So I adopted a 25 yr old 150 lb+ Sulcata...

[DakiniHouse]

We live in North Florida. Sorry in advance for the length here but THANK YOU for the forum! It's been a huge help in preparing for...
Recently adopted a 25 yr old male Sulcata who was injured and recovered from a dog attack at age 2. He has 4 puncture deformaties from that attack but his shell is in good shape, a little pyramiding, most likely from weekly showers but no real soaks for years. Rehabilitated and raised by an older couple for 23 years most recently living in a 10' x 12 full shade dirt yard with a nice 3 foot high cinder block shed - heated with a space heater during the few cold nights we get here. He tried to dig his first burrow this summer resulting in a collapse of a wall so they decided it was time to find him a new retirement spot before winter. He seems to be doing pretty good. Diet was mainly Mazuri pellets and banana leaves/yellow squash/zucchini with melons and carrots, papaya, bananas as treats. Seems to be a healthy eater/pooper and sociable.

He now lives in a 25x30 grass yard with a 8x12 quasi insulated metal shed and shower curtain flap entrance. He has a kiddie pool to soak whenever he wants and I'm going to upgrade that to cement sometime. His diet is increasing to what my mother and I grow... ie radish, sweet potato, mustard, collard, winter squashes, hibiscus, Aloe, Boston and Staghorn fern... but I'm having trouble verifying if other native (and non) plants are edible. Perennial peanut and Morning glory vines seem to be unconfirmed either way but he has been eating my morning glory vines with relish (no flowers/seeds). There is alot of conflicting info on the internets. I have Wandering Jew, Spider and Iron plants but I haven't given them yet. I'm trying to find the best resource for this research. Tortoise Table seems to say no to alot of stuff based on lack of evidence and I find ample contradictions.

What say ye to Ginger plants of all kinds?

Also feel free to tell me anything you wish you knew before your tortoise passed 150 pounds!

Thanks for reading!

 

[TammyJ]

Welcome to the forum! A few pictures would be good, if possible.
Sulcatas that size should be eating mainly grasses, so I understand from the experts here.
@Tom @wellington

 

[DakiniHouse]

This is Homer. You can see his dog attack scars but he seems to care less about my 30lb dog Kiwi in her for size. She's afraid of him but he will follow her around the yard when she pops in to say hi. He's got loads of personally. I love having him and I'm 43 and my son is 13 so hopefully he's got a home for life!

 

[wellington]

Morning glory I believe is a night shade family but either way they are a no go. I would stop letting him eat that. Fruit is also a no go, too high in sugars and it doesn't play nice with their healthy gut load. Grass and orchard hay should be his main diet. Mazuri is fine Weekley and all the other stuff that is from your garden you mentioned is fine to mix in but should not be the main.

 

[AmandaF]

This is Homer. You can see his dog attack scars but he seems to care less about my 30lb dog Kiwi in her for size. She's afraid of him but he will follow her around the yard when she pops in to say hi. He's got loads of personally. I love having him and I'm 43 and my son is 13 so hopefully he's got a home for life!

Welcome, he is gorgeous

 

[Tom]

We live in North Florida. Sorry in advance for the length here but THANK YOU for the forum! It's been a huge help in preparing for...
Recently adopted a 25 yr old male Sulcata who was injured and recovered from a dog attack at age 2. He has 4 puncture deformaties from that attack but his shell is in good shape, a little pyramiding, most likely from weekly showers but no real soaks for years. Rehabilitated and raised by an older couple for 23 years most recently living in a 10' x 12 full shade dirt yard with a nice 3 foot high cinder block shed - heated with a space heater during the few cold nights we get here. He tried to dig his first burrow this summer resulting in a collapse of a wall so they decided it was time to find him a new retirement spot before winter. He seems to be doing pretty good. Diet was mainly Mazuri pellets and banana leaves/yellow squash/zucchini with melons and carrots, papaya, bananas as treats. Seems to be a healthy eater/pooper and sociable.

He now lives in a 25x30 grass yard with a 8x12 quasi insulated metal shed and shower curtain flap entrance. He has a kiddie pool to soak whenever he wants and I'm going to upgrade that to cement sometime. His diet is increasing to what my mother and I grow... ie radish, sweet potato, mustard, collard, winter squashes, hibiscus, Aloe, Boston and Staghorn fern... but I'm having trouble verifying if other native (and non) plants are edible. Perennial peanut and Morning glory vines seem to be unconfirmed either way but he has been eating my morning glory vines with relish (no flowers/seeds). There is alot of conflicting info on the internets. I have Wandering Jew, Spider and Iron plants but I haven't given them yet. I'm trying to find the best resource for this research. Tortoise Table seems to say no to alot of stuff based on lack of evidence and I find ample contradictions.

