New sulcata owner

texasqueenbee09

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I’m a new sulcata owner. I believe to be my sulcata is around 1 1/2 months. I have a tortoise table but I also have a tub as well. I use a 100w CHE and a UVB/UVA bulb. Can you point me in the right direction what else I need exactly. I’m so nervous. I keep reading about the pyramiding, and metabolic issues. I want to do every right for my tortoise.
 

TammyJ

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Welcome to the forum and I am sure you will soon get some valuable help from our experts!
 

MenagerieGrl

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A couple of suggestion's, is to get a digital humidity meter & a digital thermostat for the CHE. When they are young, keeping the humidity up is very important. One of the recommended substrates is Fine Orchid bark, I pour about a quart of water on mine to help keep the humidity up every week.
 

MenagerieGrl

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Many folks just use regular incandescent bulbs but they are getting harder and harder to find. One thing to mention, at night, just like us, it is lights out. Let the CHE keep them warm, but they sleep in the dark.
 

MenagerieGrl

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Here's a link to a Sulcata care sheet/post.
 

Tom

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I’m a new sulcata owner. I believe to be my sulcata is around 1 1/2 months. I have a tortoise table but I also have a tub as well. I use a 100w CHE and a UVB/UVA bulb. Can you point me in the right direction what else I need exactly. I’m so nervous. I keep reading about the pyramiding, and metabolic issues. I want to do every right for my tortoise.
Open tables only work for adults of temperate species. Your tortoise needs a large closed chamber. Most of the info you get from pet stores and online is all wrong. Its been wrong for decades and the people saying that stuff don't even know it.

Here is the correct care info if you want your baby to survive and thrive:

Here is the lighting breakdown:
There are four elements to heating and lighting:
  1. Basking bulb. I use 65 watt incandescent floods from the hardware store. Some people will need bigger, or smaller wattage bulbs. Let your thermometer be your guide. I run them on a timer for about 12 hours and adjust the height to get the correct basking temp under them. I also like to use a flat rock of some sort directly under the bulb. You need to check the temp with a thermometer directly under the bulb and get it to around 95-100F (36-37C).
  2. Ambient heat maintenance. I use ceramic heating elements or radiant heat panels set on thermostats to maintain ambient above 80 degrees day and night for tropical species. In most cases you'd only need day heat for a temperate species like Testudo or DT, as long as your house stays above 60F (15-16C) at night. Some people in colder climates or with larger enclosures will need multiple CHEs or RHPs to spread out enough heat.
  3. Ambient light. I use LEDs for this purpose. Something in the 5000-6500K color range will look the best. Most bulbs at the store are in the 2500K range and they look yellowish. Strip or screw-in LED bulb types are both fine.
  4. UV. If you can get your tortoise outside for an hour 2 or 3 times a week, you won't need indoor UV. In colder climates, get one of the newer HO type fluorescent tubes. Which type will depend on mounting height. 5.0 bulbs make almost no UV. I like the 12% HO bulbs from Arcadia. You need a meter to check this: https://www.solarmeter.com/model65.html A good UV bulb only needs to run for 2-3 hours mid day. You need the basking bulb and the ambient lighting to be on at least 12 hours a day.
Questions are welcome. We are all here to talk tortoises. :)
 

Maro2Bear

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Greetings & welcome. For sure you will want to give your young Sully a good long (30-45 minute) soak in nice warm water. Every day until you can no longer lift it. 😀. Yes, as it gets older, you can skip a day here & there. A good fully enclosed enclosure. Nice humid environment, good moist substrate, good diet, good lighting to include plain old-fashioned sunshine 🌞🌞.
 
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