LOOKING FOR A GOOD SULCATA BREEDER!!

Ashleyrod1

New Member
Joined
Mar 25, 2020
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3
Location (City and/or State)
Woodbridge nj
Hello I am looking into getting a sulcata tortoise I recently had one from a reptile show and it unfortunately passed away. I am looking for a good breeder or site to purchase one from any help or idea would be great!
So far I have looked into tortoise town
And Arizona tortoise compound
Also I would like to know who carol s is because I have heard great things about her on the forums
 

Tom

The Dog Trainer
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63,264
Location (City and/or State)
Southern California
Hello I am looking into getting a sulcata tortoise I recently had one from a reptile show and it unfortunately passed away. I am looking for a good breeder or site to purchase one from any help or idea would be great!
So far I have looked into tortoise town
And Arizona tortoise compound
Also I would like to know who carol s is because I have heard great things about her on the forums
I would never buy from TT. They have terrible reviews everywhere. I don't agree with the way ATC starts and houses their babies and I wouldn't buy one from them. Andy is a nice guy, and runs a respectable, trustworthy business, but we have a different opinion of how to start and raise babies. Carol is a fantastic person and tortoise breeder, but she only does Russian tortoises. If you want a Russian, which would be MUCH easier to manage as an adult in your NJ winters, Carol is at the top of my list. Since you are starting fresh, I would suggest that a Sulcata will be very difficult to house and maintain as an adult in your climate. Have you considered other species? I love the Sulcatas and they have fantastic personalities, but they get HUGE, destructive, eat a lot, and require a lot of heated space. It can be done in the frozen north, but it won't be cheap or easy.

If you still want a Sulcata, you want a baby that is started mostly indoors in a warm humid enclosure with daily soaks. This is what they hatch into at the start of the hot wet rainy monsoon season in Africa., and these are the conditions that help them thrive. You also want a baby that has been introduced to a VERY wide variety of different foods in their first few days and week. Lots of different tender young grasses, weeds, leaves, flowers and succulents. Few breeders do it this way, and you've already seen the typical result, when its done the usual/old/dry way. Read this thread to see how I think it should be done, and use this info to question whatever breeder you contact: https://tortoiseforum.org/threads/how-to-incubate-eggs-and-start-hatchlings.124266/

If you haven't seen this thread, it explains what goes wrong when babies are subjected to the usual dry treatment: https://tortoiseforum.org/threads/hatchling-failure-syndrome.23493/

For review, here is the care info for Sulcatas:

Following the info given in these threads and buying from the right breeder will ensure you don't have a repeat of the past. To answer your question of who to buy from, I know of four breeders that start babies the right way ad have a good track record of success. Me, @Markw84 @Arizona Sulcata and @Lancecham

If anyone reading knows of other Sulcata breeders that start babies indoors with humidity and daily soaks, please add them to this thread, and notify me with an @ before my user name. I don't want to exclude anyone.
 

ZenHerper

Well-Known Member
Joined
Feb 27, 2020
Messages
2,078
Location (City and/or State)
New Jersey
Hello I am looking into getting a sulcata tortoise I recently had one from a reptile show and it unfortunately passed away. I am looking for a good breeder or site to purchase one from any help or idea would be great!
So far I have looked into tortoise town
And Arizona tortoise compound
Also I would like to know who carol s is because I have heard great things about her on the forums

Yo, Woodbridge!

What @Tom said.

 

Ashleyrod1

New Member
Joined
Mar 25, 2020
Messages
3
Location (City and/or State)
Woodbridge nj
I would never buy from TT. They have terrible reviews everywhere. I don't agree with the way ATC starts and houses their babies and I wouldn't buy one from them. Andy is a nice guy, and runs a respectable, trustworthy business, but we have a different opinion of how to start and raise babies. Carol is a fantastic person and tortoise breeder, but she only does Russian tortoises. If you want a Russian, which would be MUCH easier to manage as an adult in your NJ winters, Carol is at the top of my list. Since you are starting fresh, I would suggest that a Sulcata will be very difficult to house and maintain as an adult in your climate. Have you considered other species? I love the Sulcatas and they have fantastic personalities, but they get HUGE, destructive, eat a lot, and require a lot of heated space. It can be done in the frozen north, but it won't be cheap or easy.

If you still want a Sulcata, you want a baby that is started mostly indoors in a warm humid enclosure with daily soaks. This is what they hatch into at the start of the hot wet rainy monsoon season in Africa., and these are the conditions that help them thrive. You also want a baby that has been introduced to a VERY wide variety of different foods in their first few days and week. Lots of different tender young grasses, weeds, leaves, flowers and succulents. Few breeders do it this way, and you've already seen the typical result, when its done the usual/old/dry way. Read this thread to see how I think it should be done, and use this info to question whatever breeder you contact: https://tortoiseforum.org/threads/how-to-incubate-eggs-and-start-hatchlings.124266/

If you haven't seen this thread, it explains what goes wrong when babies are subjected to the usual dry treatment: https://tortoiseforum.org/threads/hatchling-failure-syndrome.23493/

For review, here is the care info for Sulcatas:

Following the info given in these threads and buying from the right breeder will ensure you don't have a repeat of the past. To answer your question of who to buy from, I know of four breeders that start babies the right way ad have a good track record of success. Me, @Markw84 @Arizona Sulcata and @Lancecham

If anyone reading knows of other Sulcata breeders that start babies indoors with humidity and daily soaks, please add them to this thread, and notify me with an @ before my user name. I don't want to exclude anyone.


Thank you so much for all the info Tom. I am really interested in a sulcata I had one growing up and unfortunately it was given away. Now as an adult I would like to add one to the family. both me and my husband totally understand about the cold weather and sulcata torts we are actually planning on moving to Florida in 1yr &1/2 -2 years so he will have plenty of outside and warm weather.
 

Tom

The Dog Trainer
10 Year Member!
Platinum Tortoise Club
Joined
Jan 9, 2010
Messages
63,264
Location (City and/or State)
Southern California
Thank you so much for all the info Tom. I am really interested in a sulcata I had one growing up and unfortunately it was given away. Now as an adult I would like to add one to the family. both me and my husband totally understand about the cold weather and sulcata torts we are actually planning on moving to Florida in 1yr &1/2 -2 years so he will have plenty of outside and warm weather.
Awesome! I'd be happy to send you a baby if you don't mind waiting a month or so. Mine are due to hatch in about a week. I'd buy from any of the other three sellers I linked if you want one now.
 

Peggy Sue

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5 Year Member
Joined
Nov 22, 2017
Messages
310
Location (City and/or State)
Grants Pass Oregon
I highly recommend if you don’t get one from Tom of course is @Lancecham! That is where we got our tortoise ? he is super healthy and growing like crazy and will be 2 next month weighs 7.5lbs. We could not be happier
 

Toddrickfl1

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Tortoise Club
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Ga
What Tom said, and avoid Tortoise town like you'd avoid someone with Coronavirus.
 

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