New Enclosure

[dtyner5649]

Just wanted you’re opinion on two of our new enclosures we just adopted Thomas the sulcata he is about 90 pounds and we think he loves his new home are we missing anything or do we need to change anything. In the second enclosure we have our juveniles. We have 2 red foots (Cecile and Zippy), a Russian named Big Bertha, a sulcata named Betty White and an enlongated named Squirt. We are trying to make their habitat as natural as possible and that is why I am asking if anything should be changed or added. Thank You Denise

 

[ZEROPILOT]

Hello and welcome
What you have is very good looking. However, from my limited knowledge about Sulcata, I think a large adult would plow down that enclosure like a 200 pound man brushing aside some spider webs.
Let's ask these members
@Tom @maggie3fan

 

[Ddflinn]

Nice ! Lucky tort. How will you keep the water from flooding the burrow??

 

[dtyner5649]

Hello and welcome
What you have is very good looking. However, from my limited knowledge about Sulcata, I think a large adult would plow down that enclosure like a 200 pound man brushing aside some spider webs.
Let's ask these members
@Tom @maggie3fan

LOL I hope not. We buried the telephone poles 6' down and chain link fence. We adopted him and from what we heard he was not taken care of properly growing up. We were told he was hurt by dogs (his shell is a little deformed) and fed dog food for I don't know how many years so one of his back legs is shorter than the other. He doesn't move to fast, comes out to eat when he is ready, walks around a little bit and he is back in his den. We have only had him about a month and so far we don't see any signs of him wanting to get out of his enclosure - Fingers crossed he never does!

 

[dtyner5649]

Nice ! Lucky tort. How will you keep the water from flooding the burrow??

We have a lot of sand to put around his burrow if needed and we have sand bags ready to go. His enclosure is kind of on a up-hill which you can't really see in the photo's and if we get a bad storm or hurricane we will bring him inside with us that's why we have kids so they can do all the lifting LOL thank you for asking and replying!

 

[TechnoCheese]

Are all of the juveniles of different species sharing one enclosure? Do any of them have indoor enclosures, or are they outside 24/7?

 

[dtyner5649]

Are all of the juveniles of different species sharing one enclosure? Do any of them have indoor enclosures, or are they outside 24/7?

All the juveniles share one enclosure. There is one big indoor enclosure with heat lamps and then we have about 4 or 5 other enclosures that they can go into if they want. Our one little red foot (Zippy) has his favorite enclosure picked out, Big Bertha our Russian has an outside area that she burrows in, Betty White our Sulcata also has a burrowing area inside the big enclosure, the enlongated love to burrow underneath the grass bush we have in there and our other red foot, Cecile has his hut inside the big enclosure. We have 3 or 4 separate huts inside the big enclosure as well if they want to warm up. They go in and out as they want.

 

[Maro2Bear]

Nice. Lots of effort into those enclosures. I’m not sure about the purpose of the lights & heating elements above Thomas’ underground burrow .

That looks like chain-linked fence which he will most certainly pace back and forth along the edge. Id put a 2x12” barrier along the entire perimeter (on the inside). Nothing drastic, just easily fasten to the chsin link fence. It will act as a sight barrier and also keep Thomas’ shell from constant rubbing. Id lay a few logs, boulders (obstacles) every so often along the edges to break up the borders. You might have some of this already in place.

Nice looking cactus in the juveniles pen. Is that real?

Good luck.

 

[Tom]

Just wanted you’re opinion on two of our new enclosures we just adopted Thomas the sulcata he is about 90 pounds and we think he loves his new home are we missing anything or do we need to change anything. In the second enclosure we have our juveniles. We have 2 red foots (Cecile and Zippy), a Russian named Big Bertha, a sulcata named Betty White and an enlongated named Squirt. We are trying to make their habitat as natural as possible and that is why I am asking if anything should be changed or added. Thank You Denise

As Mark pointed out, you need a visual barrier along the chain link. Sulcatas can push right through chain link, and/or hurt themselves trying.

