Just inherited a Sulcata

[Bartjuan]

Greetings. I have been pouring over the posts foe a couple of days.
What a great resource. We just "inherited" a young Sulcata, Muffles." My sister in-law got it for her kids as a newborn 5 years ago. They never MBD and pyramiding. I think she is pyramiding?

We just got a new glass enclosure, 70 gal, 36" x 18", (twice the size of her previous enclosure) cypress mulch substrate. So far we have a 60w heat lamp and we need a UVB source ASAP. We have some vitamins and a lot of fresh greens.

We are very excited to give Muffles a "better" life and look forward to building an outdoor pen for summertime.

Thanks in advance for all your help. I will post a picture soon

Bart

 

[onarock]

Hello. and welcome. Can you post some pics?

 

[coreyc]

Welcome to the forum how big is Muffles ? That enclosure seems real small for a five year old sully how big was her last enclosure ? I would get a 100 watt Powersun lamp for your UVB/UVA source well I'll wait to see some pic's

 

[Laura]

Congrats and WELCOME!!! Happy reading...

 

[Tom]

Hello and welcome.

 

[Bartjuan]

I lost part of my initial post, Muffles is only about 8" long, measuring plastron. We have not weighed her yet but I would guess about three pounds. The original owners didn't do much research in the years they owned her and I fear she has been stunted.

I have read that the babies need high humidity, is that true of adults as well? We have a respected herp store her in Minneapolis/St. Paul, Mn. They suggested the enclosure be kept DRY.

Bart

Picture to follow

 

[Tom]

We can only share our opinions. I think you ought to keep her humid and warm. She is very small for her age, but if you create "optimal" conditions for her, she should pick up her growth rate. Your substrate is good. Just dump a bunch of water in there, cover the top as much as you can and keep the temps up. All the water and evaporation will make your temps drop, so watch it. 70 gallons is just too small. She should be in something 4x8' at that size and age. Her outdoor pen should be as big as you can make it. Will she survive in something smaller? Yes. But that doesn't make it right or healthy. Sulcatas are very active and locomotion actually helps move things along their digestive tract.

Dry is fine for adults that live outside, but not for little ones. I would soak her daily for a while too. For the past 20 years, all the top reptile people have been advocating keeping them dry. I did it too. That's what all the books said. We now know that was wrong and everywhere you look you can see the pyramided tortoise shells to prove it. Only in the last few years have we begun to figure it out and produce some smooth, healthy torts. Print out my care sheet and take it to the guys in your pet shop. Invite them to join us here on the forum. We are desperately trying to get the word out.

 

[jensgotfaith]

Poor thing, I'm glad you have her now and are on the forum. My guy is 6 years old and 19" long and 60 lbs. It's amazing how different Sulcatas can be when raised in very different environments. We are so glad to have you here!!

 

[Maggie Cummings]

I go along with Jenni and Tom. Your tortoise is way too small. She should be about 50 pounds and mostly living outside. Mine is 12 yrs old and 80 pounds and has his own shed. His name is Bob, you can do a search on "Bob" and find some stories on him.Your girl needs to be kept humid, about 80% and needs room to exercise and run around. Have you found Toms care sheet yet? Even tho Muffles is older she should still be kept the way Tom says to give her a better start. She's way too small but she looks really good. Can you either buy a bigger tank or get a book case and turn it on it's back and take out the shelves and you have a tort table. Or get a 250 tank. She really needs something bigger,but it's too cold to make an outside tank for her.

 

[zzzdanz]

Are you sure about the age?..The difference in size compared to Jens is crazy.There's a lot of beautiful Sulcata being raised by some of the members here,so you'll be in good hands with their advice.

A summer of natural sun light and I'll bet you'll be shocked at the amount of growth you get.

 

[Yvonne G]

Hi Bart:

Welcome to the forum!!

Your new little tortoise is very pretty. She might be smaller than what we usually see at that age, but she's very smooth and very pretty!

From all the black on her face, I think she's not had much to do with water. A really nice long soak will do her wonders. Get some sort of tub with high sides that she can't climb out of and add enough warm water so that it comes up to her side where the top shell meets the bottom shell. Put her in there and just forget about her for at least 15 minutes. She might scramble around for a bit, but she'll eventually settle down.

You did a good thing in taking in this tortoise. And you are very brave to have a sulcata in Minnesota!

 

[Bartjuan]

Thanks All,

Pretty sure about the age, my nephew acquired her when she was about 1.5" long.

We just ordered a Powersun UV 100W w/ ceramic dome fixture and a CHE for warmth.

I will work on creating a larger enclosure and and outdoor enclosure for warm weather.

side note: what is the format for the signatures? the three digit numbers?

 

[Tom]

Male. Female. Unknown or babies

 

[ALDABRAMAN]

Welcome & Congrats.