KDFJones
New Member
Hey Guys,
My husband & son brought home two torts last summer (not knowing any better) from a local park/pond area near our home. One a native Georgia Box Turtle but the other a small Sulcata (4”). They figured the Sulcata was a “freed pet” because of how different it looked from the other native torts they’d seen in our suburb of Atlanta. Intially we kept them outside in our backyard in a wired dog pen with simple backyard grass as their surface, water and food dishes, basking area, shaded area & a hide.
When the colder fall weather hit we brought them both indoors and set up a large “deck box” - the type typically used for storing outdoor furniture cushions. We bought organic soil to use as substate as it seemed easiest & cheapest. After reading from this site, we installed all the above from the pen as well as thermomethers, hydrometers & a humidifier placed directly inside the enclosure. My husband created a heating & lighting fixture by attaching a multi-socket cord to a long piece of plywood which he placed from end to end of the deck box. The enclosure reaches 72 degrees on the cool side and 82 degrees on the other end. The top of the bin is without a covering because we can’t figure out how to have both the heat & lights and a plexiglass cover.
My son mists the entire tank several times a day with a water bottle and we mix in about 2 gallons of water into the soil weekly to keep the soil from being too dry but its still always dry inside & we have found that dirt ends up EVERYWHERE in my 11 year old son’s room. This is a HUGE problem for many reasons, the primary one being that my son is allergic to mold in soil and is asthmatic. He hasn’t slept in the room in over two months now becuase no matter how much we clean or wet that dirt, it still leaves a fine layer of black dust on everything! We even put two air filters in the room but it didnt help.
We are VERY low-income but have managed to buy what the torts need. Lights, ceramic heat lamps, fresh food daily, etc howevver substate may end up putting an end to our care of these torts since we have no other area of our home to house the torts in the cooler weather and no idea what other substrate we could use that would be as cost effective as the organic soil. Even with adding coconut coir on top I am afraid it wont do much to control the dust. Is it possible to use just the coir? How often would that then need changing? It isnt nearly as cost efficient even when purchasing bricks, especially if it needs changing more often than the soil. Any ideas or suggestions? We are getting ready to put them back outside in a better (& opaque) enclosure now that we know better...but come next fall what do we do? The Sulcata has grown to about 7” over the winter but how/when would we be able to house him outdoors in GA winter weather (it can get to 20 degrees F in winter here). Also, since we now know that it isnt best to mix species...we are considering bringing the Georgia Box Turtle back to where they found him but aren’t sure if it is ok to do that now that he has been captive for nearly a year. Please help! Thanks! PS - This website is an awesome resource!
My husband & son brought home two torts last summer (not knowing any better) from a local park/pond area near our home. One a native Georgia Box Turtle but the other a small Sulcata (4”). They figured the Sulcata was a “freed pet” because of how different it looked from the other native torts they’d seen in our suburb of Atlanta. Intially we kept them outside in our backyard in a wired dog pen with simple backyard grass as their surface, water and food dishes, basking area, shaded area & a hide.
When the colder fall weather hit we brought them both indoors and set up a large “deck box” - the type typically used for storing outdoor furniture cushions. We bought organic soil to use as substate as it seemed easiest & cheapest. After reading from this site, we installed all the above from the pen as well as thermomethers, hydrometers & a humidifier placed directly inside the enclosure. My husband created a heating & lighting fixture by attaching a multi-socket cord to a long piece of plywood which he placed from end to end of the deck box. The enclosure reaches 72 degrees on the cool side and 82 degrees on the other end. The top of the bin is without a covering because we can’t figure out how to have both the heat & lights and a plexiglass cover.
My son mists the entire tank several times a day with a water bottle and we mix in about 2 gallons of water into the soil weekly to keep the soil from being too dry but its still always dry inside & we have found that dirt ends up EVERYWHERE in my 11 year old son’s room. This is a HUGE problem for many reasons, the primary one being that my son is allergic to mold in soil and is asthmatic. He hasn’t slept in the room in over two months now becuase no matter how much we clean or wet that dirt, it still leaves a fine layer of black dust on everything! We even put two air filters in the room but it didnt help.
We are VERY low-income but have managed to buy what the torts need. Lights, ceramic heat lamps, fresh food daily, etc howevver substate may end up putting an end to our care of these torts since we have no other area of our home to house the torts in the cooler weather and no idea what other substrate we could use that would be as cost effective as the organic soil. Even with adding coconut coir on top I am afraid it wont do much to control the dust. Is it possible to use just the coir? How often would that then need changing? It isnt nearly as cost efficient even when purchasing bricks, especially if it needs changing more often than the soil. Any ideas or suggestions? We are getting ready to put them back outside in a better (& opaque) enclosure now that we know better...but come next fall what do we do? The Sulcata has grown to about 7” over the winter but how/when would we be able to house him outdoors in GA winter weather (it can get to 20 degrees F in winter here). Also, since we now know that it isnt best to mix species...we are considering bringing the Georgia Box Turtle back to where they found him but aren’t sure if it is ok to do that now that he has been captive for nearly a year. Please help! Thanks! PS - This website is an awesome resource!
