guidelines for feeding baby sully

[todd and his tortoise]

Hello everyone. i have had my baby about 3 weeks now,this forum has taught me alot. i do have a question though. we have been feeding him in the morning,about 4-5 leaves of spring mix,and he eats 95% of it. but he always seems so hungry throughtout the day. i can usually hand feed him another leaf or two a few time a day. how much should we feed him? can we over feed him? also last night i went downstairs about 2 am and saw him wide awake walking around. is this normal. we have his light timer on 12 hours and off 12 hours at 6:30pm. we have a red heat lamp for him at night. i thought they could not see the red light? when i walk up to the cage at night, he can see me plain as day. do you think this might be keeping him up at night. let me know, todd. ps are there any sulcata owners in tampa? would like to talk.

 

[cemmons12]

I use a red heat lamp at night as well, when he gets tired enough he will go to sleep. Do u have a hide box for him? If not I would get something for you sully. As far as feeding, I always fed twice a day. Id let him eat as much as he could in a 30 minute time frame, give or take 5 or 10 minutes. Also when he was little, I used a food chop'r to cut the food into small pieces, he ate very good that way and always seem to get full. But, doing this could have been what caused my Cooper to get so big so fast, who knows. Best of luck to you!

 

[DeanS]

Lamps are not necessary at night! Your best bet is a Ceramic Heat Emitter...gives off plenty of heat, but no light! Also, check the links in my signature for sulcata care and diet ideas!

 

[todd and his tortoise]

thanks for the help, i ordered a cermic heater today. sould keep it nice and dark in there to let him get his sleep. i do have the usual half log for a hide box for him stuffed with spagnam. if hes not in it, he is in the corner when he sleeps. when i build him his customer home i may have issues with keeping it hot enough throughout. can i use regular light bulbs or spot light bulbs to provide light and heat during the day? thanks for all your help. todd