Baby Sulcata Enclosure

[Rhyno47]

This is my Baby Sulcata'a enclosure. There is a Heat Lamp, a UVB Lamp and a general light. One side is cool and one is hot. He has a heat pad under the substrate in his little hut, it stays around 80 degrees in there. His substrate is a 1 to 2 mix of sand and coconut husk. Any hints or tips would be appreciated.

His name is Isaac by the way.

 

[Maggie Cummings]

It looks like a good set-up. Can you keep the substrate moist? His carapace looks like it's starting to pyramid and I am thinking it's because he is kept too dry. He should be kept about 80% humidity. I see you have hay in his hide and a heat pad underneath both of which I would throw out. Babies shouldn't be kept on heat pads they deform a growing plastron and babies aren't smart enough to get off of it when they get too hot. If you have it under the hide where he sleeps he would be forced to stay on the pad the whole night and that's just not good. His substrate needs to be pretty moist, so if you picked up a handful and squeezed it, it would hold that shape. Can you do that with his substrate? Hay will mold with a damp substrate.
I know that I have taken pictures of my small tortoises in the past and they looked pyramided when they actually weren't. Can you feel ridges when you rub his carapace? It should feel flat...
Keep up the good work and thanks for the pictures. Isaac is a cute little tortoise.

 

[Rhyno47]

It looks like a good set-up. Can you keep the substrate moist? His carapace looks like it's starting to pyramid and I am thinking it's because he is kept too dry. He should be kept about 80% humidity. I see you have hay in his hide and a heat pad underneath both of which I would throw out. Babies shouldn't be kept on heat pads they deform a growing plastron and babies aren't smart enough to get off of it when they get too hot. If you have it under the hide where he sleeps he would be forced to stay on the pad the whole night and that's just not good. His substrate needs to be pretty moist, so if you picked up a handful and squeezed it, it would hold that shape. Can you do that with his substrate? Hay will mold with a damp substrate.
I know that I have taken pictures of my small tortoises in the past and they looked pyramided when they actually weren't. Can you feel ridges when you rub his carapace? It should feel flat...
Keep up the good work and thanks for the pictures. Isaac is a cute little tortoise.

When i got him he had a pretty bad respiratory infection that he has just recently recovered from. His nose was clogged and when he breathed he did it through his mouth which made a clicking sound. He was very lightweight and refused to eat or drink. I got him a antibiotic shot and gave him warm squash in his soaks. Since then he is eating very well, his weight is back and he is very active.
His tank is pretty humid. I spritz his tank daily as an almost morning dew. But no it will not hold its shape. What is the best substrate? AfricanTortoise.com said that a coconut husk and sand mix would do good. Could i get a humidifier? Or put a water dish inside his tank so he doesnt get dehydrated? I soak him every other day. I have his heating pad for warmth during the night. Is there any other way to keep his tank warm at night? I just got him very recently so any pyramiding is from his breeder (TurtleSource.com). Here are some pics of his plastron. Any deformation? Ive only had him for 4 weeks now so any deformations are there at all they might be slim to none. Thank you for your help. There are just so many conflicting views on these little guys.

 

[Crazy1]

I would take Maggies advice on this one. She has raised Bob and he is a beautiful Sully. Coconut fiber and sand is fine and you can just pour a glass of water in to dampen the soil. This will raise the humidity in the enclosure. What you are looking for is ambiant (sp?) air humidity. Yes you could use a humidifyer. I have one in the room for my Greeks but I found that just pouring a glass of water on 1/2 of their enclosure works well and the lamps dry out the top layer so they do not have plastron problems (he has a very pretty tummy by the way). the heat lamp either an infrared or ceramic heat emitter will keep him warm at night. I also have switched to cypress mulch because- well I just like it better, less dusty for me and my allergies. But it is more expensive. I don't see little tiny poops as easily, but then that may just be my glasses.

 

[Maggie Cummings]

Robyn is right on. You can pour water over it and that will create the humidity needed at substrate level. I also use and love cypress mulch. I think that african tort.com puts out the best care sheet, I just disagree with the substrate. I use a regular clamp light fixture with a black light bulb for warmth at night. I don't see any deformity of his plastron, but I still would tell you to get rid of it. Babies need to move around to regular their body heat, and a heat mat in his hide is just not a good idea. Keep up with the humidity, needed good healthy food, sun rays and exercise to prevent farther pyramiding. You are going to need to keep on top of it more then most because he is already pyramiding...please don't think I'm picking on you...I am just trying to help.

 

[Rhyno47]

Sounds good i just got something to measure humidity and i poured some water into his tank. The humidity is now at 70 and climbing. Any advise on maintaining the moisture other than keep pouring water into the tank? My house has a 43 percent humidity so the tank gets dry fast. Ill get cypress mulch and a black light heat lamp. Thanks.

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How does humidity effect pyramiding? I though to much protein did that.

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Can i get ctpress mulch from somewhere like Lowes? They have it way cheaper than pet stores. But i dont know if its any different. So many questions i know but he my pet and i dont want him to get unhealthy.

