Prenchpries
Member
Hi everyone!
I acquired a baby sulcata named Ube (our native term for purple yam). He was born March 28, 2020 and is currently hovering between 43-48 grams. I’ve always fed him variety since we got him — hibiscus, water spinach, rose, grasses, trefoil, aloe, ferns, lettuce, etc — and give a sprinkle of Reptical w/o D3 once or twice a week. He doesn’t seem to like Mazuri. His enclosure is currently an open-top, medium-sized terracotta planter (diameter is about 20" which I know is too small), with several plants. Substrate is plain organic soil (no perlite or small rocks) with some sphagnum moss on top. My living room is somewhat like a greenhouse (lots of glass with not much ventilation) so temperatures are always 30-34C. I place the hygrometer inside his indoor enclosure and it usually reads between 65-80% (high 80-90% when it’s raining). I soak him 1-2x a day for 15-20 minutes at a time, he always has water & regularly tracks it, and I regularly mist his enclosures too. I take him out for sun every morning in his outdoor enclosure for 2 hours, sometimes more if noon isn’t too hot, but I always bring him in before dusk (he likes sleeping in his hide outside which usually measures 33-35C and 75-80% humidity). Now I just wanted to ask some questions since most information available is for temperate climates & not much info is available for baby sulcatas in the Philippine tropics.
1. I understand a closed chamber enclosure is the optimal way to raise babies. I’ve already ordered a tub (36x17x19 inches) and will make necessary adjustments to make this a closed chamber until he outgrows it. Given the natural humidity in my country, I think it would be easy to maintain 80-90% humidity in his closed chamber even without heating, since it’ll be indoors anyway, in a place with no AC & little ventilation. Does this make sense or am I being naive? I’ve reached this conclusion seeing how humid his outdoor hide can get, as well as our normal outdoor temps ranging 33-36C with 50-70% humidity.
2. I feel like my baby is too light for a 2-month old sulcata. He has never reached 50g while in my care, and I am worried he’s sick. When we first got him (on May 12th) and for the first couple of weeks, he was eating a lot. But it seems that his eating has decreased starting last week & he’s been slightly more lethargic. He used to be awake from 8-10AM & 2-4PM. Now he’s only awake in the morning then asleep the rest of the day. He doesn’t have the same appetite for food but he still poops & pees normally.
I acquired a baby sulcata named Ube (our native term for purple yam). He was born March 28, 2020 and is currently hovering between 43-48 grams. I’ve always fed him variety since we got him — hibiscus, water spinach, rose, grasses, trefoil, aloe, ferns, lettuce, etc — and give a sprinkle of Reptical w/o D3 once or twice a week. He doesn’t seem to like Mazuri. His enclosure is currently an open-top, medium-sized terracotta planter (diameter is about 20" which I know is too small), with several plants. Substrate is plain organic soil (no perlite or small rocks) with some sphagnum moss on top. My living room is somewhat like a greenhouse (lots of glass with not much ventilation) so temperatures are always 30-34C. I place the hygrometer inside his indoor enclosure and it usually reads between 65-80% (high 80-90% when it’s raining). I soak him 1-2x a day for 15-20 minutes at a time, he always has water & regularly tracks it, and I regularly mist his enclosures too. I take him out for sun every morning in his outdoor enclosure for 2 hours, sometimes more if noon isn’t too hot, but I always bring him in before dusk (he likes sleeping in his hide outside which usually measures 33-35C and 75-80% humidity). Now I just wanted to ask some questions since most information available is for temperate climates & not much info is available for baby sulcatas in the Philippine tropics.
1. I understand a closed chamber enclosure is the optimal way to raise babies. I’ve already ordered a tub (36x17x19 inches) and will make necessary adjustments to make this a closed chamber until he outgrows it. Given the natural humidity in my country, I think it would be easy to maintain 80-90% humidity in his closed chamber even without heating, since it’ll be indoors anyway, in a place with no AC & little ventilation. Does this make sense or am I being naive? I’ve reached this conclusion seeing how humid his outdoor hide can get, as well as our normal outdoor temps ranging 33-36C with 50-70% humidity.
2. I feel like my baby is too light for a 2-month old sulcata. He has never reached 50g while in my care, and I am worried he’s sick. When we first got him (on May 12th) and for the first couple of weeks, he was eating a lot. But it seems that his eating has decreased starting last week & he’s been slightly more lethargic. He used to be awake from 8-10AM & 2-4PM. Now he’s only awake in the morning then asleep the rest of the day. He doesn’t have the same appetite for food but he still poops & pees normally.
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