Craig's list rescue

[nearpass]

So, I found this girl on the local Craig's list, living in the Zoo Med house in a small, old trailer. The young couple was very nice, though, and were re-homing her because they have a toddler and knew they did not have the room for her. She's in better shape than I anticipated when I headed over there.

At any rate, it's snowing heavily here now, so I will have to wait a couple of days before a can rearrange her housing. I have lots of room, and an already existing pen outside for her this summer. But, I'm in the northeast, and will have to have a much bigger enclosure by next winter. I have seen pictures of basement enclosures, but can't find them now. Are there any here who live in the northeast who keep their big torts in the basement in the winter? I have lots of room, a nice cellar, just need some ideas.

Thank so much

 

[mainey34]

Lucky little sulcata..i would get rid of the sand put anything else in there..dirt, etc...and get some water in there. Did s/he get a nice long soak?

 

[CtTortoiseMom]

I live in the Northeast and I house my sulcata in the basement. My whole enclosure is made of wooden boards. I have thick doubled up tarps on the ground and staple gunned to the outside of the enclosure. The tarps are covered with cypress mulch. He has a wooden hid with two holes cut in the top one for a CHE and one for a humidifier hose. On the other side of the enclosure I have his basking lights. I could only find one pic of him inside and I am sorry it was from a goofy thread showing that he had eaten his own poo but it will give you an idea.
Great find, beautiful tortoise!!

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I am trying to post the pic again....

 

[nearpass]

Lucky little sulcata..i would get rid of the sand put anything else in there..dirt, etc...and get some water in there. Did s/he get a nice long soak?

Those are ground walnut shells, and she's soaking as a write this, but just withdrawn into her shell. I'm sure she's pretty stressed out. As soon as the snow ends and I can get out, she'll get a new substrate and regular misting an up in humidity, and a UVB light. Then we'll have to figure things out as we go along.

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I live in the Northeast and I house my sulcata in the basement. My whole enclosure is made of wooden boards. I have thick doubled up tarps on the ground and staple gunned to the outside of the enclosure. The tarps are covered with cypress mulch. He has a wooden hid with two holes cut in the top one for a CHE and one for a humidifier hose. On the other side of the enclosure I have his basking lights. I could only find one pic of him inside and I am sorry it was from a goofy thread showing that he had eaten his own poo but it will give you an idea.
Great find, beautiful tortoise!!

Thanks so much for the pics! That's what I was thinking. I have access to plenty of free wood, so that's not a problem. The cellar itself stays quite warm in the winter: it's 13 courses and well insulated, so your setup would probably work quite well.

 

[wellington]

She does t look too bad at all. However, I would still get rid of the substrate. Even if you just have to use paper until the storm is over and you can get out. Wouldn't want her to get an impaction.

 

[mctlong]

She's a pretty sully. She'll be happy when summer comes

 

[nearpass]

She's a pretty sully. She'll be happy when summer comes

I think so, too. She's much less pyramided that I expected, and doesn't seem to have MBD, so the summer outdoors will probably do wonders for her. She'll be OK in the pen I have next year, but I'm already thinking about enlarging it. I'm lucky I live on 2 acres in the middle of 98 acres of woods and fields that I also own, so summers should be great for her if I can get the winter digs under control.

 

[jeninak907]

Nice save! She is a lucky tort!

 

[argus333]

cttortoisemom do u have any pics of the whole inclosure in your basement? im gonna build one next yr and looking for ideas. my basement is around 50 to 60 degress what do u use for heat?

 

[surie_the_tortoise]

nice looking sully . lucky little one to get saved , best of luck

 

[nearpass]

Update on Lump, as we have named him (pretty sure now it's a he), because that's all he was his first week here. Didn't eat, didn't move, just sat in the 'house' end of the Zoomed box. Hauled him out under the basking light every day, for the first week he just headed back into the box. Finally a week ago, I got him to eat some romaine, and he started heading to the basking light himself. I thinks he's warmer now than he's ever been, as his only light/heat before was a pretty low wattage spiral fluorescent. I think the Zoomed box is obviously way too small for him, and he has nothing to move for, but that will hopefully change soon.

But, he also developed a bit of an occasional nose bubble, so he's now got a night time CHE, even though he's in the herp room, which never gets much cooler than 68 at night, and is pretty humid from the water turtles. I suspect a chill and the stress of moving in the dead of winter is a contributing factor, but he's gotten more active, and is now eating spring mix with some Zoomed grassland and mazuri sprinkled in, and looks for the food in the morning and afternoon. The nose bubbles have not gotten worse, and he's eating better and better.

I have an enclosure in the cellar pretty well finished except for the final touches, but probably will not put him down there until he's eating better food consistently and the wet nose clears, because that will be more stress again.

Here's the enclosure. Right now it's 4 x 6 feet, but the cellar is very big, so I will be adding 'rooms' as he grows. The 'floor' is some linoleum I got for free from the local Mom and Pop installer and I made brackets for the CHEs which are screwed to the walls of the pen, as I feel clamp lamps are dangerous. The fluorescent is actually a grow light with a stand which fits just outside the pen, which works really well. I have another CHE and basking light which will be there, but am using them on him right now.

 

[luvpetz27]

He is very lucky to
have you!! The pic of the
enclosure is really nice! I hope
he feels better soon!

 

[lovelyrosepetal]

good luck with lump. Keep us updated.