 

[Yvonne G]

Hi Ryan:

You can buy your cypress mulch at Lowe's. Quite a few folk here do. It is quite ok for the temperature in the habitat to drop during the night. That is normal and natural. Your baby doesn't need the heat coming from the bottom at night. If your tortoise room stays in the 70 to 75 degree range at night, that's good enough for the baby. If it gets cooler than that, they you can use a ceramic heat emitter (che) or black light to keep him warm at night. I don't worry about measuring the humidity. I just keep the substrate moist. Like Robyn said, the lights and heaters quickly dry out the top layer, but it stays moist underneath. There are more than one factor in the pyramid problem, and humidity plays a very large part. In the wild, a sulcata will dig a burrow half-way to China. And down that deep, the earth is not totally dry. But to add to that, they poop and pee in the burrow, bringing up the humidity. Exercise, diet,lighting...all play a part in keeping your little tortoise's carapace from pyramiding.

Yvonne

 

[Rhyno47]

Its so different from Russians. Ive had them forever and Im pretty sure they could survive a nuclear blast compared to a sulcata. But again, any pyramiding at this time is from his breeder, so all i can do it prevent any more from occurring. Thanks everyone for your help.

 

[Rhyno47]

I added water and his tank is hovering from 60 to 75% humidity. Also i added an infrared bulb and light fixture for some night heat after i removed his heat pad.

 

[Maggie Cummings]

Good job! Yvonne and I disagree about nighttime heat. I believe that babies need to be kept warmer then an older tort and I think at night especially they need that warmth. All of my babies have a black light at night, and actually some of my adults do too. My box turtles and my Russian have nighttime heat. I keep my animals differently then most. But I am successful in raising healthy well socialized tortoises. I mess with mine a lot and try to t`each them things. When I take a tort to the Vet, they keep their heads out and are looking around to see what's going on. It makes it so much easier to get an exam that way. Bob was so funny when I took him to be microchipped...the Vet and the techs were stroking his head and talking about just where we would place the chip and at least 3 different people touched or stroked his head and neck. But when the Vet came back with the giant needle needed to inject the microchip Bob saw that needle and sucked himself up into his carapace so fast he almost sucked all the air out of the room. So the vet left the room after a few minutes of trying to get his head out. We opened the door and was letting Bob walk around the waiting room (that's how we met Doctor Cosmonaut) when the Vet snuck up behind Bob and injected the chip into his neck...Tortoises are such interesting animals and are much more intelligent then we think. If you take the time to teach them, they learn and remember...

 

[Rhyno47]

Cute. Isaac didnt have such a fantastic time at the vet. Such a small little guy n' all. It was awful to see it all go down. Quite sad to see the little guy struggle to breathe when he was sick. Baby tort coughs (if thats what they are) are the saddest thing ever. Plus a needle in such a small creature... his back leg was blue for 2 weeks. But something worked because hes all better now. He breeder did a good job making him unafraid of people. Sudden movements or touching anything but his shell will scare him but he stays out of his shell when picked up. Ill get him used to me like I have with my others. Oh, and his night light is outside of his hut so the ambient heat is closer. Its only 50 watt so it creates warmth not heat pretty much. Im right above a garage and it gets cold during the night. So any pics of your guys i could see?

 

[Maggie Cummings]

Cute. Isaac didnt have such a fantastic time at the vet. Such a small little guy n' all. It was awful to see it all go down. Quite sad to see the little guy struggle to breathe when he was sick. Baby tort coughs (if thats what they are) are the saddest thing ever. Plus a needle in such a small creature... his back leg was blue for 2 weeks. But something worked because hes all better now. He breeder did a good job making him unafraid of people. Sudden movements or touching anything but his shell will scare him but he stays out of his shell when picked up. Ill get him used to me like I have with my others. Oh, and his night light is outside of his hut so the ambient heat is closer. Its only 50 watt so it creates warmth not heat pretty much. Im right above a garage and it gets cold during the night. So any pics of your guys i could see?

You can scroll around this site and look for pictures of Bob. I pretty much don't post pictures of my other animals, I don't know why. It's always Bob and his adventures.
But I think I will add some pictures of my other chelonia, I have about 23 now. Tonight when I have more time I will post more pictures. In the mean time you can look for threads about Bob or pictures of him. I think he's pretty cool, so I write about him a lot.

 

[tortoisenerd]

Looks like a great enclosure! I would have more hide areas if you can--at least one warmer and one cooler, but even more than that is awesome. Babies hide a lot. Even a fake plant or a larger hay pile is great...my little guy prefers those to the box type hides. Michael's does 40-50% off coupons if you join their e-mail list and look in the paper, so you can get a great plastic plant for $4-8.

Glad you added water and ditched the heating pad. Sounds like you are on a good track with more humidity! How deep is the substrate? Will you try the Cyprus mulch?

I have an opinion of nighttime heat between some of the other members. I have mine only because my winter temperature drops below 65 in the house, otherwise I would not. Also, my tortoise will not move once he is sleeping to thermoregulate, so I make sure any one spot is not too hot, and also that he gets a night temperature drop (daytime low is 70-75 and night temperature is 65-70 if he chooses, or less if he moves out of the radius of the ceramic heat emitter before falling asleep).

So cute! Congrats.