New African Sulcata 2 years old

[Littleredfootbigredheart]

I’m noticing it says bars not bar so I’m thinking there’s more than that one at the top

 

[MandyV]

There’s definitely no bar at the bottom or in middle of the depth? If it’s just that top bar, I think it’ll work great🙂

Oh I understand I’ll message the seller to make sure first.

 

[MandyV]

I’m noticing it says bars not bar so I’m thinking there’s more than that one at the top

I see that too now

 

[Littleredfootbigredheart]

Yeah I’d drop them a message to check, it might even be the bars are removable or not necessary so perhaps ask that too🙂

 

[Littleredfootbigredheart]

Get yourself some cheap pond liner too because for these there’s no bottom, but the lining will keep anything getting on your floor, have it run up the sides of this too to stop tortoise having direct contact with the metal in the event the lamps warm the sides🙂

 

[MandyV]

Oh ok got it. Where do you get that from?

 

[Littleredfootbigredheart]

I just typed in pvc pond liner on Amazon and a bunch came up, for the size you’re looking at, 2mX2m will do you, and you’ll probably have excess to cut away🙂

Because this is a closed chamber set up I do want to mention, that once it’s all assembled, new materials like the pond liner, covering and such, need time to ‘off gas’, essentially the heat will have the new materials release fumes, they will go away don’t worry, but just let the heat run until you can’t smell any kind of odour in there😊 it could take up to a week or more, or simply until you can’t smell anything, once there’s no smell it’s safe for tortoise use🐢 it’s the same kind of situation when you’re setting up a closed chamber viv for any kind of reptile, the materials they’re made of need time to off gas too. Hope that all makes sense🙂

 

[MandyV]

do you mean set it up with the lights and everything? Or just the liner?

 

[Littleredfootbigredheart]

do you mean set it up with the lights and everything? Or just the liner?

Lights and all😊

 

[Alex and the Redfoot]

That’s the one you need😊you may want to go 39w depending on size of the enclosure, but you should be ok with the 24w tbh, @Alex and the Redfoot what do you reckon?

I would settle on 24W. This is enough for a basking area. I've been reading through the thread - no sure if I can help somehow. Yet if there questions left - please, ask.

 

[Littleredfootbigredheart]

I would settle on 24W. This is enough for a basking area. I've been reading through the thread - no sure if I can help somehow. Yet if there questions left - please, ask.

I’m trying to point them in the right direction for a thermostat, I wasn’t sure on the one they attached, will it work for their ceramics?

 

[Tom]

do you mean set it up with the lights and everything? Or just the liner?

Hello and welcome. You've been bombarded with a lot of info already. I don't want to confuse things, but I have my own way of explaining things.

Everything is here in this one thread. There is a heating and lighting breakdown near the bottom, and there is a link to the sulcata care sheet down there too. I think if you take a few minutes to read through this guide and the care sheet, things will become more clear. Questions are always 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

 

[MandyV]

Hello and welcome. You've been bombarded with a lot of info already. I don't want to confuse things, but I have my own way of explaining things.

Everything is here in this one thread. There is a heating and lighting breakdown near the bottom, and there is a link to the sulcata care sheet down there too. I think if you take a few minutes to read through this guide and the care sheet, things will become more clear. Questions are always 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

Thank youi appreciate all the help. I’m a little embarrassed to admit but I did read that first when I joined before posting but still didn’t completely understand fully. If I’m asking to many questions I am so sorry. I know there is so much information that was listed and very informative and opposite of everything I had researched so I just wanted to make absolute sure if I’m re doing this entire thing it was exactly what she needs. I know I’ve asked
A Lot I appreciate everything and all the help I’ve been given.

 

[MandyV]

Hello and welcome. You've been bombarded with a lot of info already. I don't want to confuse things, but I have my own way of explaining things.

Everything is here in this one thread. There is a heating and lighting breakdown near the bottom, and there is a link to the sulcata care sheet down there too. I think if you take a few minutes to read through this guide and the care sheet, things will become more clear. Questions are always 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

 

[MandyV]

I am very disheartened by the lack of information on the internet. I took this tortoise in as a rescue to avoid the other options with no knowledge. One of the reasons I loved this site when I joined was the comment if you don’t have space if you don’t have the money then you don’t get a tortoise. I’ve been advocating for dogs using those exact words for many years and I have strong feelings about people who put what they want above what the animal actually needs to be healthy and happy. I can’t believe I was so dooped. It’s impossible for new tortoise owners to know the right answers and it breaks my heart because that means how many more are doing exactly what I did. How many did no research and just listened to the breeder or pet store. I have no words this is shocking

 

[Tom]

I am very disheartened by the lack of information on the internet. I took this tortoise in as a rescue to avoid the other options with no knowledge. One of the reasons I loved this site when I joined was the comment if you don’t have space if you don’t have the money then you don’t get a tortoise. I’ve been advocating for dogs using those exact words for many years and I have strong feelings about people who put what they want above what the animal actually needs to be healthy and happy. I can’t believe I was so dooped. It’s impossible for new tortoise owners to know the right answers and it breaks my heart because that means how many more are doing exactly what I did. How many did no research and just listened to the breeder or pet store. I have no words this is shocking

First, don't be sorry for trying to learn how to be an excellent tortoise keeper. That is what all of us here want to do. Your questions are welcome. We are all here to talk tortoises.

