Hello from San Diego

TabascoSauce

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Apr 7, 2014
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Good afternoon everyone, I recent stumbled upon this forum last week after purchasing a pair of baby sulcatas at a pet store here in San Diego. I have to say it was more of an impulse buy, and once I got home and put them in their 20 gallon tank the man at the store sold me, I just kept staring at them and feeling bad that they looked so cooped up and bored, so I got to looking around the internet and found you guys.

First of all, thanks very much for the awesome community you guys have here. The information and tips I've found over the last week have made me feel so much better about keeping these little dudes for a long time to come. Had I done my research prior to buying them, I would've only gotten one and definitely wouldn't have wasted money on the small tank.

Anyways, after having them in that tank for 5 days we took it back to the pet store and I got them a ceramic heating element (100w) and went to home depot to buy the supplies to make them a little 4x4 pen on my outdoor patio. I live about 2 miles from the water, so the breeze and sun is pretty much out all day here and shines directly on the patio from 1-7pm so they're out there all day and I've been moving them to a big rubber bucket I have inside at night just because I think it may be too cold (60 degrees).

The guy at the pet store told me to throw down some topsoil and playground sand for them, since that's how they do it for their big guy at their store (50 year old sulcata) so I did that, but then after coming here I see a lot of people that are anti-sand and now I'm looking for coco coir to put down since nobody here carries cypress mulch (tried 15 places Saturday).

Without further ado, meet Stevie Wonder (5 year old daughter named him) and The Unnamed Turtle (still trying to think of something for this guy).

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wellington

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Hello and Welcome:). Your tortoises are cute, but have been raised to this point very dry and is already pyramiding at their young age. Please read Toms threads below in my post for raising them hot and humid to stop the pyramiding from continuing.
 

TabascoSauce

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Apr 7, 2014
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wellington said:
Hello and Welcome:). Your tortoises are cute, but have been raised to this point very dry and is already pyramiding at their young age. Please read Toms threads below in my post for raising them hot and humid to stop the pyramiding from continuing.

I've read through those a few times actually, been making sure to soak them 20-30 minutes a day since I got them and wetting their substrate and what not.
 

bouaboua

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Hello and welcome. Very good to have you here. This is a wonderful place to learn and share. Looks like you got some reading to do and best wishes to you and your torts.

Again, Good to have you here.
 

Travis

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Welcome! I do have to say that those are some excellent pictures you have got there! They are cute little guys. Hope you see you post a lot! :tort:
 

sissyofone

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Hello and Welcome to TFO. Your little sulcatas are cute. Please do keep an eye on them. Sulcatas more times than not DO NOT get along in pairs. Raised together or not. One will bully the other And could possibly cause the one getting bullied to become sick and possibly even die. Just keep an eye on them. But if it were me id go ahead and seperate them. Good Luck and theres lots of good learning here on TFO.
 

TabascoSauce

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Apr 7, 2014
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sissyofone said:
Hello and Welcome to TFO. Your little sulcatas are cute. Please do keep an eye on them. Sulcatas more times than not DO NOT get along in pairs. Raised together or not. One will bully the other And could possibly cause the one getting bullied to become sick and possibly even die. Just keep an eye on them. But if it were me id go ahead and seperate them. Good Luck and theres lots of good learning here on TFO.

Yeah I've been seeing that. We pretty much watch them the whole day while they're awake since I have their pen right outside on my patio near my couch and computer desk. At first, the bigger one seemed to be bullying the little guy, and when I tried to go to the pet store their response was "Nonsense, we have pairs that have been together for 45 years!" Which I knew from reading about here was crap. They told us to let the little guy out alone for a day until he got used to the surroundings, so we did and it's worked. They sleep next to each other and get in the water together, but we're definitely aware that could change.
 

mike taylor

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Welcome from Texas .


Just to let you see how fast they grow here is a picture . I got him at four weeks old . I got him last fathers day .He was started dry . I switched out everything the pet store's tell you to use for what Tom's information tells you .
 

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