Belly is Soft

Tom

The Dog Trainer
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Messages
63,264
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Here is their home if you have any recommendations for improvement, as far as too dry they're between 70-80% humidity except for when they're outside.
I'm glad you've found us. The typical care info given for both of these species is wrong. Not your fault, and not your sister in laws fault either. But its got to change ASAP if you want to save this baby. It is extremely dehydrated and undersized and just looks bad over all.

You are housing them wrong in almost every way. I'm not saying this to be mean, but to let you know that if you want it to survive, you've got some major changes to make.

Tortoises should never live in pairs, and species should never be mixed. You need separate enclosures ASAP.

Open topped enclosures don't work for ether of these species because you cannot maintain the correct conditions in them. There is no way humidity is 70-80 percent in that table unless room humidity is 90-100% all day every day. Those stick-on dial type thermometer/hygrometers are not accurate or reliable.

You got the substrate right, but there needs to be much more of it and it needs to be damp, but don't do this until you get the night temps and everything else fixed.

You got the wrong bulbs in the wrong type of fixture, and I see no night heat. This is all bad news.

The current and correct care info has already been linked for you in post #14 here by NorCal tortoise guy. Read through that material to see what all you need to change. Questions are welcome after that, but everything we will tell you in individual posts is already spelled out in the care sheet.
 

TortoiseWarrior

Active Member
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May 13, 2016
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401
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Minnesota
Please make changes to your enclosure. If not your torts will pyramid as it gets older.
And that one with the funny belly probably will die if conditions aren't met.
good soakings and a proper enclosure will help greatly. But you gotta act ASAP
Tort looks under size and under weight to me, and very very dry. And this is not good
 

Danglesd

New Member
Joined
Sep 16, 2020
Messages
8
Location (City and/or State)
Virginia
I'm glad you've found us. The typical care info given for both of these species is wrong. Not your fault, and not your sister in laws fault either. But its got to change ASAP if you want to save this baby. It is extremely dehydrated and undersized and just looks bad over all.

You are housing them wrong in almost every way. I'm not saying this to be mean, but to let you know that if you want it to survive, you've got some major changes to make.

Tortoises should never live in pairs, and species should never be mixed. You need separate enclosures ASAP.

Open topped enclosures don't work for ether of these species because you cannot maintain the correct conditions in them. There is no way humidity is 70-80 percent in that table unless room humidity is 90-100% all day every day. Those stick-on dial type thermometer/hygrometers are not accurate or reliable.

You got the substrate right, but there needs to be much more of it and it needs to be damp, but don't do this until you get the night temps and everything else fixed.

You got the wrong bulbs in the wrong type of fixture, and I see no night heat. This is all bad news.

The current and correct care info has already been linked for you in post #14 here by NorCal tortoise guy. Read through that material to see what all you need to change. Questions are welcome after that, but everything we will tell you in individual posts is already spelled out in the care sheet.
Thanks and pass this along. There is 3 inches of substrate and roughly1/2 down it is moist all the time and the lights were recommended by someone that has 2 sulcatas as far as night heat I'll let her know already gave her the link.
 

Tom

The Dog Trainer
10 Year Member!
Platinum Tortoise Club
Joined
Jan 9, 2010
Messages
63,264
Location (City and/or State)
Southern California
...and the lights were recommended by someone that has 2 sulcatas as far as night heat I'll let her know already gave her the link.
This falls under the heading of: "Typical care info given for this species is wrong." That other Sulcata owner has also been given the typical wrong info, and someone should let them know too.
 

Nash

Active Member
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Joined
Jan 23, 2016
Messages
56
Location (City and/or State)
S. New Mexico
Listen to Tom, Yvonne, Mark, Pastel Tortie; you won't be disappointed.
 

Spyderguy18

New Member
Joined
Oct 31, 2018
Messages
5
Location (City and/or State)
Honolulu, Hawaii
Hi there. Also in my experience with my 2 yr old sulcata at a certain point they may try to eat the wood chips bedding or accidentally eat some if their food happens to fall on. They can choke if this happens. This happened to mine at about 1 year, she is fine today but I had to use tweezers to get the wood chip out. It was very scary for me. From then I have been using coconut fiber substrate by Eco Earth. It is closer to a soft dirt than a hard wood chip and it is not harmful if eaten. Also it dampens quite well. Just ensure if you dampen too much to mix the substrate around so that it does not mildew and change out at appropriate times. Mahalo ?
 
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