Juvenile Sulcata Enclosure

[lorena.r]

Hello,
TLDR: looking for very affordable, specific, instructions for juvenile tort enclosure
Torti is 2 yr old ,about 6" diameter. I've read a lot about raising baby sulcatas but I don't understand what aspects of juvenile/adult care are/are not different?
1. Current understanding of juvenile sulcata care that I will continue unless someone has suggestions:
- ambient temp 80F 24/7
- humidity 80%
- bedding: coco coir and repti bark mix
- basking spot 100F
- soak 2/3x week
- feed: (I know I can do better but single-tort-mom-grad-student-on-student-loan-budget plan currently!): kale, chicory endive, raddichio, mazuri pellets, mustard greens, collar greens, chard, turnip greens, beet greens; I rotate the food choices. water always.
- calcium supp: once a week. cuttle bone available 24/7
- UV: goes outside on small patio for 3 hrs a week (will change once winter starts. have a cfl UV bulb in a dome fixture available. I know this sucks and should get a tube--hoping I can budget that in winter)
2. Enclosure: Torti is in a glass 40 gal tank with a CHE, an LED bulb, and flimsy boards on top that are my sad sad makeshift way of trying to keep in heat and humidity.There's no way I can afford a 300$ enclosure from animal plastics. I have one more year until I am a normal working member of society and not living off of student loans lol. For those that suggest that I should have thought about this before buying a sulcata, you're right, but I didn't buy him. My dad purchased him, decided it was too much work and was going to give it away. My pets are my family and I don't believe in getting rid of them unless necessary so here we are making the best of it! Also, I own no tools! You can see my predicament here.
A friend has recently offered to help me build something, so:
*Can Torti safely continue to live indoors in 40gal glass enclosure with a better lid for 1 more year?*
If not, we're willing to make a bigger enclosure. Can you suggest instructions? I tried reviewing @Tom enclosure post but pictures in post are no longer showing! That post has 18 pgs of material to review as well so forgive me if I missed an answer to this on there somewhere. THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR EVEN TRYING TO READ ALL OF THIS.

 

[Tom]

Here is what I see:

• No need to mix substrates and I wouldn't use coir for a sulcata of any age. Too messy. A 3-4 inch thick layer of fine grade orchid bark will work best. This can be bought in bulk in garden centers. Not in hardware stores usually.
• You say you have no money, but then you go buy a bunch of expensive food that isn't all that good fo the tortoise. Learn how and what to scavenge. The free food you find or grow is soooooo much better for your tortoise. Get some scissors and a little tub and go for a walk. I know they have mulberry trees and grape vines in NC. Plus kudzu vine, grass and weeds everywhere I looked when I was there. Hostas, rose of sharon, etc...
• 40 gallons is borderline too small for a brand new hatchling. At 6" your tortoise needs a MINIMUM of 4x8'. It cannot stay in that little tank any longer. They need roam to room, in their safe enclosure (NOT on the floor), for their health. Cooping a tortoise up in small quarters is really bad for them. Buy it or build it. The tortoise needs what it needs. It doesn't know or care about your financial situation. Use an old horse trough. Build a big box out of old scrap plywood and 2x4. Figure something out.
• Turn off the cfl. Its not doing anything, and it could damage your tortoises eyes. You are getting enough UV outside, and if you want more UV indoor, a cfl won't do it. You'll need a tube of one type or another.

 

[lorena.r]

Here is what I see:

• No need to mix substrates and I wouldn't use coir for a sulcata of any age. Too messy. A 3-4 inch thick layer of fine grade orchid bark will work best. This can be bought in bulk in garden centers. Not in hardware stores usually.
• You say you have no money, but then you go buy a bunch of expensive food that isn't all that good fo the tortoise. Learn how and what to scavenge. The free food you find or grow is soooooo much better for your tortoise. Get some scissors and a little tub and go for a walk. I know they have mulberry trees and grape vines in NC. Plus kudzu vine, grass and weeds everywhere I looked when I was there. Hostas, rose of sharon, etc...
• 40 gallons is borderline too small for a brand new hatchling. At 6" your tortoise needs a MINIMUM of 4x8'. It cannot stay in that little tank any longer. They need roam to room, in their safe enclosure (NOT on the floor), for their health. Cooping a tortoise up in small quarters is really bad for them. Buy it or build it. The tortoise needs what it needs. It doesn't know or care about your financial situation. Use an old horse trough. Build a big box out of old scrap plywood and 2x4. Figure something out.
• Turn off the cfl. Its not doing anything, and it could damage your tortoises eyes. You are getting enough UV outside, and if you want more UV indoor, a cfl won't do it. You'll need a tube of one type or another.

