Getting set up but have a few questions

[Boston Pitty]

Getting the last few things now before I set the nursery up for a baby Sulcata. So far I have:
40 gallon breeder
Domes for bulbs
The dayligh5 bulb(65 watt)
The ceramic bulb that will be set to a thermater to control the temp
Terracotta plant dishes for water & food
Terracotta pot to be used as hide
Reptibark
Orchid moss(saga(sp?) moss)
Plastic storage box for soaking
Green house set up with a few plants for food(hibiscus, basil, cat grass and adding more as I learn what he/she likes. Plus my neighbor said I could raid her garden)
I have a yard so fresh grass
Uvb light strip(zoomed10)
Temp and humidity gage

Still need to get but waiting till closer to arrival:
Another day/night timer for auto lights
Mazuri food(not LS one)
Timothy hay
Organic soil
Basking stone(not heating rock, stone that goes under light)
Enrichment toys

Some questions I still have:
I know basking is around 90-100 and ambient is 80, does the ambient drop for night or no? I have a chameleon and for him the temp has to drop 10 degrees for him to sleep well.

Humidity around 80% is what I keep reading for a baby. Assuming different parts of the cage can be lower as long as his/her hide stays around 80%?

How many times a day should feeding be done? I've read that they are eating machines. Is it best to have pellets and hay/greens separate? Been reading and looks like for baby's the pellets are best fed wet. Will they stop eating when full or just keep eating? I know some of this might be based on the baby's personalty and can vary. I just don't want to over feed my baby or under feed.

For cuttle bones I've read a few things. Right out of the pack and people boiling or scrapping "glue" off of them. Not sure how true the glue thing it as whenever I google it, it just comes back to the same topic here. I just want to know what everyone here does in terms of cuttle bones

Sorry for the long post. I just wanna get things right for my little baby

Anything I'm missing? I have a cabinet full of stuff. Might have missed listing something. Will update as I have or find.

 

[Tom]

I'll hit the things I see one by one:

• Skip the moss. Its an impaction risk and it does nothing.
• You can get orchid bark much cheaper in bulk from local garden centers.
• The whole enclosure needs to be 80% humidity or higher. Hide box should be closer to 100% humidity.
• Night temp can drop as long as it stays above 80. I like ambient to climb into the low 90s during the day, so a 10 degree drop would work fine.
• A 40 gallon tank is the minimum for a tiny new hatchling. You'll need something bigger in a couple of months. I'd order a large closed chamber from Animal Plastics now.
• Only tender young freshly sprouted grass for tiny babies and chop it into small pieces.
• No hay for babies. Grass hay is good for adults to eat. Bermuda or orchard grass hay work best. Timothy is too stemmy.
• No soil.
• No need for enrichment toys. Reptiles don't "play".
  
• Tortoises are grazers. The right food should be available for munching all day long. They will not eat too much.
• I just drop whole cuttle bones, or break off pieces and drop them in. I've never scraped the harder backside off. There should not be any glue of any kind on it.
• Do you have calcium powder with D3?
• Is your florescent UV tube the regular T8 10.0? If yes, it will need to be no more than 10-12" from the tortoise and these give out very low amounts of UV. The HO models emit much more UV and can be used from greater distances.
• A tank with an open top will make it very difficult to maintain heat and humidity. A large closed chamber will work much better for you.

MOST IMPORTANT QUESTION: Where are you getting the tortoise? Most breeders and sellers do not start them correctly or house them correctly. This often leads to the tortoise's death after a few weeks or months.

 

[Boston Pitty]

I'll hit the things I see one by one:

• Skip the moss. Its an impaction risk and it does nothing.
• You can get orchid bark much cheaper in bulk from local garden centers.
• The whole enclosure needs to be 80% humidity or higher. Hide box should be closer to 100% humidity.
• Night temp can drop as long as it stays above 80. I like ambient to climb into the low 90s during the day, so a 10 degree drop would work fine.
• A 40 gallon tank is the minimum for a tiny new hatchling. You'll need something bigger in a couple of months. I'd order a large closed chamber from Animal Plastics now.
• Only tender young freshly sprouted grass for tiny babies and chop it into small pieces.
• No hay for babies. Grass hay is good for adults to eat. Bermuda or orchard grass hay work best. Timothy is too stemmy.
• No soil.
• No need for enrichment toys. Reptiles don't "play".
  
