Please Help! Why is my sully diging a hole?

[Tom]

A question for you Tom. How is the man made borrow working for you? What was the cost of the build?

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It is my favorite and best enclosure. The results it produces as far as carapace growth and electricity savings are phenomenal. I'm mentally working out the details of doing it much larger for adults.

Don't know the exact cost. 3 sheets of plywood. 7 2x4s. Heating elements, electrical stuff, primer and paint, screws. Probably about $200 total. But man it is fantastic. they are cool in the simmer, warm in the winter, and growing smooth all year long. Makes caring for them so easy.

 

[sibi]

Tom, is that the burrow you made for Dasiy?

A question for you Tom. How is the man made borrow working for you? What was the cost of the build?

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It is my favorite and best enclosure. The results it produces as far as carapace growth and electricity savings are phenomenal. I'm mentally working out the details of doing it much larger for adults.

Don't know the exact cost. 3 sheets of plywood. 7 2x4s. Heating elements, electrical stuff, primer and paint, screws. Probably about $200 total. But man it is fantastic. they are cool in the simmer, warm in the winter, and growing smooth all year long. Makes caring for them so easy.

 

[mike taylor]

Re: RE: Please Help! Why is my sully diging a hole?

A question for you Tom. How is the man made borrow working for you? What was the cost of the build?

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It is my favorite and best enclosure. The results it produces as far as carapace growth and electricity savings are phenomenal. I'm mentally working out the details of doing it much larger for adults.

Don't know the exact cost. 3 sheets of plywood. 7 2x4s. Heating elements, electrical stuff, primer and paint, screws. Probably about $200 total. But man it is fantastic. they are cool in the simmer, warm in the winter, and growing smooth all year long. Makes caring for them so easy.

Thats awesome.I will be building one for my little one .

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[Tom]

Tom, is that the burrow you made for Dasiy?

Yes. Love it. Sudans are moving there in the next week or two. Tuck and Trey graduated to the big enclosure a month ago.

 

[sissyofone]

Re: RE: Please Help! Why is my sully diging a hole?

Don't do anything. The animal is digging a burrow. If it finds the substrate suitable, you'll have a 10ft tunnel going down at a 30 degree angle complete with a chamber at the end. If the animal is big enough, you can probably slide down in it if you wanted to...

Thanks Eric! Now I have this visual of us all sliding down the burrows going "whee!!!".

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Sooo your wanting her/him to burrow?

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@Jacqui lmbo I had that thought/ visual also.

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[ainfalt]

I don't want my previous post to be offensive at all, so if it was offensive to anyone, I apologize; however, I do remember from a previous post that Sandra would like to be a breeder. In my opinion, a breeder should have all the information they need before getting into it. It sounds to me like she has a male and female and is concerned about the female laying eggs right now. Asking questions is great, that's how we learn, but I think a lot of thought and research should be done before considering something like this. The title of the thread seems quite desperate and urgent yet it is a question that doing minimal research would provide an answer to. I know that her intentions are good but my intentions are good as well. I have read on this forum that many sulcatas are simply gotten rid of because their owners were ill-informed. I have learned a lot about sulcatas from reading these threads and think that anyone considering owning or breeding should thoroughly read the information in all the threads BEFORE getting into it for the sake of everyone including the animals.

 

[SANDRA_MEISSNEST]

Tom could you tell me how to do that or maybe do you have a picture of the Burrow, like I said before it used to be much hotter here all the other years and this year its been not even that hot, i will build them something.
Tom any ideas for something simple, ?

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and as far for the breeding I would have love to but 95 percent of the people told me I have 2 males anyway,so i freacked out,because i thought it was laying eggs, and I am NOT prepared.
Also I'm sure when you got your first turtle you didn't know everything about it either and maybe even surprises you today as well in some things.

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one more thing.
thank you to all of you who want to help me

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[mainey34]

But with that said, we come to the forum to seek answers. Do research. Within 2 years i know a lot about my sully. First one ive had. Before i got her i knew a lot about them. I asked the breeder lots of questions. Understand this. I see lots of people buying this breed with no knowledge. Then they start digging holes, destroying peoples yards, then they decide they no longer want them. Because they did not do their homework. Its not the torts fault. I see this happen all the time here in Phoenix.And by the way i do have a husband..he loves my cherry pie...

 

[Livingstone]

And for livongstone ,i have 2 words for u and they aren't petty.

