Afew questions??????

[jimdiane]

Hello all, great site!! I live way up in Canada (toronto) and probably the worst place for a sulcata to live I currently have 3 Russian torotoises, all doing great! I am thinking about adopting a sulcata, many people do not realize what they are doing when they get one of these guys, thus a few around looking for homes. I have a dedicated portion of my basement to build an enclosure/home. It is approximatly 12 foot by 15 foot in size and I am trying to gather information for the best home I can build. I'm pretty handy and plan to build it myself but need some ideas/suggestions.
I was thinking about having a raised floor(4 inches) with insulation away from the cold floor, one "basking"corner with the UVA/UVB lights, opposite side would have a width long hide and inbetween that area would be the "warm" area. My Russians have slate right under the basking lights, do sulcatas require this? Also plan to use Timothy hay in the enclosure and sand? pine shaving?
I can make the pen larger if needed, i guess the larger the better. I also plan to have UVB lights on either side of the enclosure. Any suggestions?.....

thanx
jim

 

[Crazy1]

Will the Sully be able to get out during good weather. They really need natural sunlight whenever possible. Oh and NO PINE or CEDAR SHAVINGS. Those are toxic to torts.

 

[jimdiane]

Will the Sully be able to get out during good weather. They really need natural sunlight whenever possible. Oh and NO PINE or CEDAR SHAVINGS. Those are toxic to torts.

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We do get some warm weather in july and august, 85 to 90 degrees. I will use bed a beast and sand as a substrate and also have the timothy hay

jim

 

[Yvonne G]

Hi Jim: One thing to consider about when your sulcata gets bigger. Once they have been shown that there is a world outside the four walls they've gotten used to calling home, its very hard to keep them contained. Say for instance that your 35 pounder is outside during July and August, then the weather starts to cool so you bring him inside to his winter quarters. He's going to try to climb the walls, ram the gate, dig and scratch and make your life (if you can hear him, that is) totally miserable! My Dudley actually breaks down the fence between his pastures because he "knows" that he's been in there before and he goes where he WANTS to go. I'm grateful that I've never let him outside of his three pastures, and so far he doesn't realize that he's strong enough to break down the outside fence too.

Yvonne

 

[Crazy1]

Question. Will you be able to get him out of the basement when he weighs 100+ lbs?

 

[Maggie Cummings]

I understand how you would enjoy having a Sulcata...BUT, they are an animal who needs serious room to exercise, massive amounts of sun and are very hard to keep in the winter. I have 2 Sulcata and just recently spent almost $1000 to make an old shed a good home for Sulcata...insulation etc, because his first shed got too small fast! So please reconsider making such a great animal live in your basement...also the older they get the faster they get bigger. Bob is putting on 30 to 40 pounds a year now. He gained 40 pounds this year. Believe me he's 50 yards or so away from my house and I can hear him ramming the door to be let out...
They are not a good choice for you considering where you live...

 

[jimdiane]

I understand how you would enjoy having a Sulcata...BUT, they are an animal who needs serious room to exercise, massive amounts of sun and are very hard to keep in the winter. I have 2 Sulcata and just recently spent almost $1000 to make an old shed a good home for Sulcata...insulation etc, because his first shed got too small fast! So please reconsider making such a great animal live in your basement...also the older they get the faster they get bigger. Bob is putting on 30 to 40 pounds a year now. He gained 40 pounds this year. Believe me he's 50 yards or so away from my house and I can hear him ramming the door to be let out...
They are not a good choice for you considering where you live...

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thanx to all for your thoughts and opinons! but I am not purchasing a sulcata really for a pet, but i thought that I'd adopt one and would provide a better home than what they have had. Believe me, there are a few of these around in the north. I will continue to research and will make plans and build some sort of home/pen and if the opportunity comes up............we will see.

jim

 

[Crazy1]

Jim I commend you for your thoughtfulness and big heart as well as your willingness to do your research first. Good luck to you and continue to keep us informed.

 

[Laura]

maybe you can consider getting a tort out of a bad situation, house it temporarily.. and find it an even better home in a better climate. Shipping, or make it a vacation!

 

[floridajake]

RE: Be prepared for this...

This is an average days worth of dung from only a 13" sulcata. Imagine what a 100 pounder produces. No big deal in a pasture, but in a confined space this would end up smeared over every square inch of habitat and you would have to change 100% of the substrate daily. If you really wan't a sulcata, you could always do like me and move to florida.