Hello from Germany

[Bee62]

Hello dear turtle friends,

my name is Sabine and I write to you from Germany.
I am the proud owner of three Sulcata babies. They hatched in July this year. Pictures will follow tomorrow. I am pleased to have found this forum, because Sulcatas in Germany are kept private by only a few people. Accordingly, there is little information on these turtles in German-speaking forums.
Please forgive me if my English sometimes sounds a bit funny, but longer texts like this one, I write with a translation program. But do not worry, I understand enough English to understand your answers and can also answer them. In any case, I am looking forward to a lively exchange here in the forum.

best regards
Sabine

 

[Bee62]

Oh I found the first mistake in my text. Sorry !
I own a tortoise.... And you are tortoise friends and owners. Sorry for this fault.

Sabine

 

[Dizisdalife]

Willkommen! We have Forum members from Germany, however, you are the first that I know of that keeps sulcata. Your English is is sufficient to communicate on this forum. Do not be shy. Please post pictures of your babies as soon as you can.

 

[sibi]

Oh I found the first mistake in my text. Sorry !
I own a tortoise.... And you are tortoise friends and owners. Sorry for this fault.

Sabine

Hi Sabine, and welcome. First thing you should do is read the threads on raising baby sulcatas. Tom is a member here and he had written many threads on how to house, feed, and care for this species. Second, i would like you to tell us how much you actually know about raising this species. Do you live in a city or in the country? How much space can you afford to give these sulcatas? You do know that even as babies, they require a lot of space. We love to see your setup for housing these babies. Post pic of them also.

 

[Tidgy's Dad]

Hello, Sabine, and a very warm welcome to Tortoise Forum to you and your babies.
Have a look at http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/how-to-raise-a-healthy-sulcata-or-leopard-version-2-0.79895/
http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/beginner-mistakes.45180/
and http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/for-those-who-have-a-young-sulcata.76744/
Very helpful information here.
Please don't hesitate to ask if you have any questions.

 

[Grandpa Turtle 144]

Hi Sabine

 

[Tom]

Hello and welcome Sabine!

I recently made my first trip to Germany last year for the Hamm Reptile Show. What a fantastic country! The Germans are the best drivers in the world. I wish Americans had to undergo your more rigorous driver training and testing.

Good luck with your new babies.

 

[Jodie]

Hello and welcome to the forum. Glad you found us!

 

[JoesMum]

Hello and welcome from the UK

 

[Bee62]

Hello @all,

thanks for your dear welcome in this great forum. I am really glad to be here.
Before I registered, I read here a lot, mostly Sulcata themes. About raising baby Sulcatas and feeding them.
And before I bought my babies from a german breeder I read the internet up and down about these wonderful tortoises.

Because it is winter here in Germany, the small turtles actually live in a large terrarium. With two heat bulbs and a UVB bulb. They have a really warm areal in the terrarium und a colder side, so they can decide where to stay. At night they sleep in two artificial caves and the temperature gets lower, ca. to 18 degrees celsius.
They have a flower coaster as a bath tray and I sprinkle them and the soil substrate every day to increase the humidity.
Because I do not find any wild herbs out there now, I mainly feed Romama salad. They ignore hay.....
But I think they'll eat it when they're older. Thy are very lively, always hungry und so interesting to observe ( or watch ? ).

I live in the country in my own house with 2,500 square meters of land.
When the torts get bigger, they are given a heated barn, (or stable) with exit into the garden. They only problem that causes my trouble is the fact, that these cute little things live so much longer than I. But I think thats the problem of most of tortoise owners ....

Sorry for this long text, but I like to talb about my cute sulcies ...
This evening I'm uploading pictures of the little ones. Promised !

LG
Sabine

 

[Bee62]

@Tom
Nice, that you liked it so much in Germany. That pleases me. Unfortunately I have never been to America. The country is beautiful and so great. Your drivers are certainly not worse than here ...

LG
Sabine

 

[ZEROPILOT]

Welcome from south Florida U.S.A.
Trust me. the worst drivers anywhere are all RIGHT HERE!

 

[Bee62]

@All
Oh, last night I forgot to mention that I own two Redfoot Tortoises ... Sorry....

Sabine

 

[ZEROPILOT]

@All
Oh, last night I forgot to mention that I own two Redfoot Tortoises ... Sorry....

Sabine

3 Sulcatas and 2 Redfoot as well?

 

[Bee62]

Yes ! The Redfoots are two years old.

 

[Yvonne G]

Welcome to the Forum, Sabine!

 

[Tom]

18 C is much too cold for this species. It should never drop below 26-27 C at any time.

Cool temperatures in humid conditions is very likely to make them sick.

 

[Bee62]

Hi Tom,

did you mean the temperature in the habitat of the redfoot tortoise, or the sulcatas ? The redfoots I keep between 23 and 25 C at night.

 

[Tom]

Hi Tom,

did you mean the temperature in the habitat of the redfoot tortoise, or the sulcatas ? The redfoots I keep between 23 and 25 C at night.

I'm not a RF keeper, so I hesitate to give specific advice about temperatures for them. I am speaking only about the sulcatas. They are a tropical species and they need it very warm and humid as babies. My friend Tomas from Senegal describes the seasons over in the areas where sulcatas occur as "hot" and "hotter". Sulcatas hatch at the start of the hot humid rainy season over there.

 

[Bee62]

Hello Tom,

that they need so high night temperature its new to me. The breeder gave me the advice that the need a lower night temperature.
In the Sahel zone the night temperature can drop to a few degrees above zero. This is what I have read everywhere. So I'm now a bit confused.