• Tortoises are grazers. The right food should be available for munching all day long. They will not eat too much.
• I just drop whole cuttle bones, or break off pieces and drop them in. I've never scraped the harder backside off. There should not be any glue of any kind on it.
• Do you have calcium powder with D3?
• Is your florescent UV tube the regular T8 10.0? If yes, it will need to be no more than 10-12" from the tortoise and these give out very low amounts of UV. The HO models emit much more UV and can be used from greater distances.
• A tank with an open top will make it very difficult to maintain heat and humidity. A large closed chamber will work much better for you.

MOST IMPORTANT QUESTION: Where are you getting the tortoise? Most breeders and sellers do not start them correctly or house them correctly. This often leads to the tortoise's death after a few weeks or months.

I'm getting him/her from a guy on here named lancecham. Putting a deposit down tomorrow. My first welcome post he was recommended and I saw photos of past babies as well as a few babies that people here have and I feel that he is a good person to go through from the posts I've seen here.

I do have d3 along with can. Power as well.

I'll return the moss.

Glad to hear about the cuttle bone. I've never heard of the glue till I read that topic so I figured that couldn't be right.

I'll stop back at Lowe's for the bigger bag of bark than

40g is just nursery. It does have mesh lid. With a chameleon I've mastered humidity in a screen cage that needs to be 90% at night. I'm working on a larger pen in the basement that will go out to the yard in a fenced in area for him/her. If it does take longer to finish though I will look into the closed chamber.

Glad that over feeding isn't a risk. The fresh young grass can the be sprouted cat grass or reg grass seed? The pellets are still good to use as a baby though yes?

Uvb is the t8. 40gb isn't to talk but I double check when I get everything into the tank.

Thanks for helping

 

[Tom]

I'm getting him/her from a guy on here named lancecham. Putting a deposit down tomorrow. My first welcome post he was recommended and I saw photos of past babies as well as a few babies that people here have and I feel that he is a good person to go through from the posts I've seen here.

I do have d3 along with can. Power as well.

I'll return the moss.

Glad to hear about the cuttle bone. I've never heard of the glue till I read that topic so I figured that couldn't be right.

I'll stop back at Lowe's for the bigger bag of bark than

40g is just nursery. It does have mesh lid. With a chameleon I've mastered humidity in a screen cage that needs to be 90% at night. I'm working on a larger pen in the basement that will go out to the yard in a fenced in area for him/her. If it does take longer to finish though I will look into the closed chamber.

Glad that over feeding isn't a risk. The fresh young grass can the be sprouted cat grass or reg grass seed? The pellets are still good to use as a baby though yes?

Uvb is the t8. 40gb isn't to talk but I double check when I get everything into the tank.

Thanks for helping

• You'll be getting a good one from Lance. He starts them well and I've never seen one problem with any that have been bought from him.
• D3 with can? Power as well? I don't know what these two things mean.
• Lowes and Home Depot don't usually have the fine grade orchid bark in bulk. Sometimes they do, so its worth checking, but I usually have to go to a garden center here. OSH sometimes has it.
• The mesh lid will allow all your warmth and humidity to escape into the room which will make it necessary to use hotter bulbs and run them more, which will dry things out and make it necessary to add more water, which will evaporate and cool things off, which will necessitate more heat, etc... Its a never ended vicious cycle and conditions will never be quite right. The solution is to contain your warm humid air and have the lights inside the enclosure.
• Outdoor enclosures are great for nice weather, but keep it short while the baby is small. They don't do as well when kept outside all day. My general rule of thumb is an hour of outside time per inch of tortoise.
• A T8 10.0 bulb 18" above the tortoise and going through a screen will deliver zero UV to your tortoise. Even at 10 inches away and no screen, those bulbs only produce low levels of UV. Over the summer, if your baby is getting outside a couple of times a week, and you are using a calcium supplement with D3, your baby should be fine with no other UV. Come next winter, you'll be needing a much larger enclosure, and a better UV source.

