Introduction

[Mique]

Hi tortoise lovers,
I'm Mieke and I live in Thailand, Lampang area. I recently bought 4 Sulcata tortoises, about 11 months old. Our climate allows me to keep them outdoors almost all year, and for now they are in a bench that I can move around. Within a year they should be big and strong enough to roam around freely on our 3600m2 land.
I hope to learn a lot here!

 

[KarenSoCal]

Hello, and welcome to the forum!


Your babies are adorable, but they are pyramiding quite a lot.

Here are some care sheets on how we recommend they be kept.

Also, yours are way too young to guess their gender. Depending on how that works out, you MIGHT be able to leave them together. But the odds are that they are going to fight, possibly to the death of one or more, but certainly to serious injury.

Please read these carefully, then come back on the sulcata forum. Other members will be happy to help you.

https://tortoiseforum.org/index.php?posts/716928

https://tortoiseforum.org/threads/how-to-raise-a-healthy-sulcata-or-leopard-version-2-0.79895/

http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/beginner-mistakes.45180/

 

[dmmj]

Greetings! & welcome to the forum

 

[Cheryl Hills]

Welcome to the forum

 

[Yvonne G]

Welcome to the Forum!

 

[Mique]

Hello, and welcome to the forum!


Your babies are adorable, but they are pyramiding quite a lot.

Here are some care sheets on how we recommend they be kept.

Also, yours are way too young to guess their gender. Depending on how that works out, you MIGHT be able to leave them together. But the odds are that they are going to fight, possibly to the death of one or more, but certainly to serious injury.

Please read these carefully, then come back on the sulcata forum. Other members will be happy to help you.

https://tortoiseforum.org/index.php?posts/716928

https://tortoiseforum.org/threads/how-to-raise-a-healthy-sulcata-or-leopard-version-2-0.79895/

http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/beginner-mistakes.45180/

Hi Karen, thanks for your reply.
About gender: Once it becomes clear what gender, I can swap one ore more if neccesary, the turtle farm is nearby.
The care sheets I already read.
Is the pyramiding reversible with the right care?

 

[KarenSoCal]

Hi Karen, thanks for your reply.
About gender: Once it becomes clear what gender, I can swap one ore more if neccesary, the turtle farm is nearby.
The care sheets I already read.
Is the pyramiding reversible with the right care?

The pyramiding that is already there will never completely go away. But as they grow it may smooth out a bit.

The problem is stopping it from continuing to form. Pyramiding is caused by being in too dry conditions. It has nothing to do with what they eat.

I realize Thailand is humid, but I'm talking at least 80% all the time.

Since yours are a bit older, I'm going to tag some experts who will know exactly what to advise.

@Tom
@dmmj

and anyone else who could help with Thailand sulcatas

 

[KarenSoCal]

Oh, and it would help if you would move this to the sulcata subforum. More keepers will see it.
I'll ask one of the moderators to move it.
@Yvonne G

 

[PJay]

Welcome to TFO!

 

[Mique]

The pyramiding that is already there will never completely go away. But as they grow it may smooth out a bit.

The problem is stopping it from continuing to form. Pyramiding is caused by being in too dry conditions. It has nothing to do with what they eat.

I realize Thailand is humid, but I'm talking at least 80% all the time.

Since yours are a bit older, I'm going to tag some experts who will know exactly what to advise.

@Tom
@dmmj

and anyone else who could help with Thailand sulcatas

Thanks Karen, very helpful!
Usually it's pretty humid here indeed, but we just finished an extremely long, extremely hot and dry season. So that probably didn't help. Now the rains started and it's much more humid now. It might be an extra point of attention during next year's dry season. I'm bathing them regularly, but some mist spraying might be a good idea when it's dry. And another idea might be to put permeable terra cotta pots with water in their enclosure, I use them on the terraces to evaporate water and it works great.