Baby Sulcate

[Lauren_co]

Hello, first time turtle owner. Was given this baby turtle that I’m told is a Sulcate. Was totally not prepared for this… I feel like I’m doing everything wrong and I’m always so worried I’m gunna wake up to a dead turtle. Please help. The turtle is about the size of my palm, tiny little guy. Not sure if it’s a girl or a boy. We originally had him in a box with soil and we have moved him to almost like bark…. Not sure if either is right. I got him a heat light (UVA) but it seems bright. We have a cat who keeps trying to get in the box so we had to put chicken wire on top. we have been feeding him romaine, turnip greens, and mustard greens, but I’m reading that grass may be the best…. He has water and a cave/cover area. Check out his habitat and let me know if things need to change or what I need to know or do. He likes to climb on the cave and that worries me cuz he falls off and ends up on his back.

 

[wellington]

Read this and follow it asap. Thread 'The Best Way To Raise A Sulcata, Leopard, Or Star Tortoise' https://www.tortoiseforum.org/threa...se-a-sulcata-leopard-or-star-tortoise.181497/
The little guy has been started dry and already has started to pyramid.
Add more to his diet. Try grass some babies wont eat it but some will. Cactus pads, dandelion, mulberry leaf, hibiscus leaf no fruit.
If you can only do grocery greens then add arugula, escarole, mustard greens, endive.
Give him warm 20-30 minutes a day. The water dish needs to be bigger so he can fit into it and level with the substrate. Temps never lower then 80 and a basking spot of 95-100.

 

[TammyJ]

Read this and follow it asap. Thread 'The Best Way To Raise A Sulcata, Leopard, Or Star Tortoise' https://www.tortoiseforum.org/threa...se-a-sulcata-leopard-or-star-tortoise.181497/
The little guy has been started dry and already has started to pyramid.
Add more to his diet. Try grass some babies wont eat it but some will. Cactus pads, dandelion, mulberry leaf, hibiscus leaf no fruit.
If you can only do grocery greens then add arugula, escarole, mustard greens, endive.
Give him warm 20-30 minutes a day. The water dish needs to be bigger so he can fit into it and level with the substrate. Temps never lower then 80 and a basking spot of 95-100.

Wellington - when you said "...give him warm 20-30 minutes a day..." you meant "give him warm SOAKS...".
Lauren, welcome to this great tortoise forum!!! Best advice from very helpful and experienced people! Go to that link Wellington posted, and you will get all the info. you need to make it right for your little guy! All the best.

 

[Tom]

Hello, first time turtle owner. Was given this baby turtle that I’m told is a Sulcate. Was totally not prepared for this… I feel like I’m doing everything wrong and I’m always so worried I’m gunna wake up to a dead turtle. Please help. The turtle is about the size of my palm, tiny little guy. Not sure if it’s a girl or a boy. We originally had him in a box with soil and we have moved him to almost like bark…. Not sure if either is right. I got him a heat light (UVA) but it seems bright. We have a cat who keeps trying to get in the box so we had to put chicken wire on top. we have been feeding him romaine, turnip greens, and mustard greens, but I’m reading that grass may be the best…. He has water and a cave/cover area. Check out his habitat and let me know if things need to change or what I need to know or do. He likes to climb on the cave and that worries me cuz he falls off and ends up on his back.

Hello and welcome. Wellington hit all the high points. Feel free to ask questions. Lots of questions. We are all here to talk tortoises.

It may help to be aware that almost every source of info you find for tortoise care is going to be all wrong and espousing the old wrong way of doing it. Breeders, vets, reptile "experts", FB, YT, online care sheets, all universally wrong. This forum is the only source that I know of giving the correct care info for this species. This is NOT a desert species, and dry conditions can literally be fatal to them.

 

[Yvonne G]

Hi Lauren, and welcome to the Forum!

Well, you're on the right track (coming here for help), but there's room for improvement. Please read the info in the link Wellington gave you. Read it several times.
Baby sulcatas in Africa hatch out during the monsoon season. This means they have evolved to live in hot, humid conditions, with lots of water all around them. And because they're prey, they need plenty of cover (cover also helps maintain the humidity) to hid under.

Also, they don't need UVA, but rather UVB, and your light is probably too high and shouldn't be at an angle, but rather hanging straight down.

They don't mention it in the care sheet, but one way to provide a covered enclosure, and way cheaper than buying an acrylic one is to look on Amazon for the small greenhouse like this: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07P9T4CY3/?tag=exoticpetnetw-20

You place your enclosure inside it and hang the lights and heat from the cross beam in the ceiling of the greenhouse. I'm sure the plastic tub you're using now will fit inside it. But be aware, he's going to outgrow it quickly. They grow fast.

