Hi all. I recently purchased a couple of Sucutas. I was told they were a breeding pair, however, after viewing some online pics, I think I probably have two males. (For the sake of clarification, I will call one a female, as that is what I was told.) Being inexperienced, I probably should have passed on the purchase, but one of them seems to be in bad condition and the owners were not discriminating. I decided to buy them, knowing I would find out how to give them the best care, rather then leave them to whoever.One of them seems very vigorous and healthy; the other does not. "She"(?) moves with difficulty, and I can't tell if her shell is bad from malnourishment, or if she was injured? Her beak is also a bit deformed. She is eating, but I can't tell how much. The previous owners had the male for a year or so, and the female for a few months. They said the pair was breeding.
I have several questions and I will post pics. Some facts first.... I live in Southern California in Riverside County. I have housed the pair in a temporary area that is about 25 x 12. I was given a their house and I bought them a dog igloo, which they seem to like and spend large amounts of time in. I have a heat lamp in the dog house and have set the igloo so that the entrance is also very close to the heat lamp. I will need to buy a thermometer to see how warm it stays. I am feeding them grass hay, Bermuda and Mountain Meadow, and I offer them some Romaine lettuce (a few leaves everyday) and some rose flowers. I also clip some fresh crab grass on occasion. The first week they seemed to go through quite a bit of food, but now that the weather has changed, they don't seem to eat much. The hay seems undisturbed, and the other tidbits are uneaten. They are not very active either, the male comes out a little, but I never see the female come out of the igloo.
Questions:
1) I read that these tortoises do not hibernate. Is it normal for them to be very inactive when the weather turns chilly? What would be a normal amount of activity in the fall/winter?
2) How warm should they be kept at night and what is the best way to accomplish that? I thought they would hibernate and it would be easy to winter them. Having a non-hibernating breed changes things. They really like the igloo, but that's more of a challenge to keep warm. There is no where to hang a heat lamp in there so it is hung in the turtle (dog) house, but they are not interested in staying in their old house. I put hay down on the floor; would anything make it more appealing?
3) For those who live in the So Cal area, what do you feed your tortoise? The sites I have seen seem to have a very limited diet. I don't want to feed them junk like fruit, but I'd like to give more variation then hay and roses. Is there local plants that I can search for and safely feed?
4) What do you think about her shell?
I'm sure I will have more questions later, but that's a good start! Thank you!
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