New to forum

[Maddoggy]

Hello, Im new to the forum although I have been using the forum for valuable information for over a year now.I have to thank everyone who has contributed the time and effort to post solutions to many of the problems members have asked.It has help me immensely.I have had sulcatas for over ten years and have found that there is a lot of disinformation about tortoise keeping .My passion for tortoises is with sulcatas and sulcata color morphs and currently have several. I have used the threads of the forum to guide me through some of the problems associated with tortoise keeping.Thanks again to all the members and hopefully in the future I may be able to contribute.

 

[Thomas tortoise]

Hello, Im new to the forum although I have been using the forum for valuable information for over a year now.I have to thank everyone who has contributed the time and effort to post solutions to many of the problems members have asked.It has help me immensely.I have had sulcatas for over ten years and have found that there is a lot of disinformation about tortoise keeping .My passion for tortoises is with sulcatas and sulcata color morphs and currently have several. I have used the threads of the forum to guide me through some of the problems associated with tortoise keeping.Thanks again to all the members and hopefully in the future I may be able to contribute.

Welcome! We would love to see pictures of your morphs!🐢

 

[Yvonne G]

Welcome!

 

[Avuwyy]

Welcome!
I can see you joined a few months back, but this is your first post on the forum. Hope you are finding all the information you need on the forum! If you ever have any specific questions for the experts here, don’t be afraid to ask
Wishing you well, would love to see your tortoises sometime!!

 

[Maro2Bear]

Welcome!

 

[Karen(pebbles)]

Welcome

 

[Ray--Opo]

Welcome! Pics of the crew would be great!

 

[Maddoggy]

Welcome! Pics of the crew would be great!

Thanks Ray! Im going to work on that.Im what you would call an " old schooler" and im not that tech savvy but am sure its not that difficult. Would love to show off my torts and my enclosures

 

[Maddoggy]

Welcome!
I can see you joined a few months back, but this is your first post on the forum. Hope you are finding all the information you need on the forum! If you ever have any specific questions for the experts here, don’t be afraid to ask
Wishing you well, would love to see your tortoises sometime!!

Welcome! We would love to see pictures of your morphs!🐢

Thanks again for the warm welcome from everyone And will get. Pics out .Im. Kinda new to this chatting and posting.If I have problems. I will be sure to ask

 

[Howie100]

Welcome!

 

[Tom]

Thanks again for the warm welcome from everyone And will get. Pics out .Im. Kinda new to this chatting and posting.If I have problems. I will be sure to ask

Hello and welcome!

 

[Maddoggy]

Thank you Tom the dog trainer. I have used your suggestions offered on this forum for both my indoor and outdoor enclosures. I actually duplicated the four by eight foot heated box. I will working on getting pics out I will include my enclosure.I would like to hear your input before I start the next one.

 

[Maddoggy]

Tom the dog trainer, here are my inside and outside enclosures for my sulcatas. I would like to hear any of your opinions that I might change on the next outside enclosure.

 

[Tom]

Tom the dog trainer, here are my inside and outside enclosures for my sulcatas. I would like to hear any of your opinions that I might change on the next outside enclosure.

Inside:
-It needs to be around 4x8 feet. Yours looks too small.
-Get rid of the ramped water bowl. Those are a flipping and drowning hazard. Many torts won't go near them. Use a terra cotta saucer sunk into the substrate instead.
-All the heating and lighting should be contained inside the enclosure. Having the heat lamp outside creates a chimney effect and draws all your heat and humidity up and out. This is probably why you have the minor pyramiding on some of them.

Outside: I love some of the design features. Seems very well suited to your rainy and humid climate.
- I would use a visual barrier between the enclosures. Torts will often hurt themselves with see-through fencing.
-I normally like night boxes to have lower ceilings. I make mine 24 inches on the outside and that works out to about 21 inches inside. Even a 100 pound sulcata is only about 16 inches tall at rest. No need for 3 or 4 foot high ceilings. You are heating all that extra air and heat rises. In a large night box like yours, I think taller ceiling are a necessity so that you can get in there to clean, but that is one reason I prefer 4x4 or 4x8 foot night boxes, when I can make them work. I just lift the lid to clean.
-Door flaps. These are certainly less necessary in your climate, but they help hold in heat on cool mornings, and keep out heat during hot afternoons. Clear vinyl freezer door flaps is what I use.

 

[Maddoggy]

Inside:
-It needs to be around 4x8 feet. Yours looks too small.
-Get rid of the ramped water bowl. Those are a flipping and drowning hazard. Many torts won't go near them. Use a terra cotta saucer sunk into the substrate instead.
-All the heating and lighting should be contained inside the enclosure. Having the heat lamp outside creates a chimney effect and draws all your heat and humidity up and out. This is probably why you have the minor pyramiding on some of them.

Outside: I love some of the design features. Seems very well suited to your rainy and humid climate.
- I would use a visual barrier between the enclosures. Torts will often hurt themselves with see-through fencing.
-I normally like night boxes to have lower ceilings. I make mine 24 inches on the outside and that works out to about 21 inches inside. Even a 100 pound sulcata is only about 16 inches tall at rest. No need for 3 or 4 foot high ceilings. You are heating all that extra air and heat rises. In a large night box like yours, I think taller ceiling are a necessity so that you can get in there to clean, but that is one reason I prefer 4x4 or 4x8 foot night boxes, when I can make them work. I just lift the lid to clean.
-Door flaps. These are certainly less necessary in your climate, but they help hold in heat on cool mornings, and keep out heat during hot afternoons. Clear vinyl freezer door flaps is what I use.

Thanks Tom for the advice. I couldn't agree with you more about the chimney affect . I will taking your advice when I start my next enclosure. Where could I find freezer door flaps?

 

[Tom]

Where could I find freezer door flaps?

Amazon, It comes in rolls.

 

[Maro2Bear]

Instead of expensive freezer door flaps, I use a few rubber car mats from WalMart, slice some slits in the mat, and mount over the opening using a piece of 1x2“ molding. Once installed, trim the length. Very easy to do. (Cheaper as well).