 

[ZEROPILOT]

Welcome to the forum

 

[Lauren_co]

Thank you everyone for the insight. I read the link and I will keep referring to it for everyday questions I have :
But based on what I’m reading, it seems as though he needs to be in a high humidity home…. Not so dry which is eye opening for me…. For some reason I thought he was a desert tortoise so that’s really eye-opening to me. I have bought a UVB bulb which to me seems more like just a lightbulb with no heat. Does he need to be warm so should I switch out the UVB bulb at night? I have a hibiscus plant and tons of grass with no pesticides so I will definitely be incorporating that into his every day food. I’m more worried about his house and his habitat is the cypress mulch not good because it’s so dry should I soak it and then place it in his habitat ? Also, I read on the link that he should be soaking and put in a bath basically every day for 10 to 15 minutes that’s news to me so I did that today and he loved it so I plan to keep doing that.

I really do appreciate all of the comments and the links and believe me I am reading and listening. I just don’t want this little dude to die.

 

[Lauren_co]

Thank you everyone for the insight. I read the link and I will keep referring to it for everyday questions I have :
But based on what I’m reading, it seems as though he needs to be in a high humidity home…. Not so dry which is eye opening for me…. For some reason I thought he was a desert tortoise so that’s really eye-opening to me. I have bought a UVB bulb which to me seems more like just a lightbulb with no heat. Does he need to be warm so should I switch out the UVB bulb at night? I have a hibiscus plant and tons of grass with no pesticides so I will definitely be incorporating that into his every day food. I’m more worried about his house and his habitat is the cypress mulch not good because it’s so dry should I soak it and then place it in his habitat ? Also, I read on the link that he should be soaking and put in a bath basically every day for 10 to 15 minutes that’s news to me so I did that today and he loved it so I plan to keep doing that.

I really do appreciate all of the comments and the links and believe me I am reading and listening. I just don’t want this little dude to die.

Also, you guys are saying that he needs a CLOSED container …. so a plastic tote with a lid would that be OK? I’m just afraid the heat would melt it if it got too hot or does the heat not get that close? I don’t know maybe I’m not understanding that part.

 

[Lauren_co]

Wellington - when you said "...give him warm 20-30 minutes a day..." you meant "give him warm SOAKS...".
Lauren, welcome to this great tortoise forum!!! Best advice from very helpful and experienced people! Go to that link Wellington posted, and you will get all the info. you need to make it right for your little guy! All the best.

I did that 20 minutes soak and he really enjoyed it but I’m wondering if maybe his environment is not as humid as it could be? Besides providing him with a proper water dish and a UVB bulb and doing the soaks every day should I be maybe keeping his habitat more moist, for example wetting his mulch?

 

[Lauren_co]

Hi Lauren, and welcome to the Forum!

Well, you're on the right track (coming here for help), but there's room for improvement. Please read the info in the link Wellington gave you. Read it several times.
Baby sulcatas in Africa hatch out during the monsoon season. This means they have evolved to live in hot, humid conditions, with lots of water all around them. And because they're prey, they need plenty of cover (cover also helps maintain the humidity) to hid under.

Also, they don't need UVA, but rather UVB, and your light is probably too high and shouldn't be at an angle, but rather hanging straight down.

They don't mention it in the care sheet, but one way to provide a covered enclosure, and way cheaper than buying an acrylic one is to look on Amazon for the small greenhouse like this: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07P9T4CY3/?tag=exoticpetnetw-20

You place your enclosure inside it and hang the lights and heat from the cross beam in the ceiling of the greenhouse. I'm sure the plastic tub you're using now will fit inside it. But be aware, he's going to outgrow it quickly. They grow fast.

Thank you I have purchased a UVB bulb and we will hang it straight down right now. The enclosure is in the house we’re in the middle of winter here in California and so it gets chilly at night/afternoon. One spring rolls around we do plan to move him to bigger area we just wanna make sure that everything is ready and we know we’re doing before then 😂. Thank you so much for the insight on the fact that he’s from Africa I really thought that he was a desert tortoise so that was mine blowing to me and really made me understand, why having him in a dry environment is dangerous.
So thank you.

 

[Tom]

I did that 20 minutes soak and he really enjoyed it but I’m wondering if maybe his environment is not as humid as it could be? Besides providing him with a proper water dish and a UVB bulb and doing the soaks every day should I be maybe keeping his habitat more moist, for example wetting his mulch?

What type of UV bulb did you get? If its the cfl type, those should not be used.