Please, do share.

Tom could you tell me how to do that or maybe do you have a picture of the Burrow, like I said before it used to be much hotter here all the other years and this year its been not even that hot, i will build them something.
Tom any ideas for something simple, ?

Im really not trying to poke fun at your problem here but in the same post you state you want to build them something, and then you ask for ideas for something simple to build. The reality is that the tortoise is giving you the simple answer... It's digging itself a burrow. The tortoises simple answer is far more effective than what you can build for it. In order to understand that statement you need to understand the thermodynamics of a burrow and what happens as you excavate further down into soil; the temperature in the burrow decreases about 30 degrees farenheit after the first foot it goes down and then gets incrementally cooler the deeper it is. As this happens the humidity in the air goes up greatly too. The tortoise is then able to control its temperature by changing its elevation within the burrow while also being exposed to a high concentration of moisture that prevents dehydration.

Tom has already made a post with the design of his burrow, maybe I could recommend that you "click" on a forum users name and then search (oh yes, there's that dirty word) through there threads or even maybe perform a thread search for "burrows". Once you have done this formulate your own idea, an then make a post asking for advice about said tortoise housing. People will respect you for your research, and be less inclined to think of you as a proverbial tortoise bum with their change cup out.

 

[mainey34]

The title of this thread is alarming. I thought it was a joke at first. I think I read at one point that you wish to be a sulcata breeder.

I read this also, and she purchased boxies too. People who want to breed for money should know what they are getting into. Im sure we will hear about boxie issues also. Your sullies are too young yet to lay eggs anyways....

 

[Baoh]

Sandra, keep your head up. People can help you without chastising you. If you have any questions, just PM me and I will share most things.

 

[EricIvins]

The title of this thread is alarming. I thought it was a joke at first. I think I read at one point that you wish to be a sulcata breeder.

I read this also, and she purchased boxies too. People who want to breed for money should know what they are getting into. Im sure we will hear about boxie issues also. Your sullies are too young yet to lay eggs anyways....

That is not true at all. A Sulcata can go from egg to egg in 5 years. Regardless of age, if the animal is mature it will produce. That is the bottom line...

 

[SANDRA_MEISSNEST]

Thanks so much Baoh

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I just made like a big hole in the ground, and I put a big flower pot in, and she or he loves it. she doesn't even care about her own hole what she digged do anymore

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I also put the little pool now in the Sunny area instead of the shady area where it was before. I just need to add more rocks around it and then I'm done with that.
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[Tom]

Here are a couple of burrow threads:
http://www.tortoiseforum.org/thread-20957.html
http://www.tortoiseforum.org/thread-50846.html

And here is the one I made for my juveniles:
http://www.tortoiseforum.org/thread-28662.html

Is this what you are asking?

 

[SANDRA_MEISSNEST]

Yes perfect thanks tom.

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[Laura]

that looks cool! the black pool might get awful hot in the sun... check it and see.. if they drink hot water it can cause damage..
and don't be surprised if your fences get bull dozed soon. I use solid .. 2x10 boards. If they can see thru they want to get to the other side and they are strong!

 

[Baoh]

What I have heard of:

Males breeding as small as 10-11" and females as small as 12" laying.

What I have directly observed in my own collection over the past few years (several times):

Males breeding as small as 12" and females as small as 13" laying. Of all of my current adult and subadult CB females, it looks like only one thus far will take longer hitting the point that she will lay than 13-14" scl (she is currently 15"). Unless the path alters course, it looks like next year will be her first reproductive season. Typical in my animals is males starting at 13" and females at 13.5-14".

All measurements being scl, of course.

Outside of one LTC animal, all of my current CB breeder sulcatas are around six years old or less. Mostly less at 3-4 years old. One of my female ivories is expected to hit breeding size late this year or early the next, which will be well before she hits three years of age.

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I am talking about actual reproduction and not simply breeding behavior, by the way.

 

[Baoh]

Crap. Posted this in the incorrect thread somehow.

 

[SANDRA_MEISSNEST]

Baoh doesnt matter,i think it was very interesting and informative.
no I know mine are going extremely slow

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[Baoh]

Sandra, my situation is more by design than luck, so yours are really at a perfectly fine pace. They go at a proper time for the individual. I would, instead of saying they are going very slowly compared to mine, say that yours are right on track for who they are.