Future Sulcata Mom

Prism

New Member
Joined
Jan 20, 2019
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5
Location (City and/or State)
Louisiana
Hello, everyone! I’m planning to get a baby Sulcata sometime this year, and I want to give the little tort the best life it can possibly have. I have never had a tortoise before, so I was hoping to get some advice on setting up a proper home for my future baby tort. Should I keep it inside at first and then slowly move it outdoors? What kind of substrate and lights would make an indoor enclosure the best for a baby Sulcata? How often should it be brought outside as a baby?

I have done research that I think will help me, but I would still really appreciate any advice from long-time tort parents about how I could raise a healthy, happy Sulcata.
 

TortoiseRacket

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Welcome!!!


Louisiana is cold, isn’t it?

You’d probably be better off with something smaller like a Greek, Russian, or hermanns tortoise.

If you still want a sulcata, I’ll give you some hints—

-Topsoil and repti bark mix works perfectly for a substrate
-75-90% humidity
-lots of grass
-get large, very fast
-should be at least 7 inches before being outside unsupervised
-Need 85 degrees Fahrenheit throughout the cage.

Hope that helped!
 

TriciaStringer

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Hi! I’m in Louisiana. We have two sulcatas and a Russian. A hatchling will need to be inside for the first 2-3 years. Some say they can start living outside full time at 8-10 inches and some say 10-12. You will also need a safe outside enclosure for your hatchling. For a sulcata the rule is usually an hour outside per inch of shell. Our two year old sulcata is still inside but she has an outside enclosure. Our fourteen year old is outside all the time with a heated house.

Please read the pinned threads about raising a Sulcata so you will have everything you need. Also, please consider purchasing from a trusted breeder from this forum. We have seen too many hatchlings die because the breeder didn’t start them correctly.
 

TriciaStringer

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Louisiana
Welcome!!!


Louisiana is cold, isn’t it?

You’d probably be better off with something smaller like a Greek, Russian, or hermanns tortoise.

If you still want a sulcata, I’ll give you some hints—

-Topsoil and repti bark mix works perfectly for a substrate
-75-90% humidity
-lots of grass
-get large, very fast
-should be at least 7 inches before being outside unsupervised
-Need 85 degrees Fahrenheit throughout the cage.

Hope that helped!
I just wanted to answer your question about it being cold in Louisiana. It happens to be today. We maybe have 3-4 weeks out of the year that the temp is below 60 during the day. They are random weeks that are not in a row. I’ve been here since I was five and at the age of 42, have seen snow here 4 times, at least snow that stuck and we could play in it.
Louisiana is hot and humid 9 months out of the year.
 

Prism

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Jan 20, 2019
Messages
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Location (City and/or State)
Louisiana
Thank you both! I will definitely take your suggestions into consideration. Having wanted a tortoise for over a year now, I am absolutely determined to get my Sulcata from a really reputable breeder, and I want to set up the best possible indoor and outdoor enclosers I can. I am in no rush to get my hatchling, as I want to make sure everything is just right before I ever bring it home.
 

TriciaStringer

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Location (City and/or State)
Louisiana
Thank you both! I will definitely take your suggestions into consideration. Having wanted a tortoise for over a year now, I am absolutely determined to get my Sulcata from a really reputable breeder, and I want to set up the best possible indoor and outdoor enclosers I can. I am in no rush to get my hatchling, as I want to make sure everything is just right before I ever bring it home.
Look up AP cages then. You can get the largest recommended (4’x8’) and put up a divider wall and move it as your sulcata grows. That way you don’t have to keep buying and building newer and bigger ones. Get that one and you’re done. Search this forum for AP cages. I know I’ve seen some posts about them. I wish I would have had the money to buy one. We built our indoor closed chamber. Saved money but was a pain. They also take a few months to get what you ordered so plan ahead.
 

Prism

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Jan 20, 2019
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Location (City and/or State)
Louisiana
Look up AP cages then. You can get the largest recommended (4’x8’) and put up a divider wall and move it as your sulcata grows. That way you don’t have to keep buying and building newer and bigger ones. Get that one and you’re done. Search this forum for AP cages. I know I’ve seen some posts about them. I wish I would have had the money to buy one. We built our indoor closed chamber. Saved money but was a pain. They also take a few months to get what you ordered so plan ahead.
I looked up AP cages and found a 96"x48"x48" enclosure. In the thread, "How to Raise a Healthy Sulcata or Leopard, Version 2.0," Tom wrote that a 4'x8' enclosure would last a Sulcata one or two years. Does this mean that I would use this enclosure for the two-ish years that my Sulcata will live indoors?
 