Species should never be mixed. The species you have there have different housing and feeding requirements, different temperature requirements, come from different continents, and are very different behaviorally. You need to immediately separate them and move each species into its own enclosure with no contact with the others. You'll also need to separate any that are in pairs or add additional tortoise of similar size of the same species.

Disease transmission is likely and one species can't handle the "bugs" of other species from other parts of the world.

Elongata typically need to be housed individually.

Further, little ones don't do well outside full time, regardless of the climate. They do much better when kept mostly indoor, with limited sunning time in the great outdoors. My general rule of thumb is an hour of sunshine per inch of tortoise, and I let them stay out most of the day, weather permitting, once they reach 5-6 inches, or 4 inches in the case of the Russian.

Here is the care info for the sulcata:

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

Here is the care info for the Russian:

The Best Way To Raise Any Temperate Species Of Tortoise

I chose the title of this care sheet very carefully. Are there other ways to raise babies and care for adults? 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. What is...

tortoiseforum.org

And this care info will work for the redfoots and eleongata, but they need to be separated:

Redfoot Tortoise Care Sheet

NOTE: I do not keep redfoots, and I only have one tortoise in total. With this in mind, remember that I am in no way an expert, and this should not be used as cold hard proof of how to raise a redfoot. I used information from great keepers on this forum to put everything together. This care...

tortoiseforum.org

I realize this is not what you want to hear and you'll be bummed, but imagine how bad you'll feel when you find one or more of these wonderful tortoises dead from the wrong temperatures, wrong diet, or disease. If the people who sold you all these animals knew what you were doing with them, they are either ignorant, or they care more about the money than the welfare of the animals they are selling. So sad either way. I hope we can help you.

 

[dtyner5649]

Hi yes it was a lot of work but we wanted to make sure they are comfortable and as close to their natural environment as we could. Thank you so much for the suggestions for Thomas’ enclosure. We will definitely put up a border for him he doesn’t need anymore shell damage that’s for sure! We do have some logs in there and his favorite rock which came with him.

The cactus in the juvenile enclosure is real it is prickly pear and we will put in the ground when it roots

Thank you so much for your advice

 

[ZEROPILOT]

Are all of the juveniles of different species sharing one enclosure? Do any of them have indoor enclosures, or are they outside 24/7?

Somehow, I missed that part

 

[Oxalis]

I have a similar shade that I'll be putting up in my tortoise garden this spring. I'm super excited to try it out! It looks great in your garden!

 

[dtyner5649]

As Mark pointed out, you need a visual barrier along the chain link. Sulcatas can push right through chain link, and/or hurt themselves trying.

Species should never be mixed. The species you have there have different housing and feeding requirements, different temperature requirements, come from different continents, and are very different behaviorally. You need to immediately separate them and move each species into its own enclosure with no contact with the others. You'll also need to separate any that are in pairs or add additional tortoise of similar size of the same species.

Disease transmission is likely and one species can't handle the "bugs" of other species from other parts of the world.

Elongata typically need to be housed individually.

Further, little ones don't do well outside full time, regardless of the climate. They do much better when kept mostly indoor, with limited sunning time in the great outdoors. My general rule of thumb is an hour of sunshine per inch of tortoise, and I let them stay out most of the day, weather permitting, once they reach 5-6 inches, or 4 inches in the case of the Russian.

Here is the care info for the sulcata:

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

Here is the care info for the Russian:

The Best Way To Raise Any Temperate Species Of Tortoise

I chose the title of this care sheet very carefully. Are there other ways to raise babies and care for adults? 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. What is...

tortoiseforum.org

And this care info will work for the redfoots and eleongata, but they need to be separated:

Redfoot Tortoise Care Sheet

NOTE: I do not keep redfoots, and I only have one tortoise in total. With this in mind, remember that I am in no way an expert, and this should not be used as cold hard proof of how to raise a redfoot. I used information from great keepers on this forum to put everything together. This care...

tortoiseforum.org

I realize this is not what you want to hear and you'll be bummed, but imagine how bad you'll feel when you find one or more of these wonderful tortoises dead from the wrong temperatures, wrong diet, or disease. If the people who sold you all these animals knew what you were doing with them, they are either ignorant, or they care more about the money than the welfare of the animals they are selling. So sad either way. I hope we can help you.

