sst6843
New Member
Hello! I'm a brand new member here and new to the tortoise community. I currently have a Bearded Dragon and a Ball Python in full bioactive enclosures, but no tortoise. I came to this forum and started doing some research on Sulcata Tortoises over the past couple of weeks because of a situation I'm in.
I have a family member who has had a Sulcata Tortoise since it was a little baby. I would be willing to guess its at least 10 or so years old based on timing alone. It has a lot of pyramiding, lives in a glass reptile tank maybe 60 to 100 gallons, has no hides, and is fed tortoise pellets. I haven't seen this family member in years, but my Dad passed suddenly a month ago and we have been back in touch. This family member does not want and never wanted this tortoise, he ended up taking care of because his daughter brought it home as a kid I believe. His daughter is an adult now, has moved out, has a toddler, and also doesn't want to take the tortoise home. Her and her partner do spend a LOT of time at his house helping him out though so they help care for it sometimes. My family member has some serious health issues and is afraid of handling the tortoise out of fear he could get sick so it never comes out of that enclosure unless someone else takes it in the yard once in a while. He showed me the tortoise after hearing about my reptiles and asked me if I wanted to take it home.
My gut response - YES! Let me help that baby! My husbands immediate response - NO! We have no space!
I believe my husband was thinking it would be another indoor enclosure like we have for the others, and he's right. I don't have rack space for an enclosure. But after doing research I see best case scenario would be an outdoor enclosure in the warm months and an indoor enclosure for the winter (we live in Central New York). I have a mudroom that isn't insulated but has an electric heater to keep it above freezing because there is plumbing (washer/dryer). I was thinking I could insulate the large windows and get radiant heat in there with proper lighting and basking lamps, all heating controlled by thermostat (probably the Reptistat 2 like I use for my other reptiles). It would only get the tortoise about 80 square feet when indoors, but over winter I'd get supplies to make it a large outdoor enclosure with a heated shelter so it could stay out as long as possible. My yard would need a bit to get ready, its very hilly in the open parts but I have a lot of flat space that's overgrown. We just removed 6 trees from that space and planned to clear it out later in the fall anyway to encourage ground coverage. We actually plan to plant clover as ground coverage, we already have the seeds. I've also started growing greens for my Bearded Dragon so I thought I could do the same for the tortoise as well as getting it timothy hay or orchard hay.
Knowing that I don't have the perfect setup for a Sulcata, should I try talking with my husband about it more and try to rescue the little guy? My goal would be constantly improving its home over time through continuous learning, like I do for my other reptiles. But for now, this is what I could possibly offer. I feel like its at the very least a huge improvement of what it has at the moment...but I don't want to cause more harm either. I'm not adverse to rehoming it in the future either if I get to the point where I can't provide enough, but I'm pretty stubborn with trying my absolute best first. I thought I would ask people with MUCH more experience, though, and see what you all think.
Side note just in case - I would need to have my husband's full ok for this. I'm not a fan of surprising my partner with pets/rescues, we find communication very important. Its our home and we're partners so we work together. I just want to know if I should even bother making a case or continuing to research tortoises if my idea isn't in the tortoises best interest to begin with.
Thank you for any time and response you can offer! I truly appreciate it!
I have a family member who has had a Sulcata Tortoise since it was a little baby. I would be willing to guess its at least 10 or so years old based on timing alone. It has a lot of pyramiding, lives in a glass reptile tank maybe 60 to 100 gallons, has no hides, and is fed tortoise pellets. I haven't seen this family member in years, but my Dad passed suddenly a month ago and we have been back in touch. This family member does not want and never wanted this tortoise, he ended up taking care of because his daughter brought it home as a kid I believe. His daughter is an adult now, has moved out, has a toddler, and also doesn't want to take the tortoise home. Her and her partner do spend a LOT of time at his house helping him out though so they help care for it sometimes. My family member has some serious health issues and is afraid of handling the tortoise out of fear he could get sick so it never comes out of that enclosure unless someone else takes it in the yard once in a while. He showed me the tortoise after hearing about my reptiles and asked me if I wanted to take it home.
My gut response - YES! Let me help that baby! My husbands immediate response - NO! We have no space!
I believe my husband was thinking it would be another indoor enclosure like we have for the others, and he's right. I don't have rack space for an enclosure. But after doing research I see best case scenario would be an outdoor enclosure in the warm months and an indoor enclosure for the winter (we live in Central New York). I have a mudroom that isn't insulated but has an electric heater to keep it above freezing because there is plumbing (washer/dryer). I was thinking I could insulate the large windows and get radiant heat in there with proper lighting and basking lamps, all heating controlled by thermostat (probably the Reptistat 2 like I use for my other reptiles). It would only get the tortoise about 80 square feet when indoors, but over winter I'd get supplies to make it a large outdoor enclosure with a heated shelter so it could stay out as long as possible. My yard would need a bit to get ready, its very hilly in the open parts but I have a lot of flat space that's overgrown. We just removed 6 trees from that space and planned to clear it out later in the fall anyway to encourage ground coverage. We actually plan to plant clover as ground coverage, we already have the seeds. I've also started growing greens for my Bearded Dragon so I thought I could do the same for the tortoise as well as getting it timothy hay or orchard hay.
Knowing that I don't have the perfect setup for a Sulcata, should I try talking with my husband about it more and try to rescue the little guy? My goal would be constantly improving its home over time through continuous learning, like I do for my other reptiles. But for now, this is what I could possibly offer. I feel like its at the very least a huge improvement of what it has at the moment...but I don't want to cause more harm either. I'm not adverse to rehoming it in the future either if I get to the point where I can't provide enough, but I'm pretty stubborn with trying my absolute best first. I thought I would ask people with MUCH more experience, though, and see what you all think.
Side note just in case - I would need to have my husband's full ok for this. I'm not a fan of surprising my partner with pets/rescues, we find communication very important. Its our home and we're partners so we work together. I just want to know if I should even bother making a case or continuing to research tortoises if my idea isn't in the tortoises best interest to begin with.
Thank you for any time and response you can offer! I truly appreciate it!