angelique9929
New Member
I have a three year old Sulcata tortoise (may be a bit older but we've had her for three years) that I got when I was nine. I definitely was not the best tortoise owner only being nine years old. I may not be much older but I've definitely matured since then and realized my flaws in caretaking.
When I got her she fit in the palm of my hand. Now however, she's grown well over the size of both my hands put together. It seems though, that she's been that size forever. When I think about it, I don't feel like she's grown much in the last 2 years. Her first year she quickly grew, but now if feels as though she's been the same size forever. I want to make sure that she's growing as much as she should, which brings on my question. How big should a three year old sulcata be? For more context I'll add a bit on her enclosure.
Her enclosure is a large plastic storage container that's about 49 inches (length) by 16 inches (width) with a height of 11 inches. I don't know if this enclosure is large enough to allow her to grow more. However, she spends most of her time on the floor of my room (with me supervising) and outside. She'll wake up and bask under her heat lamp for a while, then I'll take her outside to eat and exercise. After a 1-2 hours I bring her in and put her into her enclosure where she'll go and sleep/relax. After another hour or so she'll start scratching and attempting to escape, so I'll let her out onto the floor of my room or take her outside again.
Another quick note about her enclosure, she has this sort of dirt substrate that we recently got for her. It used to be sand, but after noticing some redness on her shell and taking her to the vet I learned that the sand was very bad for her.
When I got her she fit in the palm of my hand. Now however, she's grown well over the size of both my hands put together. It seems though, that she's been that size forever. When I think about it, I don't feel like she's grown much in the last 2 years. Her first year she quickly grew, but now if feels as though she's been the same size forever. I want to make sure that she's growing as much as she should, which brings on my question. How big should a three year old sulcata be? For more context I'll add a bit on her enclosure.
Her enclosure is a large plastic storage container that's about 49 inches (length) by 16 inches (width) with a height of 11 inches. I don't know if this enclosure is large enough to allow her to grow more. However, she spends most of her time on the floor of my room (with me supervising) and outside. She'll wake up and bask under her heat lamp for a while, then I'll take her outside to eat and exercise. After a 1-2 hours I bring her in and put her into her enclosure where she'll go and sleep/relax. After another hour or so she'll start scratching and attempting to escape, so I'll let her out onto the floor of my room or take her outside again.
Another quick note about her enclosure, she has this sort of dirt substrate that we recently got for her. It used to be sand, but after noticing some redness on her shell and taking her to the vet I learned that the sand was very bad for her.