What say ye to Ginger plants of all kinds?

Also feel free to tell me anything you wish you knew before your tortoise passed 150 pounds!

Thanks for reading!

Hello and welcome.

25x30 is better than where he was, but they need much more room than that. I suggest 50x50 feet as a minimum for large adults.

Dietary variety is good, but grass or grass hay should be the vast majority of the food consumed. At least some species of "morning glory" are toxic. Ferns aren't really meant to be food. Wandering jew is toxic. Kudzu vine is edible for them. Grocery store greens are best avoided, but if you are growing your own anyway, the tortoise will certainly enjoy them. They should never be fed fruit. I don't have any experience with the rest of the plants you mentioned, but be cautious. Tortoises do NOT know what is best for themselves and will eat poisonous plants or sleep in cold areas. Many die these two ways every years.

I don't know what "quasi insulated" means. As long as you can keep the shed at 80+ degrees day and night during the cold spells, then it is insulated well enough.

Few of them reach 150 pounds. Have you had him on a scale? Or is that a guess? I'd love to see pics of a 150 pound sulcata.

 

[DakiniHouse]

Welcome to the forum! A few pictures would be good, if possible.
Sulcatas that size should be eating mainly grasses, so I understand from the experts here.
@Tom @wellington

I tried to plant Fescue in his yard before he arrived but we've had a drought so the seed didn't take. I'm working on it in the rest of the yard so I can let him out to graze once it's established. I intend to plant lots of tall clumping grasses and rose and hibiscus bushes inside the enclosure. Suggestions welcome!

I think I also need to put in some kind of wall inside somewhere to make it more interesting for him, he can see all the way across other than a few trees. Maybe telephone pole stumps but I came seen to find out where to acquire such things and I worry about the chemicals from pressure treating.... I got him a horse sized hard ball to push around and it moves to all the corners but I haven't actually seen him play with it yet.

 

[DakiniHouse]

Hello and welcome.

25x30 is better than where he was, but they need much more room than that. I suggest 50x50 feet as a minimum for large adults.

Dietary variety is good, but grass or grass hay should be the vast majority of the food consumed. At least some species of "morning glory" are toxic. Ferns aren't really meant to be food. Wandering jew is toxic. Kudzu vine is edible for them. Grocery store greens are best avoided, but if you are growing your own anyway, the tortoise will certainly enjoy them. They should never be fed fruit. I don't have any experience with the rest of the plants you mentioned, but be cautious. Tortoises do NOT know what is best for themselves and will eat poisonous plants or sleep in cold areas. Many die these two ways every years.

I don't know what "quasi insulated" means. As long as you can keep the shed at 80+ degrees day and night during the cold spells, then it is insulated well enough.

Few of them reach 150 pounds. Have you had him on a scale? Or is that a guess? I'd love to see pics of a 150 pound sulcata.

The rest of the back yard 100x150 will be accessible to him once I can get more grass established. There's been a drought so there's not much green available right now unfortunately. I do have Timothy hay bales in the shed for him and the Mazuri will keep him over the winter. Everything else is supplemental.

 

[DakiniHouse]

Hello and welcome.

25x30 is better than where he was, but they need much more room than that. I suggest 50x50 feet as a minimum for large adults.

Dietary variety is good, but grass or grass hay should be the vast majority of the food consumed. At least some species of "morning glory" are toxic. Ferns aren't really meant to be food. Wandering jew is toxic. Kudzu vine is edible for them. Grocery store greens are best avoided, but if you are growing your own anyway, the tortoise will certainly enjoy them. They should never be fed fruit. I don't have any experience with the rest of the plants you mentioned, but be cautious. Tortoises do NOT know what is best for themselves and will eat poisonous plants or sleep in cold areas. Many die these two ways every years.

I don't know what "quasi insulated" means. As long as you can keep the shed at 80+ degrees day and night during the cold spells, then it is insulated well enough.

Few of them reach 150 pounds. Have you had him on a scale? Or is that a guess? I'd love to see pics of a 150 pound sulcata.

I pulled a many glory vines as I could see before he came but I saw him eat a few that popped up, I hope they aren't the bad kind, my yard is overrun which is why he's limited to his area until I can get the grass to compete. I spend days each spring pulling up the vines, I need a goat.
I wedged large box cardboard up against the walls in the shed and use tree ring pavers to keep them in place and to barricade the space heater for the child's nights. There a hanging wifi thermometer so I can monitor. It stays around 78 at night

 

[Tom]

The rest of the back yard 100x150 will be accessible to him once I can get more grass established. There's been a drought so there's not much green available right now unfortunately. I do have Timothy hay bales in the shed for him and the Mazuri will keep him over the winter. Everything else is supplemental.