There are four elements to heating and lighting:

1. Basking bulb. I use 65 watt incandescent floods from the hardware store. Some people will need bigger, or smaller wattage bulbs. Let your thermometer be your guide. I run them on a timer for about 12 hours and adjust the height to get the correct basking temp under them. I also like to use a flat rock of some sort directly under the bulb. You need to check the temp with a thermometer directly under the bulb and get it to around 95-100F (36-37C).
2. Ambient heat maintenance. I use ceramic heating elements or radiant heat panels set on thermostats to maintain ambient above 80 degrees day and night for tropical species. In most cases you'd only need day heat for a temperate species like Testudo or DT, as long as your house stays above 60F (15-16C) at night. Some people in colder climates or with larger enclosures will need multiple CHEs or RHPs to spread out enough heat.
3. Ambient light. I use LEDs for this purpose. Something in the 5000-6500K color range will look the best. Most bulbs at the store are in the 2500K range and they look yellowish. Strip or screw-in LED bulb types are both fine.
4. UV. If you can get your tortoise outside for an hour 2 or 3 times a week, you won't need indoor UV. In colder climates, get one of the newer HO type fluorescent tubes. Which type will depend on mounting height. 5.0 bulbs make almost no UV. I like the 12% HO bulbs from Arcadia. You need a meter to check this: https://www.solarmeter.com/model65.html A good UV bulb only needs to run for 2-3 hours mid day. You need the basking bulb and the ambient lighting to be on at least 12 hours a day.

 

[Lauren_co]

Read this and follow it asap. Thread 'The Best Way To Raise A Sulcata, Leopard, Or Star Tortoise' https://www.tortoiseforum.org/threa...se-a-sulcata-leopard-or-star-tortoise.181497/
The little guy has been started dry and already has started to pyramid.
Add more to his diet. Try grass some babies wont eat it but some will. Cactus pads, dandelion, mulberry leaf, hibiscus leaf no fruit.
If you can only do grocery greens then add arugula, escarole, mustard greens, endive.
Give him warm 20-30 minutes a day. The water dish needs to be bigger so he can fit into it and level with the substrate. Temps never lower then 80 and a basking spot of 95-100.

Thank you for this information. I read the link multiple times and even highlighted some stuff for me and to keep in mind for when he gets bigger I knew about the whole no fruit thing, so that’s good. I haven’t given him any fruit. I have been giving him arugula and mustard greens, but going forward I do plan to incorporate more hibiscus leaves and grass

Read this and follow it asap. Thread 'The Best Way To Raise A Sulcata, Leopard, Or Star Tortoise' https://www.tortoiseforum.org/threa...se-a-sulcata-leopard-or-star-tortoise.181497/
The little guy has been started dry and already has started to pyramid.
Add more to his diet. Try grass some babies wont eat it but some will. Cactus pads, dandelion, mulberry leaf, hibiscus leaf no fruit.
If you can only do grocery greens then add arugula, escarole, mustard greens, endive.
Give him warm 20-30 minutes a day. The water dish needs to be bigger so he can fit into it and level with the substrate. Temps never lower then 80 and a basking spot of 95-100.

Thank you for this information. I read the link multiple times and even highlighted some stuff for me and to keep in mind for when he gets bigger. I knew about the whole no fruit thing, so that’s good. I haven’t given him any fruit. I have been giving him arugula and mustard greens, but going forward I do plan to incorporate hibiscus leaves and grass and when you say dandelions, are you talking about the whole flower? Can I grow my own and give them to him that seems like a cool little project. I also started the warm soak bath for 20 minutes and he really enjoyed it so I plan to do that every day. I guess I’m just really worried about his habitat and keeping things moist. I didn’t realize that he was not a desert tortoise, so definitely mind blown, I feel bad that he’s been in such a dry environment. Luckily we’ve only had them for two weeks but going forward I do want him to feel more comfortable, so thank you so much for the information.
When you say the temp in the habitat shouldn’t be lower than 80 are you talking about daily from morning tonight or should the temperature be different at night when it’s colder? And when you say basking area, is that the open space where the heat would hit the most?

 

[Lauren_co]

What type of UV bulb did you get? If its the cfl type, those should not be used.