- great. I'll get orchid bark only. You're right coir is super messy. I started using it since it was listed first on your substrate post. I know it was posted in 2013 though. It's hard to find the lastest recs!
- I understand your point, however at most 6$ a week is manageable. Could this be cheaper if I grew or snipped them from somewhere for free? Absolutely. For someone who is naive to vegetation, how does one search for mulberry, grape vines, mallow, kudzu, hostas, milk thistle, pansies, hibiscus if I don't know what they look like besides what I can google? I'm afraid to find a plant on the sidewalk and only use a google pic to identify it and then poison my tort by giving it an erroneous weed. How do I know there wasn't a toxic chemical sprayed onto what I find outside? I'd love to be more self sufficient but instructing me to go outside and properly identify plants I've never heard of is ambitious. Do you have any particular resource that you recommend for learning about how to "go for a walk" and accurately identify the 5 plants you mentioned?
- I just googled what a horse trough is, thank you for that one recommendation for my enclosure question. Thank you for answering that the size is too small. I will try to build something. I'm hoping to find instructions for an enclosure instead of doing it myself since I clearly don't know what I'm doing. I don't even know where to find "old scrap plywood" but I'll ask a hardware store. Yes, I agree I need to figure something out, this is why I am here!
- I am not using the cfl. I said it was available for the winter when Torti will be inside. I will search for a tube for that season thank you.
Thank you for your time! I'll try to learn about plants and try to build a box.

 

[Tom]

- great. I'll get orchid bark only. You're right coir is super messy. I started using it since it was listed first on your substrate post. I know it was posted in 2013 though. It's hard to find the lastest recs!
- I understand your point, however at most 6$ a week is manageable. Could this be cheaper if I grew or snipped them from somewhere for free? Absolutely. For someone who is naive to vegetation, how does one search for mulberry, grape vines, mallow, kudzu, hostas, milk thistle, pansies, hibiscus if I don't know what they look like besides what I can google? I'm afraid to find a plant on the sidewalk and only use a google pic to identify it and then poison my tort by giving it an erroneous weed. How do I know there wasn't a toxic chemical sprayed onto what I find outside? I'd love to be more self sufficient but instructing me to go outside and properly identify plants I've never heard of is ambitious. Do you have any particular resource that you recommend for learning about how to "go for a walk" and accurately identify the 5 plants you mentioned?
- I just googled what a horse trough is, thank you for that one recommendation for my enclosure question. Thank you for answering that the size is too small. I will try to build something. I'm hoping to find instructions for an enclosure instead of doing it myself since I clearly don't know what I'm doing. I don't even know where to find "old scrap plywood" but I'll ask a hardware store. Yes, I agree I need to figure something out, this is why I am here!
- I am not using the cfl. I said it was available for the winter when Torti will be inside. I will search for a tube for that season thank you.
Thank you for your time! I'll try to learn about plants and try to build a box.

Learning to ID plants from internet pics is a great start. There are plant ID apps that can help too, but those keep changing and I can't keep up. Hopefully someone reading will give you a link or two. I've had great success going to the local plant nursery and figuring out who the local plant nerd is. There is always at least one person there that seems to know everything about every plant in existence. Find that person or persons, and take them samples of what you find. They will help yo learn to ID all your local plants and weeds. They might even have some in stock to show you as examples.

 

[Miscally]

The tortoise table app has pictures to help with identification and notes commonly confused plants too. It's UK based but should be helpful.

 

[Toddrickfl1]

There are two apps one called "Picture this" and another called "Plant snap" you just take a picture of the plant and the app identifies it for you. It's usually pretty accurate. If your not 100% sure just don't feed it.