New sulcata! New to tortoises! Help!

[Pheelinestiel]

so hi everyone! My name is Phee. I recently came into possession of a sulcata tortoise. I know she's female. Sexing that species is easy. But I have questions. Loads of questions. Hoping someone can help me answer them.

 

[wellington]

Hello and Welcome. Sexing is not easy as you may think. A lot of them will look female until a much more mature age. Also, they may look male, until they are more mature. If you post a pic of her underside, tail area and tell us her age and size someone may be able to confirm the sex.
As ft your questions, ask away, many veteran tort keeps to help you.

 

[Tom]

Hello and welcome. Is your tortoise a full size adult? Care advice will vary with the size of the tortoise and your location in the world.

Hope you like it here, and hope we can help. Let fly all your questions!

 

[Yvonne G]

Hi Phee, and welcome to the Forum!

Unless your new sulcata is one of the bigger ones, you may not be able to tell the gender yet. They almost always look female until the start to get sexually mature.

Go to the Sulcata section and read the "stickies" pinned at the top of the section. Some good reading there for new sulcata keepers.

 

[Momof4]

Welcome Phee!!

 

[Grandpa Turtle 144]

Hello Phee

 

[Speedy-1]

Hi and welcome Phee !

 

[Pheelinestiel]

Hey you guys! Thanks so much for the warm welcome! I'll take a pick of the underside and post it later this evening. I was reading they're grazers but I don't have grass in my backyard yet. I wanted to know if buying hay is ok as her main diet. The carapace is about 5-5.5 inches in length. Also, how often do I have to give her calcium?

 

[ZippyButter]

Welcome to this forum. You can find lot of information by going to sulcata section. I've learnt so much not only about sulcata tortoise but also many other species which many members who have experiences in keeping them and share their knowledge on here. Again, welcome and hope you will stay around.

 

[Paul M Jones]

Welcome

 

[Tom]

Hey you guys! Thanks so much for the warm welcome! I'll take a pick of the underside and post it later this evening. I was reading they're grazers but I don't have grass in my backyard yet. I wanted to know if buying hay is ok as her main diet. The carapace is about 5-5.5 inches in length. Also, how often do I have to give her calcium?

You can't tell their sex at 5". Some of them are hard to tell at twice that size. Most small ones look female until they get a little bigger.

Hay is okay to offer, but they usually won't eat plain dry hay until they are a little bigger. Usually around 12"+. You can finely chop some grass hay and then re-hydrate it with some warm water and mix that in with the day's greens. Here is a list of stuff that is good to feed them:
http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/for-those-who-have-a-young-sulcata.76744/

 

[Emily Vail]

Awesome.

 

[Tori Sparrow]

Welcome to the adventure!

 

[Pheelinestiel]

Proud to say that after some inclement weather the enclosure is finally up. Now all we need is to build a hide-y hole for the lovely tortoise.

 

[m vino]

Hi! I am new to tortoises as well. Just got my Russian tortoise Rocky today. Best of luck to you!

 

[Pheelinestiel]

Nice to meet you! Thanks and good luck too. We love having our tortoise.

 

[ZEROPILOT]

Welcome

 

[Tom]

Proud to say that after some inclement weather the enclosure is finally up. Now all we need is to build a hide-y hole for the lovely tortoise.

Is this enclosure indoors or out? What are the dimensions? Where are you?

 

[popeye tortoise]

Hello and welcome Phee

 

[Cheryl Hills]

Just me but that looks a bit small for a salcata. But let the experts guide you. I have reassigns and boxies. Good luck and welcome.