help for newbies

[Tortmomma2]

So we came into 2, 2 month old african sulcata hatchlings very fast. The substrate we have going on is 2 bags of the repti-sand with one brick of the coconut fiber by eco earth. The temp under the heat bulb is approx 88* F. They are in a 20 gal. glass aquarium. The basking spot lamp bulb is 75 watts and the uvb is 13 watt, 10.0 bulb. The heat spot is to the left and the uvb is center. As you can see we made them a place to hide, sometimes they go in there and sometimes they don't. I put out fresh greens once around 7 am and again at 530pm. The bulbs go on at 7am and off at 8pm. I give them a 30 min soak in water 3x a week. I also attempt to get them 30 mins to an hour of actual sun outside a day. I also sprinkle calcium powder on the food once a week. Please give us suggestions...thank you in advance.

 

[Tom]

Hello and welcome to the forum. Lets get started...

1. Get rid of the sand right away. It is a potential impaction risk and skin and eye irritant.
2. Get rid of the coil bulb. Those frequently damage tortoise eyes. We just saw ANOTHER case of it yesterday.
3. Your basking temp needs to be closer to 100, and your ambient needs to be 80 at the minimum day AND night.
4. What are you doing for night heat? Get a ceramic heating element and set it on a thermostat to 80. It will work 24/7 whenever it is needed to keep your ambient temp up. They usually do not come on during the day.
5. Unless you got babies started the dry way, they will outgrow that tank in about two months.
6. Your hide is really cool, but they also need a real humid hide.
7. You need to somehow cover the top of that tank to hold in heat and humidity. It will be much easier if you build a closed chamber.
8. You should be doing daily warm soaks for the next few months.
9. Sulcatas don't usually do well in pairs. They will fare much better if you give them each their own enclosure, or get a third.

There is a ton of useful info in my signature for baby sulcatas. Please click and read.

 

[sissyofone]

Hello and Welcome to the forum.

 

[Jabuticaba]

Hello and welcome!


May[CHERRY BLOSSOM], Darwin[TURTLE] & Wallace[TURTLE]
Winnipeg, Canada

 

[Maggie and Torie the Tort]

Welcome!

 

[Teodora'sDAD]

Hello and welcome to the forum. Lets get started...

1. Get rid of the sand right away. It is a potential impaction risk and skin and eye irritant.
2. Get rid of the coil bulb. Those frequently damage tortoise eyes. We just saw ANOTHER case of it yesterday.
3. Your basking temp needs to be closer to 100, and your ambient needs to be 80 at the minimum day AND night.
4. What are you doing for night heat? Get a ceramic heating element and set it on a thermostat to 80. It will work 24/7 whenever it is needed to keep your ambient temp up. They usually do not come on during the day.
5. Unless you got babies started the dry way, they will outgrow that tank in about two months.
6. Your hide is really cool, but they also need a real humid hide.
7. You need to somehow cover the top of that tank to hold in heat and humidity. It will be much easier if you build a closed chamber.
8. You should be doing daily warm soaks for the next few months.
9. Sulcatas don't usually do well in pairs. They will fare much better if you give them each their own enclosure, or get a third.

There is a ton of useful info in my signature for baby sulcatas. Please click and read.

I like reading posts like this Tom. Reasures me that im still on the right track with mine.

---

welcome!

 

[Tortmomma2]

Thanks Tom...I really appreciate it!

 

[3bdulla]

Welcome!

 

[mike taylor]

Welcome

Sent from my C771 using TortForum mobile app

 

[Tortmomma2]

Thank you everyone for the kind welcomes. I look forward to all the info every one has to give