madbad
Active Member
Ok so prepare your self, there is a lot of work to be done here.
Am I taking good care of my sulcatas?
- Thread starter Jaid10
- Start date
madbad
Active Member
Can you post pictures of the younger tort and its enclosure as well?
madbad
Active Member
Oh boy.
Your tortoise needs to be in an 8x4 foot closed chamber until it’s big enough to go outside permanently( 8-11 inches). That tank is big enough to House a hatchling for a few months, and is nowhere near big enough for it now.
You need a large, shallow water bowl like a terra cotta saucer, big enough for it to fit into.
Do you have any lighting?
You need 4-6+ inches of a damp substrate like coco coir, peat moss, fine grade orchid bark, or fine grade cypress mulch.
You need a few hides, including a humid one.
You are going to need to start 45+ minute soaks daily, 80+% humidity, humid hides, and spraying the carapace multiple times a day to get the pyramiding to stop. It is severe.
Please give the links a read, and change your care ASAP. Could we see pictures of the smaller one’s enclosure?
I would also like to add that it looks like your tortoise is still too small to tell gender.
Here’s a good place to buy closed chambers if you don’t want to make one-
https://apcages.com/collections/terrestrial-cages
https://apcages.com/collections/terrestrial-cages
She should be around 14-15 inches before you can tell gender.
I would start building a heated nightbox/shed for her so that she can stay outside full time.
You can totally start a chat, but it might be more beneficial to do it with another member
. I’ve only made one closed chamber, and I’m not sure if I did it the best way possible-
you might have to turn your brightness all the way up. The lighting’s pretty bad, lol
What state do you live in?
Yes, with a large heated shed, even in winter. Although, it can be very hard to keep them if your winters are extremely cold, and it’s always snowy.
I’ll warn you now, it’s pretty hard and expensive to keep a Sulcata in places with very cold, snowy winters, depending on how often it’s snowy. If it’s always snowy, then you will need a large (at least 8x12 foot(I believe)) shed, that is heated to at least 80 degrees. It can be done, but it’s not very practical. If you are 100 % certain that you can not provide for them both during the winter when they’re full grown. I would recommend giving them to someone who can. But again, it can be done, and there are a few people here that have done it.
