Poorly sulcata. Not eating
- Thread starter Goggie543
- Start date
Is it inside or outside & what are the temperatures at tort level?
Inside. But a ess to outside temp 65 to 70. Heat mat and headlamp. With correct bulb . 3 soaks per week. Eyes dry and bright.
65-70 is just way too cold & I’m sure this is a good part of your problem. Minimum temp should be 80F (26.66C), but thats overall ambient 24/7. You should create much warmer basking areas.
There are some good Sulcata care guides here on TFO.
Get those temps up!
There are some good Sulcata care guides here on TFO.
Get those temps up!
Heat lamps are not effective on larger tortoises and often damage their carapace.
Temperature on the floor where the tortoise is should not drop below 26C at night, and ambient temps need to get up to 33-34C during the day. They also need all this heated space to be at least 16x16 meters.
Keeping them in small quarters and/or letting them get too cool will shut down their GI tract and cause all sorts of problems like lack of appetite and possible respiratory infection. This is a giant species that needs giant enclosures. They come from the Sahel region of Africa where the temperature is near 37C every day, and the ground temps where they hide out all day and all night are around 28-30C.
Its easy to provide these conditions for a baby in a large closed chamber enclosure. Once they are too big for that, I move them outside where it is warm and sunny almost every day, and they have heated, insulated night boxes for colder days and every night. I don't know how to provide this space and these temperatures in your climate.
Thank you
