only working with one young sulcata, not groups like you all have, This one is the same age as Toms older group, she will be 11 months old in the last week of April.I have raised her different than any tortoise I have raised before. Basically to simplify it, her set up is the same as Toms closed chamber but without the basking area or the use of a CHE. When inside she has a constant temperature as close to 85 as I can keep it throughout the entire enclosure.When outside where the temps vary she has temps that change with the day.She is not perfectly smooth but much better than I have had before. Today she weighed 772 grams and is 6 inches,took these pics at about 3 pm eastern time today.She does get Mazuri along with as much home grown food as I can grow. During the winter it is a little limited,opuntia, honeysuckle leaves,strawberry leaves,clover, and what ever grass and weeds that are available, the rest is made up of store bought greens.

Len, he is smooth enough for me. Can I know how long he spends each time for outdoor and inside the chamber?

Thank you for sharing.

 

[Deac77]

Sorry Tom haven't been on in a while to respond. But I raise mine basically outside like the outside group. I've seen SLIGHT pyramiding as well and I spray the shell many times a day. They also haven't grown as fast as I anticipated but still very quickly.

Ill upload some photos when I get to a computer (using the web app it's not working lol)

 

[Len B]

I do have another group from the same father and a one in three chance of being from the same mother, that were raised in the same enclosure with the Sudans. They are growing at the same rate as the Sudans.

The outdoor raised group IS slightly more pyramided. I attribute this to the dry conditions here, but the pyramiding is a lot less than I anticipated. I am attributing this to their indoor overnight accommodations.

Thank you for explaining more, Tom. I think you spray the shells several times a day for the outdoor group, and in my case I see it helps a lot.

Too bad I can't afford too much torts of my own to experiment with...

Waiting for new updates of your sudanese and outdoor groups, as well as the african leopards.

---

I am only working with one young sulcata, not groups like you all have, This one is the same age as Toms older group, she will be 11 months old in the last week of April.I have raised her different than any tortoise I have raised before. Basically to simplify it, her set up is the same as Toms closed chamber but without the basking area or the use of a CHE. When inside she has a constant temperature as close to 85 as I can keep it throughout the entire enclosure.When outside where the temps vary she has temps that change with the day.She is not perfectly smooth but much better than I have had before. Today she weighed 772 grams and is 6 inches,took these pics at about 3 pm eastern time today.She does get Mazuri along with as much home grown food as I can grow. During the winter it is a little limited,opuntia, honeysuckle leaves,strawberry leaves,clover, and what ever grass and weeds that are available, the rest is made up of store bought greens.

Len, he is smooth enough for me. Can I know how long he spends each time for outdoor and inside the chamber?

Thank you for sharing.

---

This past winter, October to the end of March there was almost zero time outside because it got cold and stayed cold. Now that we are getting some warmer days if the sun is shining she gets at least a couple hours a day of outside time. Also even when it is warm at night I still bring her in and she sleeps in a small enclosure with basically the same setup.

 

[Deac77]

here are some photos of the sullys that are kept outdoors 90% of the time with a misting system.

 

[Cowboy_Ken]

So do you have a misting system or you just must them?

 

[Deac77]

have one outside, kinda like a garden mister just hung over their fence lol

inside i mist 3-5 times a day

 

[Cowboy_Ken]

Where do you live? Average humidity in your neck of the woods? I'm in Oregon. I like that my humidity gauge has the digital readout as well as faces to let you know at a glance what the RH is. We always have a frowning face with an umbrella except for 3-4 wks out of the year. I love it. Lol.

 

[Deac77]

i Live in Lubbock Texas, average humidity in the summer is pretty low 10%-30% but with the mister i can get it up to like 65%-75%

 

[Cowboy_Ken]

That's harsh. I've been in Texas, but I couldn't tell you how much further than Four Corners I was. Lol. I've got moss that grows on the side of my car that is always in the shade. And I mean real moss.

 

[Deac77]

Haha that's crazy! We have very little rainfall lol but they have ponds lol

 

[Cowboy_Ken]

I've got a seasonal creek that runs through my place. It only runs during the rainy season, (9 months) and 2 months after. Lol. But everything is so green here. Currently the RH outside is 79% at 11:10 pm. It's trying to sprinkle out there. And 43.7 degrees F.

 

[Deac77]

I like my hot summers we've already hit 97* this year