If he will eat the Timothy, that is great, but many of them find it too stemmy. I use orchard grass hay or Bermuda. Teff works too.

100x150 feet of grassy weedy area in a warm humid climate is paradise on earth for a sulcata. He's a lucky dude!

 

[Tom]

It stays around 78 at night

78 at night is adequate as long as he can warm up in the sun the next day. You might need more heat during your winter cold spells.

 

[Yvonne G]

Was his gular chewed off during the dog attack? It's pretty small for a male.

Do a Google search for vinyl strip door. Then, if you decide to buy that, you hang it in over lapping strips. Holds out (and in) the temperatures better than the way you have it.

 

[DakiniHouse]

Welcome, he is gorge

78 at night is adequate as long as he can warm up in the sun the next day. You might need more heat during your winter cold spells.

Oh yeah, that's with the heater on low heat and low fan. I started on high heat low fan and it got to nearly 90 in there at night when we had a couple of mid 50s nights. I'll need to get a timer or something, if I leave it on all the time even at low/low it's up to 95 by noon. Iguess my insulation is working too well. Idon't want it to get too dry in there. Stupid unpredictable North Florida weather. I love it though.
He's got lots of sunny spots and shady spots in his space. I'm not fond of the pine needles, I have to rake them up constantly to keep them from getting mixed up in his T.hay cause he spreads it all over sometimes.

 

[DakiniHouse]

I actually

Was his gular chewed off during the dog attack? It's pretty small for a male.

Do a Google search for vinyl strip door. Then, if you decide to buy that, you hang it in over lapping strips. Holds out (and in) the temperatures better than the way you have it.

I actually had layered 2 curtains like that but it seemed to be keeping in too much heat so I removed one. I was trying to find the right words for a Google search for just that! Thanks!
The gular is definitely not small. Maybe it's the angle of the pic. It look pretty big to me. I'll take some better pics in the morning.

 

[jeff kushner]

What a wonderfully massive BEAST! I'll bet no one else on the block has one like that! LOL

Eye are sharp and clear...he looks great!

Welcome....and FYI....you have just gotten advice from some of the best talent that exists for sulcs. Your openness and acceptance make it obvious that all you want, is to provide the best possible home for your adoptee! I'm sure that over time, you'll figure out how to regulate the heat better so you aren't heating the outside. That will add up over time. You live in a great climate for sulcs and I think he picked a pretty good family to adopt!

good luck.....

jeff

 

[Tom]

I actually

I actually had layered 2 curtains like that but it seemed to be keeping in too much heat so I removed one. I was trying to find the right words for a Google search for just that! Thanks!
The gular is definitely not small. Maybe it's the angle of the pic. It look pretty big to me. I'll take some better pics in the morning.

You need a thermostat. That will keep it where you want it, but not waste costly electricity.

 

[LJL1982]

We live in North Florida. Sorry in advance for the length here but THANK YOU for the forum! It's been a huge help in preparing for...
Recently adopted a 25 yr old male Sulcata who was injured and recovered from a dog attack at age 2. He has 4 puncture deformaties from that attack but his shell is in good shape, a little pyramiding, most likely from weekly showers but no real soaks for years. Rehabilitated and raised by an older couple for 23 years most recently living in a 10' x 12 full shade dirt yard with a nice 3 foot high cinder block shed - heated with a space heater during the few cold nights we get here. He tried to dig his first burrow this summer resulting in a collapse of a wall so they decided it was time to find him a new retirement spot before winter. He seems to be doing pretty good. Diet was mainly Mazuri pellets and banana leaves/yellow squash/zucchini with melons and carrots, papaya, bananas as treats. Seems to be a healthy eater/pooper and sociable.

He now lives in a 25x30 grass yard with a 8x12 quasi insulated metal shed and shower curtain flap entrance. He has a kiddie pool to soak whenever he wants and I'm going to upgrade that to cement sometime. His diet is increasing to what my mother and I grow... ie radish, sweet potato, mustard, collard, winter squashes, hibiscus, Aloe, Boston and Staghorn fern... but I'm having trouble verifying if other native (and non) plants are edible. Perennial peanut and Morning glory vines seem to be unconfirmed either way but he has been eating my morning glory vines with relish (no flowers/seeds). There is alot of conflicting info on the internets. I have Wandering Jew, Spider and Iron plants but I haven't given them yet. I'm trying to find the best resource for this research. Tortoise Table seems to say no to alot of stuff based on lack of evidence and I find ample contradictions.

What say ye to Ginger plants of all kinds?

Also feel free to tell me anything you wish you knew before your tortoise passed 150 pounds!

Thanks for reading!

Hi

Take a look at the Tortoise Table Plant Database. It shows you can't feed morning glory (ipomoea).

You can refer to that for your other plants too and learn why something is good or bad to feed