Second, no one is born knowing this stuff. When I started in 1979, I got all that wrong info. I went in to the pet profession in 1986 and got more wrong info. Got my first sulcata in 1991, and got lots more wrong info. I tried and tried to make them grow right, followed all of the advice from all of the experts, listened to all of their seemingly reasonable explanations, and failed time and time again. It took a confluence of events and several epiphanies around 2007 for me to just BEGIN to understand what the heck was going on. As I started to figure it out, more and more info kept cascading in, and things began to make much more sense. One of those things was meeting a man named Tomas Diagne. He founded the African Chelonian Institute, and he had been studying sulcatas and other chelonians since he was a child in Senegal. He filled in a lot of knowledge gaps and answered a lot of questions.

The point is: We all have to learn the right stuff somewhere. I had to learn the hard way through many mistakes and much trial and error. Now that this forum exists, people can learn all this stuff the quick and easy way. I wish there was something like this when I was coming up.

 

[Littleredfootbigredheart]

I am very disheartened by the lack of information on the internet. I took this tortoise in as a rescue to avoid the other options with no knowledge. One of the reasons I loved this site when I joined was the comment if you don’t have space if you don’t have the money then you don’t get a tortoise. I’ve been advocating for dogs using those exact words for many years and I have strong feelings about people who put what they want above what the animal actually needs to be healthy and happy. I can’t believe I was so dooped. It’s impossible for new tortoise owners to know the right answers and it breaks my heart because that means how many more are doing exactly what I did. How many did no research and just listened to the breeder or pet store. I have no words this is shocking

It is indeed a harsh reality, one I had no clue was so widespread and common before joining this forum.
I’d done a lot of research both here and elsewhere before making an account, before signing up I struggled deciphering the good information from the bad. I was lucky to be on the right track, but I still had so much to learn from the more experienced members on here. I would have been lost without them.

As a thank you, and lots of studying here, I now spend my spare time paying it forward advising new members where I can, I’m still by no means an expert like a lot of them here, but I took time to get to grips with the basics of care, some of my knowledge goes beyond the basics now which is awesome and all thanks to this place! Stick around long enough, and I promise you can be the same😊

There’s unfortunately never any end to new threads from new owners that have been sold all the wrong equipment and told all the wrong information, many of them have tortoises that already suffer the effects😣we do everything in our power to get them on the right track and improve the tortoises well being❤️it can be heartbreaking at times, but also so rewarding watching peoples progress and seeing the advice pay off🥰
Some of these guys have been advising daily on this forum for over a decade now, I like to think in my own little way I can help lighten the burden by relaying the information they’ve put their heart and soul into perfecting all these years, I can’t always answer every question but I’ll always do my best to help or tag people that can😊

As Tom has said, NEVER apologise for asking questions here! I’d rather you ask the same question 50 times over than guess, I asked no end of questions when first joining, its always a lot to take in at first, but the more information you ask for, the more you have to go back over when you need🙂

 

[Megatron's Mom]

Welcome to the forum. I have a leopard and a sulcata. Your Texas weather and humidity is great for them.
I just moved my sulcata outside in his space not to long ago. I also used a divided green house for him and my leopard tortoise when he was smaller. Now at 10inches he is outside and loving it.

I would recommend to check out PetSmart for the Arcadia UVB light the 24watt is perfect it was the cheapest place I found for it and I was able to just pick it up in store. Once he's a little bigger he will be outside fulltime so you don't need to worry about a huge tortoise fitting under the light.

Instead of pond liner I bout a 2 heavy duty shower curtains and used gorilla tape to tape it all. Here's my set up.

This is when they were both itty bitty. Now it is just BumbleBee in there and he has the full 4x8 to himself. In the picture you can see how I placed the two raised beds next to each other with the green house topper centered.

 

[Littleredfootbigredheart]

Instead of pond liner I bout a 2 heavy duty shower curtains and used gorilla tape to tape it all.

Did your base have a bottom? I’m just thinking, if they plan to use that base with no bottom, that liner taped together might manage leak some moisture onto the floor, I’d personally opt for the cheap pond liner but the shower curtains might work too and is a nice cost effective idea🙂

 

[MandyV]

Welcome to the forum. I have a leopard and a sulcata. Your Texas weather and humidity is great for them.
I just moved my sulcata outside in his space not to long ago. I also used a divided green house for him and my leopard tortoise when he was smaller. Now at 10inches he is outside and loving it.

I would recommend to check out PetSmart for the Arcadia UVB light the 24watt is perfect it was the cheapest place I found for it and I was able to just pick it up in store. Once he's a little bigger he will be outside fulltime so you don't need to worry about a huge tortoise fitting under the light.

Instead of pond liner I bout a 2 heavy duty shower curtains and used gorilla tape to tape it all. Here's my set up.

This is when they were both itty bitty. Now it is just BumbleBee in there and he has the full 4x8 to himself. In the picture you can see how I placed the two raised beds next to each other with the green house topper centered.