Here is all the sulcata info in one place, in case you haven't already seen these:
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/

 

[Boston Pitty]

• You'll be getting a good one from Lance. He starts them well and I've never seen one problem with any that have been bought from him.
• D3 with can? Power as well? I don't know what these two things mean.
• Lowes and Home Depot don't usually have the fine grade orchid bark in bulk. Sometimes they do, so its worth checking, but I usually have to go to a garden center here. OSH sometimes has it.
• The mesh lid will allow all your warmth and humidity to escape into the room which will make it necessary to use hotter bulbs and run them more, which will dry things out and make it necessary to add more water, which will evaporate and cool things off, which will necessitate more heat, etc... Its a never ended vicious cycle and conditions will never be quite right. The solution is to contain your warm humid air and have the lights inside the enclosure.
• Outdoor enclosures are great for nice weather, but keep it short while the baby is small. They don't do as well when kept outside all day. My general rule of thumb is an hour of outside time per inch of tortoise.
• A T8 10.0 bulb 18" above the tortoise and going through a screen will deliver zero UV to your tortoise. Even at 10 inches away and no screen, those bulbs only produce low levels of UV. Over the summer, if your baby is getting outside a couple of times a week, and you are using a calcium supplement with D3, your baby should be fine with no other UV. Come next winter, you'll be needing a much larger enclosure, and a better UV source.

Here is all the sulcata info in one place, in case you haven't already seen these:
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/

The UvB I can be screwed into the top of the screen so it doesn't reduce to much. I'll get a stronger one before winter. Uvb bulbs need changed every 6 months so I'll get a higher grade along with Argos(chameleon).

d3 calcium power. I have a few power supplements that I need for Argo:
Reptivite(calcium &d3)
Herptivite(calcium with vitamins and minerals)
Plain calcuim powder

 

[Changa]

Getting the last few things now before I set the nursery up for a baby Sulcata. So far I have:
40 gallon breeder
Domes for bulbs
The dayligh5 bulb(65 watt)
The ceramic bulb that will be set to a thermater to control the temp
Terracotta plant dishes for water & food
Terracotta pot to be used as hide
Reptibark
Orchid moss(saga(sp?) moss)
Plastic storage box for soaking
Green house set up with a few plants for food(hibiscus, basil, cat grass and adding more as I learn what he/she likes. Plus my neighbor said I could raid her garden)
I have a yard so fresh grass
Uvb light strip(zoomed10)
Temp and humidity gage

Still need to get but waiting till closer to arrival:
Another day/night timer for auto lights
Mazuri food(not LS one)
Timothy hay
Organic soil
Basking stone(not heating rock, stone that goes under light)
Enrichment toys

Some questions I still have:
I know basking is around 90-100 and ambient is 80, does the ambient drop for night or no? I have a chameleon and for him the temp has to drop 10 degrees for him to sleep well.

Humidity around 80% is what I keep reading for a baby. Assuming different parts of the cage can be lower as long as his/her hide stays around 80%?

How many times a day should feeding be done? I've read that they are eating machines. Is it best to have pellets and hay/greens separate? Been reading and looks like for baby's the pellets are best fed wet. Will they stop eating when full or just keep eating? I know some of this might be based on the baby's personalty and can vary. I just don't want to over feed my baby or under feed.

For cuttle bones I've read a few things. Right out of the pack and people boiling or scrapping "glue" off of them. Not sure how true the glue thing it as whenever I google it, it just comes back to the same topic here. I just want to know what everyone here does in terms of cuttle bones

Sorry for the long post. I just wanna get things right for my little baby

Anything I'm missing? I have a cabinet full of stuff. Might have missed listing something. Will update as I have or find.

I applaud you. So prepared for your sulcaly.

 

[Tom]

The UvB I can be screwed into the top of the screen so it doesn't reduce to much. I'll get a stronger one before winter. Uvb bulbs need changed every 6 months so I'll get a higher grade along with Argos(chameleon).

I have good news for you!

