Building winter sulcata enclosure

gr8danelover

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May 7, 2017
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I live in southern CO 81240. I am (still) putting together the winter enclosure for my sucata tortoise. 8", was told he/she was 5 years old when I purchased several months back.
Would really appreciate some suggestions, especially on lighting and humidity. Here is what I have, it is in an extra small room. 8'x4'floor space, plywood sides, rubber roof membrane on floor. top soil and bark on the floor.
How deep should that be? I just purchased a 48" t8 uva/uvb light and fixture. I have a che and a 150 watt basking spot. I mist the enclosure in the morning.
I feed soaked mazuri pellets. I feed collard, turnip, mustard and kale. Also free choice grass hay. In the summer he had access to lots of grass and weeds. Which are all dead and gone now.
I want to set this up to best serve thru the winter. By next winter he will have a out building. Of course, heated and all the amenities :)
Thank you for any help/direction.
Terri
 

gr8danelover

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I am trying to figure out where to place the lighting and heat. Do I need more than one CHE? Should part of the enclosure be covered?
The room it is in is heated as it is a part of my house.
Thanks, appreciate any help/direction
 

Hugo's Home

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I'm guessing this setup is in an indoor small room?
What are to your temps? Hot, cold, basking. Humidity? Do you have a top?
The more pictures that you have, the more these experts can help in here!

Ppl will say stuff about the kale but at least your feeling em.
 

Hugo's Home

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I think you should have a top to help keep the heat and humidity in. The temps inside are very important and if it's too cold then you may need another che.. or an oil heater, Or a radiant heat pannel.. before the experts come in, if you havent already, read these care sheets. They may answer most of your questions.

https://tortoiseforum.org/threads/how-to-raise-a-healthy-sulcata-or-leopard-version-2-0.79895/

https://tortoiseforum.org/threads/african-spurred-tortoise-sulcata-care-sheet.52524/


https://tortoiseforum.org/threads/sulcata-diet-sheet.64290/


I am trying to figure out where to place the lighting and heat. Do I need more than one CHE? Should part of the enclosure be covered?
The room it is in is heated as it is a part of my house.
Thanks, appreciate any help/direction
 

gr8danelover

New Member
Joined
May 7, 2017
Messages
21
I think you should have a top to help keep the heat and humidity in. The temps inside are very important and if it's too cold then you may need another che.. or an oil heater, Or a radiant heat pannel.. before the experts come in, if you havent already, read these care sheets. They may answer most of your questions.

https://tortoiseforum.org/threads/how-to-raise-a-healthy-sulcata-or-leopard-version-2-0.79895/

https://tortoiseforum.org/threads/african-spurred-tortoise-sulcata-care-sheet.52524/


https://tortoiseforum.org/threads/sulcata-diet-sheet.64290/
 

Tom

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I am trying to figure out where to place the lighting and heat. Do I need more than one CHE? Should part of the enclosure be covered?
The room it is in is heated as it is a part of my house.
Thanks, appreciate any help/direction

Making it a closed chamber will make your life easier, your electric bill much lower and your tortoises life much better.

Only your thermometer can answer your questions about how many CHEs, what wattage and where to place them. You'll need to put your thermometer and temp gun to work all over the enclosure and see what you get. If its dropping below 80 anywhere in the enclosure, then you need something more. If the enclosure is down on the floor, you might have to heat the room to 85 to keep it 80 on the floor. If you heat the whole room, you'll only need your basking lamp and your florescent lamps. No CHE will be needed.

It might be easier to heat and humidify the whole room if you want to leave the top open. A full size radiant oil heater running on its own thermostat should do it. That is what I use in my reptile room. With 4-6" of substrate in a closed room, it will probably stay humid enough.

I wouldn't use top soil. Its very messy, turns to mud when damp, and there is no way to know what composted plant material it is made of. Stick to orchid bark.

Your diet needs improvement. Those foods are all okay to feed once in a while, but none of them should be staples. Favor endive and escarole, but use lots of variety like thoe other ones you are using and celery tops, carrot tops, cilantro, bok choy, chard and many others. Also, grab a handful of the grass hay (I prefer orchard grass hay or bermuda…) and chop it up with scissors into a tub of water. Let it soak for 30-40 minutes and then mix it all up with the grocery store greens. You can do the grass thing every day. It will add bulk and give your tortoise some much needed fiber. You can also feed the day's food on a bed of dry grass hay. This will get your tortoise used to taste, smell and texture of the dry stuff, and more and more incidental ingestion will happen over time.
 

gr8danelover

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May 7, 2017
Messages
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Making it a closed chamber will make your life easier, your electric bill much lower and your tortoises life much better.

Only your thermometer can answer your questions about how many CHEs, what wattage and where to place them. You'll need to put your thermometer and temp gun to work all over the enclosure and see what you get. If its dropping below 80 anywhere in the enclosure, then you need something more. If the enclosure is down on the floor, you might have to heat the room to 85 to keep it 80 on the floor. If you heat the whole room, you'll only need your basking lamp and your florescent lamps. No CHE will be needed.

It might be easier to heat and humidify the whole room if you want to leave the top open. A full size radiant oil heater running on its own thermostat should do it. That is what I use in my reptile room. With 4-6" of substrate in a closed room, it will probably stay humid enough.

I wouldn't use top soil. Its very messy, turns to mud when damp, and there is no way to know what composted plant material it is made of. Stick to orchid bark.

Your diet needs improvement. Those foods are all okay to feed once in a while, but none of them should be staples. Favor endive and escarole, but use lots of variety like thoe other ones you are using and celery tops, carrot tops, cilantro, bok choy, chard and many others. Also, grab a handful of the grass hay (I prefer orchard grass hay or bermuda…) and chop it up with scissors into a tub of water. Let it soak for 30-40 minutes and then mix it all up with the grocery store greens. You can do the grass thing every day. It will add bulk and give your tortoise some much needed fiber. You can also feed the day's food on a bed of dry grass hay. This will get your tortoise used to taste, smell and texture of the dry stuff, and more and more incidental ingestion will happen over time.

Tom- Thank you for all the wonderful information. I am having trouble finding Endive and Escarole. I will see if one of the more specialty stores in town carry it. Thanks for the tip on the hay, definitely try that today! I live right across the street from the neighbors hay field, so access to that is endless :) I appreciate you taking the time to reply to my questions. I want him to live a long healthy life and he is in my will already so he is taken care of after I'm gone.
 

gr8danelover

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Tom- do you mean like Orchid you can buy at Walmart, Amazon etc? Does it need to say specifically for reptiles? Thank you
Terri
 

JoesMum

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Tom- do you mean like Orchid you can buy at Walmart, Amazon etc? Does it need to say specifically for reptiles? Thank you
Terri

It can be any old orchid bark. The picture of a tortoise on the bag just makes it more expensive :rolleyes:

Make sure it is fine - like earth - the coarser stuff doesn’t hold water.

Make sure there’s no additives like fertilisers, water retention beads, vermiculite or perlite.
 
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