Hi I’m new.. can someone tell me if I’m doing something wrong?

[Salcedos.23]

Hi everyone, I’m new to this forum and I’m a first time tortoise owner so please be kind

I have a baby sulcata that we got in late June of this year. Unfortunately we walked into this not knowing the right anything really. We have however been doing a lot of research since getting Taco and I’ve read and saved all of Tom’s care sheets. I still have plenty of questions though. A lot of them have been answered on the forum but if someone can just tell me if I’m still doing something wrong that would be great lol

Okay so we have Taco in a 2x5 ft homemade tortoise table. When we bought him he was in a 20 gallon tank with sand substrate. We use cypress mulch as substrate and place sphagnum moss in one corner.

Temperatures are as follows:

Day time Basking side 91- 97 Fahrenheit
Ambient side 87-90 Fahrenheit
At night it varies from 84-78 most nights

As for humidity I know a lot of people say that tortoise tables are not good but we made his enclosure using old dresser drawers. I hope to get him a real one in the future before he’s moved outside but for now we cover the whole thing with a shower liner which solved our humidity problem. Now it is at a constant 90 % throughout the day. The lowest it’ll drop to is 78% but mostly the humidity is so high it goes up to 96% so I’ll air it out for a bit to bring it back down.
By the way I use a 50w incandescent flood light bulb and a 60w CHE at night.

I also bring him out 2-3 times a week for sunlight and UV and soak him daily for about 20-30 min (he poops everytime but urates are looking a little gritty lately)

He loves to eat romaine lettuce and green leafy lettuce but I’ve been trying to introduce grass and hay to his diet by cutting them and mixing it into a salad. I’ll also add some cactus pad in but he’s very picky and won’t really eat his salad.
We also sprinkle calcium twice a week and give him grassland tortoise food which he also hates.

Anyway he used to be really active when we first got him but now he just sleeps a lot. Also I don’t know if he’s growing as fast when we got him he was 1.5 oz and now he’s 1.9 oz. His shell is still 2 inches long though.

 

[Littleredfootbigredheart]

Hello and welcome!

There are a few issues with the set up to give you a heads up on, first one being to remove the moss, it can be a serious impaction risk if eaten, second is you want the heating/lighting under the covering you have, not shining through it, do you use indoor uv? If so what kind?

I think you’ll hopefully find this thread I made useful to look over, toms are brilliant but I wanted to cater more to visual learners, I go over correct equipment type, correct levels, appropriately maintaining humidity etc and there’s a good link for diet

Leopard/sulcata starter

Hello there! In this thread I’m going to include some information below on how I’d personally tackle an indoor starter set up for this guy until they’re bigger. Hopefully it helps give you some ideas! I know it looks a lot to go over, I like to make sure all bases are covered, I’m happy to...

tortoiseforum.org

This one is also good to go over to help you avoid the wrong kinds of bulbs, substrates and such

Common keeping errors

Hello everyone! I’d been a long time lurker on this site long before joining just under a year ago now, over that time I’ve seen these husbandry issues come up time and time again, sometimes with dire consequences☹️ I thought this thread might serve as a good visual guide for these common...

tortoiseforum.org

Give them a read and come back with any further questions

 

[Littleredfootbigredheart]

Oh and with the grass and hay, don’t worry about introducing that until they’re a bit older, fresh leafy greens and weeds are fine for now

 

[The_Four_Toed_Edward]

first one being to remove the moss

I agree with @Littleredfootbigredheart I wanted to add that moss can also get tangled to the limbs and restrict blood flow

 

[Megatron's Mom]

Congratulations on your little one. Don't worry about the humidity being high, no need to let some out.
To improve his diet, you have to go real slow. At this size I chop up the food so tiny he can't tell what is what. So start with the foods he does like and add just a tiny amount of the new food. Keep doing that for a bit. Then very very slowly add a tiny bit more of the better foods. Grass is totally ok to add now but just s bit so they can get a tiny taste to it. You will want to get some Endive, radicchio and dandelion leaves. Do go crazy with getting too much and too many things at once. You have to slowly get him to eat the new stuff. Tortoises are the pickiest little creatures I've met. So very slowly add the new better foods. Then he will start gaining like crazy.

Also make sure to soak him/her daily.

