My first Tortoise and want to him to be happy

[zeus6626]

Hi guys , I am AJ from India . Its been 2 days since I got a sulcate tortoise about 2.5 inch . As a first time owner I'm very curious about few concerns :

1)How many times shroud I feed my tortoise? I am feeding him thrice( mostly hibiscus leaves and flowers and grass ) , he is eating 50 % of it all times . The breeder has told me he was feeding the babies Mazuri. .

2)He loves to sleep under a basking lamp , I'm just scared if it gets too hot .

3)I am soaking him twice a day , pooped 2 twice I soaked him but didn't see him drink water at all .

4) As I am from India at nights our temperature go down only to 23*C (74F), should I switch on the basking lamp or no ?

I couldn't find the best basking lamp in Indian Amazon , if any Indian owners on the forum , pls help me where I can find the perfect basking lamp.


As it's just been two days , should I give him more time to adjust ? as its a new enclosure or am I worrying too much

 

[TammyJ]

Hello and welcome, AJ from India. Calling on an expert here to advise you...@Tom

 

[TammyJ]

Pictures of your tortoise and his enclosure would be useful!

 

[Tom]

Hi guys , I am AJ from India . Its been 2 days since I got a sulcate tortoise about 2.5 inch . As a first time owner I'm very curious about few concerns :

1)How many times shroud I feed my tortoise? I am feeding him thrice( mostly hibiscus leaves and flowers and grass ) , he is eating 50 % of it all times . The breeder has told me he was feeding the babies Mazuri. .

2)He loves to sleep under a basking lamp , I'm just scared if it gets too hot .

3)I am soaking him twice a day , pooped 2 twice I soaked him but didn't see him drink water at all .

4) As I am from India at nights our temperature go down only to 23*C (74F), should I switch on the basking lamp or no ?

I couldn't find the best basking lamp in Indian Amazon , if any Indian owners on the forum , pls help me where I can find the perfect basking lamp.


As it's just been two days , should I give him more time to adjust ? as its a new enclosure or am I worrying too much

Hello and welcome!

1) Tortoises are grazers and should be able to eat as much of the right foods as they want daily. The foods you are feeding are great, and so is Mazuri. Try to add much more variety.

2) You should check the temperature under your basking lamp and make sure that it cannot get too hot ever. Lay a digital thermometer directly under the bulb and let it cook for an hour or more. Raise or lower the bulb, or use a different wattage bulb, to get the basking temperature right around 36C. After that, if the tortoise is staying under that heat lamp too much of the time, it means that the ambient temperature in the enclosure is too cool. Ambient temperature in the coldest corner of your enclosure should never drop below 26-27C day or night, and it is good if it rises to 30-33C during the heat of the day for a baby sulcata.

3) There is no harm in soaking twice a day, but it isn't necessary as long as your baby has access to drinking water and is kept in a humid closed chamber enclosure. Soaking rehydrates them.

4) The basking lamp needs to remain off at night because they need it dark, but you need a heat source for night at those temperatures. Ceramic heating elements or radiant heat panels serve this function. Either of them should bet set on a thermostat to maintain the whole enclosure at no lower than 26C at night.

Most of the care and housing info you find from most sources is going to be the wrong stuff. These next two threads have the right info. Read through them and make changes if necessary. Questions are welcome!

Info For New People. Please Read This First.

Hello and welcome to tortoiseforum.org! We are all glad you are here! There is no other forum like this anywhere. We have tens of thousands of members from all over the world ranging from kids with their first tortoise to people who have been breeding and keeping high end tortoises since the...

tortoiseforum.org

The Best Way To Raise A Sulcata, Leopard, Or Star Tortoise

I chose the title of this care sheet very carefully. Are there other ways to raise babies? Yes. Yes there are, but those ways are not as good. What follows is the BEST way, according to 30 years of research and experimentation with hundreds of babies of many species. Babies hatch during the...

tortoiseforum.org

 

[_The_Beast_]

Welcome AJ! Tom's covered the care questions so I'll send a question your way: What did you name your little one?

 

[zeus6626]

Hello and welcome!

1) Tortoises are grazers and should be able to eat as much of the right foods as they want daily. The foods you are feeding are great, and so is Mazuri. Try to add much more variety.

2) You should check the temperature under your basking lamp and make sure that it cannot get too hot ever. Lay a digital thermometer directly under the bulb and let it cook for an hour or more. Raise or lower the bulb, or use a different wattage bulb, to get the basking temperature right around 36C. After that, if the tortoise is staying under that heat lamp too much of the time, it means that the ambient temperature in the enclosure is too cool. Ambient temperature in the coldest corner of your enclosure should never drop below 26-27C day or night, and it is good if it rises to 30-33C during the heat of the day for a baby sulcata.

3) There is no harm in soaking twice a day, but it isn't necessary as long as your baby has access to drinking water and is kept in a humid closed chamber enclosure. Soaking rehydrates them.

4) The basking lamp needs to remain off at night because they need it dark, but you need a heat source for night at those temperatures. Ceramic heating elements or radiant heat panels serve this function. Either of them should bet set on a thermostat to maintain the whole enclosure at no lower than 26C at night.

Most of the care and housing info you find from most sources is going to be the wrong stuff. These next two threads have the right info. Read through them and make changes if necessary. Questions are welcome!

Info For New People. Please Read This First.

Hello and welcome to tortoiseforum.org! We are all glad you are here! There is no other forum like this anywhere. We have tens of thousands of members from all over the world ranging from kids with their first tortoise to people who have been breeding and keeping high end tortoises since the...

tortoiseforum.org

The Best Way To Raise A Sulcata, Leopard, Or Star Tortoise

I chose the title of this care sheet very carefully. Are there other ways to raise babies? Yes. Yes there are, but those ways are not as good. What follows is the BEST way, according to 30 years of research and experimentation with hundreds of babies of many species. Babies hatch during the...

tortoiseforum.org

Thank you Tom , the problem is in India the reptile game is not very known , so I’m facing a little problem with the basking lamp .

Amazon.in

This is the one I could find the best .
Pls suggest .

 

[zeus6626]

Welcome AJ! Tom's covered the care questions so I'll send a question your way: What did you name your little one?

Haha , yes he has been a saviour to all of us , like Zues of tortoise keeping . I named him Kong

 

[Alex and the Redfoot]

Thank you Tom , the problem is in India the reptile game is not very known , so I’m facing a little problem with the basking lamp .

Amazon.in

This is the one I could find the best .
Pls suggest .

Hello!
This kind of lamps (traffic lights bulbs) in a dome should work fine: https://www.amazon.in/dp/B000V5WMN2/?tag= (it was the first I've found, you can search for more, make sure voltage match).

This one is questionable (nowhere beam angle is mentioned, but from the shape it looks like a flood lamp). Also, reviews aren't very positive, traffic lights bulbs should be more reliable.
https://www.amazon.in/dp/B0006L2UCE/?tag=

 

[zeus6626]

Hello!
This kind of lamps (traffic lights bulbs) in a dome should work fine: https://www.amazon.in/dp/B000V5WMN2/?tag= (it was the first I've found, you can search for more, make sure voltage match).

This one is questionable (nowhere beam angle is mentioned, but from the shape it looks like a flood lamp). Also, reviews aren't very positive, traffic lights bulbs should be more reliable.
https://www.amazon.in/dp/B0006L2UCE/?tag=

Thank you Alex I will try this .