Yes it’s a huge bummer but I’m so happy to know this we will separate them we had no idea thank you for the information

Our 2 red foots are almost a year old and have been together since we got them do they need to come inside and be separate?

Oh my gosh I feel so bad we did our research guess it it wasn’t the correct research we made the enclosure with different areas dry/moist thinking they would go to the areas they like which a few of them do but I didn’t think about the food I thought basically they can all eat the greens I just had to watch the fruit with the sulcata and Russian we will figure something out and separate just very sad but thank you again for the information

 

[dtyner5649]

I have a similar shade that I'll be putting up in my tortoise garden this spring. I'm super excited to try it out! It looks great in your garden!

Thank you we love them and hopefully the tortoises do to 😁

 

[Tom]

Yes it’s a huge bummer but I’m so happy to know this we will separate them we had no idea thank you for the information

Our 2 red foots are almost a year old and have been together since we got them do they need to come inside and be separate?

Oh my gosh I feel so bad we did our research guess it it wasn’t the correct research we made the enclosure with different areas dry/moist thinking they would go to the areas they like which a few of them do but I didn’t think about the food I thought basically they can all eat the greens I just had to watch the fruit with the sulcata and Russian we will figure something out and separate just very sad but thank you again for the information

Red foots usually get along, especially as juveniles, but tortoises should never be kept in pairs. Trios or small groups of juveniles usually work out well, but not pairs.

The RFs and elongata also need some protein which the other shouldn't be getting, in addition to the fruits.

I've done side-by-side experiments with clutch mates of multiple species with the only variable being outside most of each day, or inside. The inside groups grew 3 times faster on the exact same food, and the outside groups all pyramided inspite of heavy cover, lots of shade, warm temps, damp ground for humidity, daily soaks for both groups and sleeping overnight in the same enclosure. Its astounding. Each time I was surprised at what a difference it made. Several members here on the forum from FL have moved babies back inside and been shocked at the difference. Adults and juveniles do best outside in large planted enclosures, but babies universally fare better when kept inside most of the time until they get bigger.

Please don't feel bad. Almost all of the tortoise care info from almost all sources is wrong and bad. Been this way for decades and we are trying to overcome it, but its a slow road. One person at a time. Its not your fault that you got the wrong info. Almost everyone does. I sure did years ago.

Onward and upward. I'm happy we could help.

 

[dtyner5649]

Red foots usually get along, especially as juveniles, but tortoises should never be kept in pairs. Trios or small groups of juveniles usually work out well, but not pairs.

The RFs and elongata also need some protein which the other shouldn't be getting, in addition to the fruits.

I've done side-by-side experiments with clutch mates of multiple species with the only variable being outside most of each day, or inside. The inside groups grew 3 times faster on the exact same food, and the outside groups all pyramided inspite of heavy cover, lots of shade, warm temps, damp ground for humidity, daily soaks for both groups and sleeping overnight in the same enclosure. Its astounding. Each time I was surprised at what a difference it made. Several members here on the forum from FL have moved babies back inside and been shocked at the difference. Adults and juveniles do best outside in large planted enclosures, but babies universally fare better when kept inside most of the time until they get bigger.

Please don't feel bad. Almost all of the tortoise care info from almost all sources is wrong and bad. Been this way for decades and we are trying to overcome it, but its a slow road. One person at a time. Its not your fault that you got the wrong info. Almost everyone does. I sure did years ago.

Onward and upward. I'm happy we could help.

Thank you 😊

 

[Yvonne G]

Hi and welcome!