 

[wellington]

Agree with above and to make changes asap
I would also block the sunlight from shining in on the enclosure. You can't control that heat from the sun and uvb does not go thru glass and that plastic.
And a much better diet needs to be started. Just romaine and lettuce is not a good diet at all. Hibiscus, mulberry leaf, grape leaf, arugula, escarole, endive, riddichio, mazuri tortoise pellets, cactus pads, just to name a few. It's fine to try and add grass and finely chopped soaked orchard grass hay.
Also, covering a table is an attempt at a closed chamber. You just need to get everything under the plastic.

 

[Salcedos.23]

Hello and welcome!

There are a few issues with the set up to give you a heads up on, first one being to remove the moss, it can be a serious impaction risk if eaten, second is you want the heating/lighting under the covering you have, not shining through it, do you use indoor uv? If so what kind?

I think you’ll hopefully find this thread I made useful to look over, toms are brilliant but I wanted to cater more to visual learners, I go over correct equipment type, correct levels, appropriately maintaining humidity etc and there’s a good link for diet

Leopard/sulcata starter

Hello there! In this thread I’m going to include some information below on how I’d personally tackle an indoor starter set up for this guy until they’re bigger. Hopefully it helps give you some ideas! I know it looks a lot to go over, I like to make sure all bases are covered, I’m happy to...

tortoiseforum.org

This one is also good to go over to help you avoid the wrong kinds of bulbs, substrates and such

Common keeping errors

Hello everyone! I’d been a long time lurker on this site long before joining just under a year ago now, over that time I’ve seen these husbandry issues come up time and time again, sometimes with dire consequences☹️ I thought this thread might serve as a good visual guide for these common...

tortoiseforum.org

Give them a read and come back with any further questions

Hi thanks for the link! I’ll def read it and see what needs to be changed.

To answer your question I am not using uv but I thought that as long as he’s outside getting uv that he would be ok? I think I read that in Tom’s care sheet.

 

[Salcedos.23]

Agree with above and to make changes asap
I would also block the sunlight from shining in on the enclosure. You can't control that heat from the sun and uvb does not go thru glass and that plastic.
And a much better diet needs to be started. Just romaine and lettuce is not a good diet at all. Hibiscus, mulberry leaf, grape leaf, arugula, escarole, endive, riddichio, mazuri tortoise pellets, cactus pads, just to name a few. It's fine to try and add grass and finely chopped soaked orchard grass hay.
Also, covering a table is an attempt at a closed chamber. You just need to get everything under the plastic.

 

[Salcedos.23]

Ok thanks good to know! I thought the added sunlight hitting through will help.

I do mix it up every week. His main diet is romaine lettuce but every week I’ll switch a few days to different greens like escarole, endive, and mustard greens. I also add hibiscus and rose leaves on top but o swear he just picks through the food even when I cut it up into little pieces. I tried mashing it together and he didn’t even touch it.

 

[wellington]

Ok thanks good to know! I thought the added sunlight hitting through will help.

I do mix it up every week. His main diet is romaine lettuce but every week I’ll switch a few days to different greens like escarole, endive, and mustard greens. I also add hibiscus and rose leaves on top but o swear he just picks through the food even when I cut it up into little pieces. I tried mashing it together and he didn’t even touch it.

His main diet should not be romaine. It has more water content than nutrition. It's okay to add it to the diet but not be the main.
As for the stuff he should be fed more of but you say he won't eat. You have to be tugger than him and not let him win. You keep feeding it until he gets used to eating it. Just like you wouldn't let your child only eat junk, you need to not let your tortoise only eat junk.

 

[Megatron's Mom]

Ok thanks good to know! I thought the added sunlight hitting through will help.

I do mix it up every week. His main diet is romaine lettuce but every week I’ll switch a few days to different greens like escarole, endive, and mustard greens. I also add hibiscus and rose leaves on top but o swear he just picks through the food even when I cut it up into little pieces. I tried mashing it together and he didn’t even touch it.

It's good you're trying to get him to eat the other stuff. Chop it very small, not mush. If he won't eat still you could be adding too much of the other stuff. Do a little less, spritz his romaine with water so the other stuff sticks to it. You can do like Wellington said and use tough love and cut out the romaine all together. If he does eat the escarole , endive and mustard greens. I would drop the romaine now and just use the better stuff to introduce new foods. just remember everything they do is slow. Go slow with new foods.

 

[Littleredfootbigredheart]

Hi thanks for the link! I’ll def read it and see what needs to be changed.

To answer your question I am not using uv but I thought that as long as he’s outside getting uv that he would be ok? I think I read that in Tom’s care sheet.

Yes that’s fine no problem