Doing something wrong?!

[Menno]

Hi!

My name is Menno, and I am new here. I am from Holland, so I do not speak English very well! ;-)

I have my 2 sulcatas now for thee days. They are 16months right now. Both are sleeping quite often, and they do not eat much. One of them is all the time rubbing his eye on his front legs. I think I am doing something wrong. Here some information about their exhibit:

- Their exhibit's lenght is 140(cm!!), and it is 160cm width. It is an indoor exhibit.
- There is a roofed part in the corner, the bottom is covered with ZooMed Repti Bark, and the rest of their exhibit's bottom is covered with woodchips.
- I use a Luck Reptile Bright Sun Ultra 150W heat bulb 12h a day.
- The temperature under this bulb is 33.0(Celsius!!). The temperature in the rest of the exhibit is between 19,6 and 35,1 (above the ZooMed Repti Heat Cable 25Watt. )
- I feed them with carrots, grasses, dandelion leaves and special grassland tortoise food. (ZooMed Natural Grassland Tortoise food)
- See the pictures.

Does anybody might know why they constantly sleep and eat little?

 

[lkwagner]

Couple things I'm noticing....

1) I'm really concerned since your torts are so small they will ingest those wood chips and become impacted.... Do you know what kind of wood they're made out of cause I've never seen ones that look like that used for torts? Some wood has toxins that can be fatal to your babies.
2) your torts are already starting to pyramid and the humidity really needs to be between 80-90% to get that to stop.
I would suggest you just use coco coir over the whole enclosure, pretty damp and pressed down so it is less likely to get ingested and in their eyes.

Overall I think you're doing a good job, they just might need some time to adjust. When I got one of mine it slept for a week straight and wouldn't eat or anything.

 

[Menno]

I don't know what wood it is but I'll ask it to the reptile store owner. He advised it me. And about piramiding, I have these guys just three days, so it may be from the stay in the pet store? To be sure I will some extra spraying. (But in desert, the humidity is much lower!?).

Thanks for your advice!

 

[lkwagner]

You should read toms threads on how to raise sulcata hatchlings.

They burrow when they are young and really do need a high humidity to be smooth.
I would get rid of the wood chips and bark and just use coco coir.

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84% inside the enclosure or outside?

 

[Menno]

I've just figured out that the humidity is 84% right now. (since I live in the Nederlands!)

 

[Menno]

84% inside the enclosure or outside?

The enclosure is open, so inside and outside

 

[Yvonne G]

Hi Menno, and welcome to the Forum!!

I think your habitat is too open. The babies are probably not warm enough. Also, your light should be pointing straight down. It concentrates the heat down into the habitat instead of spreading it off to the side so it all rises up and out of the habitat.

It might help if you could figure out a way to cover or partially cover the habitat to keep the heat inside.

 

[lkwagner]

This is off toms thread on how to raise sulcata hatchlings
Hope it helps
I'd read through the whole thing, it is so helpful and tells you everything you need to know

 

[Menno]

Do you know what kind of wood they're made out of cause I've never seen ones that look like that used for torts? Some wood has toxins that can be fatal to your babies.

The wood is from a beech, so it isn't dangerous for them.

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Thnx for the advices all! The right corner from the enclosure is covered, and humid as you can see on the picture. Do you think that's enough?
I'll hang the lamp straight down.

 

[AZtortMom]

Welcome to the forum
Can you cover 3/4 or all of the habitat? That really helps with keeping in the heat and the humidity. 84% humidity inside the habitat is good. Do you have a gauge and a heat gun to take readings?

 

[Menno]

I do use a heat gun, and the lamp now hangs straight down. I spray 2x a day, is that enough you think?

Btw, I noticed they sleep almost all day, but they do eat. When I looked in the food dish, all the dandelion leaves were gone! I think they just have to get used to the enclosure.

 

[Tom]

Your temps are WAY too low. Your basking spot should be 38 and no part of the enclosure should ever be below 27 for a baby sulcata. You must warm it up, especially at night or they will not survive.

Your basking bulb sounds fine, but hook up a ceramic heating element on a thermostat to maintain ambient temps day and night.

Sulcatas are NOT desert animals. In fact, due to their fossorial nature, they rarely experience any dry air at all in their native land.

Please read the links in my signature.

 

[Menno]

The lamp now hangs straight down, and the temperature below is 45Celsius. And you're sure about the native land temperature? My Sulcatas are from a nursery in Tanzania. But normally they live around the 16th North latidude. The average temp there is about 29Celcius.

 

[mainey34]

I do believe your sulcatas are not eating and sleeping a lot because of their conditions. They need humidity, 80% in their enclosure. I would suggest getting a gauge for this to attach in your enclosure. The next thing. Your temps need to be, 105f in basking spot, 90f in warm spot and 80f in cool spot. I also want to mention that they need about a week to adjust to their new environment...

 

[Tom]

The lamp now hangs straight down, and the temperature below is 45Celsius. And you're sure about the native land temperature? My Sulcatas are from a nursery in Tanzania. But normally they live around the 16th North latidude. The average temp there is about 29Celcius.

45 is warmer than it needs to be. It won't hurt them, but it will dry out your enclosure and their carapaces.

Average above ground temperatures from home ranges really don't have much usefulness. Especially for an animal that spends most of its time underground avoiding the temperature extremes.

The truth of the matter is that no one really knows what temps and humidity they experience in the wild. My friend Tomas Diagne is about to remedy this situation with a new book, but until it comes out, we are really just guessing. Regardless of what they do or don't experience in the wild, we have several decades of experience to show us what does and does not work in our typical captive environments. Inference can be drawn from what is known about the wild, but most people have the wrong idea anyway. I'm sure you've been told that they are desert animals from a dry area. Well that is sort of true some of the time, but they don't experience those conditions. Sulcatas hatch during the rainy season. Its hot, wet, humid, and there are puddles, marshes and greenery everywhere. It rains frequently and heavily for this three or four month period. This is when sulcatas are above ground and active and this is when babies hatch. When this wet period comes to an end, the adults go underground into their burrows and stay underground eating food they've dragged into their burrows. They rarely come above ground, day or night, during the dry season. I estimate burrow temps to be in the 80's based on observations of my burrow temps during our summers, which are most like their cooler time of year. No one knows what wild babies do.

 

[Menno]

Ok, but how can I make it colder under the lamp? It is 45Celsius (113 Fahrenheit) now.

 

[Yvonne G]

Raise the lamp up a bit. You'll need to hang it from a chain or something like that so you can raise or lower it until you reach the desired temperature.

 

[Menno]

The large one of the two is now used to his stay I think. He eats and he's active. Now the other one...

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I'll raise the lamp to 90cm, thanks!

 

[MasterOogway]

I love this and I am enjoying reading the continue researching and learning about tortoises.

 

[Tom]

The large one of the two is now used to his stay I think. He eats and he's active. Now the other one...

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I'll raise the lamp to 90cm, thanks!

Pairs are not a good idea. The less dominant one will suffer long term chronic stress. It wants to leave the territory of the other tortoise, but can't. The other tortoise doesn't have to actually "do" anything for this to occur. Just his presence is enough. If possible, I would get another enclosure and let these guys each have their own space.