Tom

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I looked up AP cages and found a 96"x48"x48" enclosure. In the thread, "How to Raise a Healthy Sulcata or Leopard, Version 2.0," Tom wrote that a 4'x8' enclosure would last a Sulcata one or two years. Does this mean that I would use this enclosure for the two-ish years that my Sulcata will live indoors?

Alli at Animal Plastics cages will help you customize a cage to suit your needs. No need for a 48" tall cage for tortoise. 24" makes much more sense and will be easier to heat and light. The T70 model will work well too.

There is a lot of confusing contradictory info out there for new tortoise owners. I'm glad that you've found us and I hope we can help. Most of the "reputable" breeders still start this species the old dry way. You don't need a "reputable breeder". You need a breeder that soaks daily, keeps them warm and humid, has a humid hide for them, keeps them mostly indoors, with short sunning excursions, and feeds them all sorts of grasses, weeds, leaves, flowers and succulents in their first few days and weeks. Few of the most reputable breeders will match this description. There are only a few people I know of that start them this way.

In the wild they hatch at the start of the rainy season. Its hot, wet, rainy, humid, and there are puddles and marshes all over the place. This is NOT a desert species. This species spends 95% of its life under ground avoiding the extreme heat and inhospitable conditions found at the surface.

Here is all the info in one place for you:
https://tortoiseforum.org/threads/beginner-mistakes.45180/
https://tortoiseforum.org/threads/how-to-raise-a-healthy-sulcata-or-leopard-version-2-0.79895/
https://tortoiseforum.org/threads/for-those-who-have-a-young-sulcata.76744/
 

Prism

New Member
Joined
Jan 20, 2019
Messages
5
Location (City and/or State)
Louisiana
Alli at Animal Plastics cages will help you customize a cage to suit your needs. No need for a 48" tall cage for tortoise. 24" makes much more sense and will be easier to heat and light. The T70 model will work well too.

There is a lot of confusing contradictory info out there for new tortoise owners. I'm glad that you've found us and I hope we can help. Most of the "reputable" breeders still start this species the old dry way. You don't need a "reputable breeder". You need a breeder that soaks daily, keeps them warm and humid, has a humid hide for them, keeps them mostly indoors, with short sunning excursions, and feeds them all sorts of grasses, weeds, leaves, flowers and succulents in their first few days and weeks. Few of the most reputable breeders will match this description. There are only a few people I know of that start them this way.

In the wild they hatch at the start of the rainy season. Its hot, wet, rainy, humid, and there are puddles and marshes all over the place. This is NOT a desert species. This species spends 95% of its life under ground avoiding the extreme heat and inhospitable conditions found at the surface.

Here is all the info in one place for you:
https://tortoiseforum.org/threads/beginner-mistakes.45180/
https://tortoiseforum.org/threads/how-to-raise-a-healthy-sulcata-or-leopard-version-2-0.79895/
https://tortoiseforum.org/threads/for-those-who-have-a-young-sulcata.76744/
Thank you for the information, Tom! In many of your posts, you reccomend giving tortoises as much room to walk as possible. Would you say that the T70 is plenty large enough for my baby Sulcata to live in during its two-ish indoor years? I'm sorry if I my questions seem repetitive; I just want to make sure I am doing what I should.
 

Tom

The Dog Trainer
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Thank you for the information, Tom! In many of your posts, you reccomend giving tortoises as much room to walk as possible. Would you say that the T70 is plenty large enough for my baby Sulcata to live in during its two-ish indoor years? I'm sorry if I my questions seem repetitive; I just want to make sure I am doing what I should.
Yes the T70 should last you long enough to get the tortoise big enough to live outside. Once the tortoise gets to 5-6" it can be outside most of each day, weather permitting, and the indoor enclosure becomes mostly a sleeping chamber for overnight.
 

Prism

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Joined
Jan 20, 2019
Messages
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Location (City and/or State)
Louisiana
Yes the T70 should last you long enough to get the tortoise big enough to live outside. Once the tortoise gets to 5-6" it can be outside most of each day, weather permitting, and the indoor enclosure becomes mostly a sleeping chamber for overnight.
That would be great. Thank you again for the information.
 
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