Those tube type UV bulbs last much longer than 6 months, so says my UV meter. I have two 24" regular ZooMed 10.0 tubes that were still producing the same UV levels after 3 years of continuous use on a timer for 10 hours a day. I have some Arcadia 12% HO bulbs that finally started producing less UV after two years of daily use, but all I had to do was lower the fixture a couple of inches to get UV levels right back where I wanted them.

The only way to know is to put a meter under there. With the cost of two bulbs a year for two animals, one for your cham and one for the tortoise, you'll save back the cost of the meter in a couple of years. Plus, you will actually know how much UV is getting to your animals, which is the most important thing of all. Here is the meter you want: https://www.solarmeter.com/model65.html

 

[Boston Pitty]

Ty
I'll look into the uv meter that will help a lot

 

[Boston Pitty]

So I've been adding to the green house so everything is ready to go for my baby. I also want to add live plants to his/her cage to aid in humidity and simulation. I've been using tortoise table for green house stuff and to see what I can place in the tank. So far I have spider plants and I'm going to get air plants next week. I can't seem to find anything on pothos plants however.

Also prickly pear, is any kind safe or does it have to be the traditional green for tortoises? I've only been able to find fancier ones and most of those have spikes

 

[leigti]

I have seen a lot of conflicting reports on Weather pothos are safe for tortoises. I can’t say that my Russian ate every bit of hers no issues. The main thing is to make sure none of the plants have pesticides or fertilizers on them. You can also put in herb plants. The tortoises usually don’t like to eat those.

 

[Boston Pitty]

I have seen a lot of conflicting reports on Weather pothos are safe for tortoises. I can’t say that my Russian ate every bit of hers no issues. The main thing is to make sure none of the plants have pesticides or fertilizers on them. You can also put in herb plants. The tortoises usually don’t like to eat those.

The plants are in organic potting soil and I was going to put rocks on top of soil in pots so the baby can only reach what hangs over. I'll avoid pothos for now. Herbs are a great idea. Thank you

 

[Len B]

I'm not sure why you are not going to feed LS mazuri, but they now have a LS that comes in a mini size just for hatchlings.It can be mixed in with any other food offered.or by it's self on the side.Here's a pic of all 3 mazuri's offered to show the size difference. And a pic of the bag.

 

[Boston Pitty]

I'm going to feed the original that's been recommended and mix it with other stuff like fresh grass

 

[Tom]

The plants are in organic potting soil and I was going to put rocks on top of soil in pots so the baby can only reach what hangs over. I'll avoid pothos for now. Herbs are a great idea. Thank you

The problem with plants is that anything you buy from the store that is not intended for human consumption is grown with systemic pesticides that are taken up into the plant's tissues and can last a year. You must either grow your own plants from seed, or take cutting from long established plants that you've had in "clean" soil for well over a year.

 

[Boston Pitty]

The problem with plants is that anything you buy from the store that is not intended for human consumption is grown with systemic pesticides that are taken up into the plant's tissues and can last a year. You must either grow your own plants from seed, or take cutting from long established plants that you've had in "clean" soil for well over a year.

I'm starting a bunch of stuff from seed right now. I'll hold off on the stuff I got already grown than but the stuff sprouting should be good than

 

[Boston Pitty]

Herbs should be safe though?

 

[Len B]

I'm going to feed the original that's been recommended and mix it with other stuff like fresh grass

I recommend the original also. If you were advised not to feed the LS I believe you were given poor advice because it can be a beneficial addition to a varied diet along with the original.

 

[Tom]

Herbs should be safe though?

At my local nurseries they have a section of food plants that are intended to be eaten. If the herbs are in this section, I thinks its safe to assume they are safe.

 

[Boston Pitty]

At my local nurseries they have a section of food plants that are intended to be eaten. If the herbs are in this section, I thinks its safe to assume they are safe.

Yeah I go and buy a lot of organic stuff. I would think organic plants would be safe

 

[Tom]

Yeah I go and buy a lot of organic stuff. I would think organic plants would be safe

Not necessarily. The word "organic" doesn't mean what people think it means sometimes.