our first tortoise

[poomwah]

I've had reptiles and amphibians for about 30 years now. But Monday evening we brought home our first tortoise. A palm sized sulcata. He is in a 6 foot x 3 foot turtle table right now. When he gets bigger he will have a large outdoor "play" area as well as his own room in the house.
Just wanted to say hello
Seth, Mary Ann, Odessa
And our tortoise Turbo

 

[Cameron]

congrats on your new addition and welcome to the forum!

 

[egyptiandan]

Welcome to the forum

Danny

 

[Josh]

welcome to TFO! congrats on your new sulcata!

 

[poomwah]

Thanks everybody, he is great.
I have had so many kinds of snakes, lizards, frogs, toads, newts, salamanders
And probably things I'm forgetting
But I have NEVER been this excited about any of them
This guy is great

 

[Yvonne G]

Hi Poomwah:

to the forum!!

I think after you've read through the sulcata section you'll be changing your idea of ..."...he'll have his own room in the house."

And instead of a "play" area, you'll make him a permanent outdoor habitat. Its really hard to keep a large sulcata in the house without some pretty bad damage happening to the house.

Read through the posts by folks who are trying to keep a large sulcata happy living in climates where the tortoise can't be outside all the time and you'll see what I'm talking about!

 

[terryo]

Welcome!

 

[DonaTello's-Mom]

Welcome! I have a sully too, their so cool. What did you name him/her?

 

[poomwah]

We named him/her Turbo

 

[DonaTello's-Mom]

Oh I like that name! Sounds strong and masculine..lol

 

[Tom]

Welcome to the forum.

 

[Laura]

Welcome. I have four.. and i cant imagine having one In the house.. whew.. that would be a challenge..
would be cool tho is you could dedicate the entire room and then have a door to the outside in that room... but Im dreaming...
What are you feeding him? I see dry hay.. but at that age, they dont eat it much.. try Spring Mix baby lettuce.. and a cuttle bone to gnaw on.

 

[poomwah]

We have been feeding him hay and egg shells
Well, we have been offering it to him anyway
The pet shop had him eating pellets.
And his room will have a tortoise door and a ramp so in the summer he can go outside into the pen
It will obviously be closed off in the winter, and I know he will be a lot of work, but he's worth it

 

[Kristina]

Eggs shells? Why would you be feeding him egg shells?

If he is not eating, you need to change his diet immediately. Babies go downhill very fast from not eating.

Please get some spring mix and start offering it to him, and stop feeding egg shells.

Kristina

 

[Yvonne G]

I know that you can feed sterilized egg shells to birds for their calcium content, however, I believe that the egg shells have sharp edges, too sharp for baby tortoises. If you want to offer your baby some calcium, either buy a jar of calcium powder to sprinkle on his food, or place a cuttlebone in the habitat. You can buy cuttlebone in the bird section of the pet store.

Babies won't eat hay. I know that you are just doing what your research has told you to do, however the research actually MEANS that you can feed a sulcata hay if other live and growing plants (grasses and weeds ) are not available. Hay is something you fall back on if there isn't anything else to feed. And babies won't eat hay until they're about 3 or 4 years old. Don't worry about hay. If you want a more natural diet, then cut some clean grass and weeds for your baby. Also, there is nothing wrong with feeding him dark, leafy greens from the grocery store. And since he was eating pellets at the pet store, then you can continue to offer him pellets along with the dark, leafy greens. He might not recognize real food after being conditioned to eat pellets. You have to hop right on this, because he'll go downhill quickly if he doesn't eat.

 

[poomwah]

Thanks everyone, I will change his diet first thing in the morning.
The egg shell was something I read about, I think on sulcata-station.
I will change that too
As far as grass, doesn't it have to be a certain kind? I mean, I can't just go grab any old grass out of my yard can I?

 

[Lori J]

How big do these torts get? And welcome. If you have any other questions....just ask. On here they are very knowledable. I have leaned so much on here.

 

[poomwah]

How big do these torts get? And welcome. If you have any other questions....just ask. On here they are very knowledable. I have leaned so much on here.

They get ginormous

I noticed in your sig that you have a toy fox
My boy Louis is a toy fox terrier/rat terrier mix

 

[Lori J]

How big do these torts get? And welcome. If you have any other questions....just ask. On here they are very knowledable. I have leaned so much on here.

They get ginormous

I noticed in your sig that you have a toy fox
My boy Louis is a toy fox terrier/rat terrier mix

great pic. Yeah my Emma is black..with brown and white. Great pic. Thanks for sharing that. My girl has to get injections once a month for Addisons. But she is still spunky and doing well. She loves to hunt for rodents outside in the field next to us.