There are four elements to heating and lighting:

1. Basking bulb. I use 65 watt incandescent floods from the hardware store. Some people will need bigger, or smaller wattage bulbs. Let your thermometer be your guide. I run them on a timer for about 12 hours and adjust the height to get the correct basking temp under them. I also like to use a flat rock of some sort directly under the bulb. You need to check the temp with a thermometer directly under the bulb and get it to around 95-100F (36-37C).
2. Ambient heat maintenance. I use ceramic heating elements or radiant heat panels set on thermostats to maintain ambient above 80 degrees day and night for tropical species. In most cases you'd only need day heat for a temperate species like Testudo or DT, as long as your house stays above 60F (15-16C) at night. Some people in colder climates or with larger enclosures will need multiple CHEs or RHPs to spread out enough heat.
3. Ambient light. I use LEDs for this purpose. Something in the 5000-6500K color range will look the best. Most bulbs at the store are in the 2500K range and they look yellowish. Strip or screw-in LED bulb types are both fine.
4. UV. If you can get your tortoise outside for an hour 2 or 3 times a week, you won't need indoor UV. In colder climates, get one of the newer HO type fluorescent tubes. Which type will depend on mounting height. 5.0 bulbs make almost no UV. I like the 12% HO bulbs from Arcadia. You need a meter to check this: https://www.solarmeter.com/model65.html A good UV bulb only needs to run for 2-3 hours mid day. You need the basking bulb and the ambient lighting to be on at least 12 hours a day.

Wow! That seems very intense and I’m kind of out of my element. Maybe I didn’t get the right one. I literally just found a UVB bulb. Simple Deluxe Reptile Fluorescent Lamp 26W UVB 5.0/10.0 ... https://a.co/d/a3uMGbw

I’m pretty sure this is wrong. I’m sorry I’m completely clueless. I just want to get him the right bulb and if he needs multiple bulbs, then I need to know what time to change them and what bulb goes on when….

He currently has :Heat Lamp Bulbs, Briignite UVA Reptile Light, Reptile He... https://a.co/d/fIGBvRV

Which I also assume is wrong and shouldn’t run 24/7.

 

[wellington]

Wellington - when you said "...give him warm 20-30 minutes a day..." you meant "give him warm SOAKS...".
Lauren, welcome to this great tortoise forum!!! Best advice from very helpful and experienced people! Go to that link Wellington posted, and you will get all the info. you need to make it right for your little guy! All the best.

Thanks for correcting that. Yes I mean warm water soaks.

 

[wellington]

Wow! That seems very intense and I’m kind of out of my element. Maybe I didn’t get the right one. I literally just found a UVB bulb. Simple Deluxe Reptile Fluorescent Lamp 26W UVB 5.0/10.0 ... https://a.co/d/a3uMGbw

I’m pretty sure this is wrong. I’m sorry I’m completely clueless. I just want to get him the right bulb and if he needs multiple bulbs, then I need to know what time to change them and what bulb goes on when….

He currently has :Heat Lamp Bulbs, Briignite UVA Reptile Light, Reptile He... https://a.co/d/fIGBvRV

Which I also assume is wrong and shouldn’t run 24/7.

Both those bulbs are bad. You need a tube uvb floursecnt and a flood bulb for basking. The spot bulb you have is too intense in one spot and will cause pyramiding.
Also get a ceramic heat emitter. It looks like a flat bulb but it gives no light. This is for added day heat if needed and for night heat. Each bulb should have it's own fixture and the ceramic heat emitter should be on a thermostat.
The temps day and night 24/7 should never go below 80.

 

[Tom]

Wow! That seems very intense and I’m kind of out of my element. Maybe I didn’t get the right one. I literally just found a UVB bulb. Simple Deluxe Reptile Fluorescent Lamp 26W UVB 5.0/10.0 ... https://a.co/d/a3uMGbw

I’m pretty sure this is wrong. I’m sorry I’m completely clueless. I just want to get him the right bulb and if he needs multiple bulbs, then I need to know what time to change them and what bulb goes on when….

He currently has :Heat Lamp Bulbs, Briignite UVA Reptile Light, Reptile He... https://a.co/d/fIGBvRV

Which I also assume is wrong and shouldn’t run 24/7.

You are now seeing how bad the info from pet shops and online sources tends to be. Many people go through this, so its not just you. We will help get you on the right track.

Cfl type bulbs are not effective UV sources ad some percentage of them burn reptile eyes. They should not be sold or used. The Arcadia Pro T5 kit will be the simplest solution for you. The 22 inch or the 34" version would both be fine and meet all of your baby's UV needs indoors over the winter.

The other bulb is a "spot" bulb. Those concentrate too much heat and UVA into a small area and this contributes heavily to pyramiding. You want a flood bulb instead. These spread the heat and light out over a greater area and are less desiccating.

Whatever info source you found previously has been giving you bad advice and the wrong products. I recommend you disregard that info and stick to ours. You'll eventually learn the difference and be glad you did.