new to sulcata raising

[mischelle_99]

I went to the petco to get the cypress but they only had one bag. I bought it and also Eco Earth coconut fiber stuff. I have them both mixed... is that okay?? I have stopped using the under tank heater, have been soaking him once a day, and feeding him spring mix, and have bought lots of different seeds to plant. I also bought a prickly pear cactus (my son decided to touch it to see if it was real... lol... he learned real quick). I am working on the sig other now to start getting the stuff to build his table. If anyone has any ideas, pics, or input to make his table better, please share. Should I be looking into making an outdoors table instead of an indoor one so that he will get natural sunlight? Anything else I need to do right away?

 

[tortoisenerd]

Yes it is ok to mix them. You can observe and see what you think will be best for you and your tort as far as substrate. Some like larger or smaller particles, etc. Great to hear you took away the under tank heater. Is the cactus organic? If not, you may want to wait 6 months for the pesticides to leech out of it. Are you doing the daily soakings now in addition to water in the enclosure?

What are your outdoor temperatures, high and low, in different seasons? An outdoor enclosure is always better than indoors. You just need to make sure you bury the fencing, cover it if needed due to predators (wire it in), etc. You can always build an indoor tort table and then plan to take the tort outside for supervised sun when you can. Most people like to wait until their hatchling is a little bigger until they leave it out full time.

You will need an outdoor enclosure anyways when he gets huge.

How about you describe more about what you plan to do for the table (dimensions including wall height), type of wood, liner, substrate, etc. Then we may be able to offer tips. For me, I built my table from wood they cut for me at Home Depot. When we got home, we only had to nail it together (using tapped down nails that were covered with puddy so it looks nice). We put in brackets for structural support. It's rectangular. I went with a pretty tall wall height so I could provide a lot of substrate for my little guy and I don't have to worry about him climbing on top of a cage furnishing and getting out. It's even tall enough I can put in a second story for part of it and have a ramp. My little one is a smaller breed though (russian). So, the enclosure I built for him will be good for awhile. I may need to build a bigger one down the road, or not. He's almost 3 inches long now and may get to 5-6, or more. If he gets bigger than 5 I'd probably build another enclosure, or if he's smaller just doing the second story will be enough.

One thing with Sulcata tables is you want to try and do something which you can re-use the wood to make it larger down the road. The enclosure needs to grow with them as they age. You can't just build it extra big and keep it for years and years, because as he gets bigger the space will seem even smaller. You can even build a table and block half of it off or similar so the space can grow as well.

I used shower pan liner. It's a very thick plastic that I stapled with a staple gun to the wood. I put it on the bottom and up the sides. This way, even a moist substrate would not leak through. I also sealed the wood with a polyeurethane water based sealant. If you seal it (recommended), you need to let it de-fume. Preferably for a week or a few days after you can't smell it anymore. Pond liner is another great idea. Some people use a heavy duty shower curtain, but the thicker the better.

How much space do you have indoors? Sometimes you want to design the table to use the space in the best way possible. For me, this was building a long rectangular enclosure up against a wall. You don't want it near an outside wall or window as it will be cooler. You need it up off the ground as well. I have a cabinet (dining room buffet) that works awesome to store tort accessories and put the enclosure on. We built the enclosure custom to the cabinet size. Some people also put legs on the table, and even casters to roll it around. Depending on the substrate it will be VERY heavy, so you need to plan accordingly for the structure.

Another thing to think about is what you will do in an emergency such as if you need to evacuate. You probably want to set up a Rubbermaid tub to put the tort in that can be a home away from home. You likely can't take a big tort table with you even if you could get it out of the house. I use the same tub for taking him to the vet and outside to get sun. As he gets bigger this won't be much of an option for you though!

Let me know if you have more specific questions. Tee enclosure section of this board is also a great resource to browse for pictures, plans, and other people's discussions. I found browsing all the old posts more helpful than trying to do a forum search. Best wishes.

 

[Laura]

Also, be very careful when allowing such a small tort to wander in a yard. Even if you are nearby, a bird could fly down and take off with it. Crows, ravens, magpies, hawks.. all might be inclined to do so. just fyi...