effpea
New Member
Hey y'all,
I have a tortoise that just turned 5 in November, named Ozzy. For about a year prior to getting Ozzy, followed by the whole first year of its life my husband and I were super dedicated to learning about and properly raising a healthy sulcata and have carried on everything we have learned over the years to date. Yet I'm still so perplexed by our tortoise and it seems to just be outside of everything I've read about juvenile sulcatas.
No idea on the sex. Every which way we have read, we end up unsure still. Years ago we thought boy, but I heavily think it's a female now because of shell shape. Wondered if y'all could offer some suggestions on sexing it or about when we would ever know? Only want to know for curiosity, by the way.
Also wanted to give you some specs on my tort and see if it's of healthy size for a 5 year old tortoise cause I honestly don't know and thus worry.
From tail to head its 14.5 inches. From side to side its 14 inches. From the middle of the belly all the way around its shell its 23 inches. Weighs about 16lbs and has huge legs, I'm talking nearly 4.5 inches around. The reason I ask is because I worry my tortoise does not eat enough. I offer it food multiple times a week and it never eats. To no exaggeration, it hasn't eaten in 6+ weeks because it simply doesn't want to, I assume. It just gets up and walks back to the corner and for naps. It's always so sleepy but then randomly one day it's up and active (still yawning tho lol) and eats a whole dunch, does it's business and finds a spot to go snooze again. Then it won't eat again for days and days or even many weeks. I still always get it up once a week at least for a warm soak and I offer fresh greens and mazury. It sits a while, looking around and then it leaves the food. When it free ranges the yard, it will stop to munch any poop it finds on the way to find a spot to dig a hole but it just won't eat anything I try to feed it nor any greens around the yard. Every bath though it will go under drinking water for what feels like a minute or more at a time. And always has a huge bm in the bath or lots of urine with some white powdery chunks.
I'm also concerned about it because it is just so lazy and it just does not like us, even after 5+ years of sweet talking it, taking utmost care of it and it absolutely wants nothing to do with us and acts so scared of us and always has. It even hisses at us and has since it was a baby! I really don't understand and wonder if there is anything we can do to make it come around to us? We had a sulcata before that passed away after one year (bad breeder, we still mourn him) and it was crazy active and loved us, always wanted to be handled and did so much! This one has never ever been that way. All it wants to do is sleep and be left alone lol
It has safe free range of the house often but never leaves the bedroom. It has its own space with a heat pad, uv lights and warmers if it wants but still it prefers to sleep right in the corner of the room head in or to goes under our bed, seems to be it's favorite place to hang out. Most often we could forget we even have a tortoise cause it hides so often.
Any advice or thoughts you have on my skeptical grump would be awesome. Pics for reference on size.
I have a tortoise that just turned 5 in November, named Ozzy. For about a year prior to getting Ozzy, followed by the whole first year of its life my husband and I were super dedicated to learning about and properly raising a healthy sulcata and have carried on everything we have learned over the years to date. Yet I'm still so perplexed by our tortoise and it seems to just be outside of everything I've read about juvenile sulcatas.
No idea on the sex. Every which way we have read, we end up unsure still. Years ago we thought boy, but I heavily think it's a female now because of shell shape. Wondered if y'all could offer some suggestions on sexing it or about when we would ever know? Only want to know for curiosity, by the way.
Also wanted to give you some specs on my tort and see if it's of healthy size for a 5 year old tortoise cause I honestly don't know and thus worry.
From tail to head its 14.5 inches. From side to side its 14 inches. From the middle of the belly all the way around its shell its 23 inches. Weighs about 16lbs and has huge legs, I'm talking nearly 4.5 inches around. The reason I ask is because I worry my tortoise does not eat enough. I offer it food multiple times a week and it never eats. To no exaggeration, it hasn't eaten in 6+ weeks because it simply doesn't want to, I assume. It just gets up and walks back to the corner and for naps. It's always so sleepy but then randomly one day it's up and active (still yawning tho lol) and eats a whole dunch, does it's business and finds a spot to go snooze again. Then it won't eat again for days and days or even many weeks. I still always get it up once a week at least for a warm soak and I offer fresh greens and mazury. It sits a while, looking around and then it leaves the food. When it free ranges the yard, it will stop to munch any poop it finds on the way to find a spot to dig a hole but it just won't eat anything I try to feed it nor any greens around the yard. Every bath though it will go under drinking water for what feels like a minute or more at a time. And always has a huge bm in the bath or lots of urine with some white powdery chunks.
I'm also concerned about it because it is just so lazy and it just does not like us, even after 5+ years of sweet talking it, taking utmost care of it and it absolutely wants nothing to do with us and acts so scared of us and always has. It even hisses at us and has since it was a baby! I really don't understand and wonder if there is anything we can do to make it come around to us? We had a sulcata before that passed away after one year (bad breeder, we still mourn him) and it was crazy active and loved us, always wanted to be handled and did so much! This one has never ever been that way. All it wants to do is sleep and be left alone lol
It has safe free range of the house often but never leaves the bedroom. It has its own space with a heat pad, uv lights and warmers if it wants but still it prefers to sleep right in the corner of the room head in or to goes under our bed, seems to be it's favorite place to hang out. Most often we could forget we even have a tortoise cause it hides so often.
Any advice or thoughts you have on my skeptical grump would be awesome. Pics for reference on size.