SULCATA BABY AVAILABLE

[voaness]

Hello All,

We just rescued a sulcata baby and are currently rehabbing it. It was previously in a very dry environment being neglected and we have rectified that to the best of our abilities. While we can house a baby tortoise, something of this size needs to have a better home in the long run. We are willing to rehab it until we know it has the appropriate environment and care to go to. If we find the right home for it to go to, all we ask is that the new owner pay for half the shipping to get it to their location, we only ship overnight to ensure the babies safety. We are also willing to wait until the weather warms up if need be, but we do have heat packs to send with it.

As to the baby, we do not know how old they are, we assume a couple of months. They have two identical white spot circles on top of their shell, that mirror each other, which do not look to be shell rot, but look to be scorches from lights, which would make sense given the environment we rescued them from, which kept it very dry. We currently house them in an aquarium with a humid den of 75-80 degrees humidity, with an ambient temperature of 80-85 degrees and a basking spot of 90-95 degrees. We sun bathe them 45 min-1 hour a day, but we are also located in Kentucky, so cannot take them outside right now (winter), just have him bask in the rays coming through the windows. They get a water soak for a min of 30 minutes every day, and a spritz to their shell. They hang out with our child as well to socialize them, some may think you cant socialize tortoises, but we like to believe differently. We have him currently eating grass from our yard (which is untreated and wild), variation of weeds, and some opuntia (he is an opuntia hog). Their belly looks good, their eyes are clear, no respiratory issues we have seen, though they do like to click their mouth, particularly if they are looking at us, we have taken this to be just their way of communicating; they are active in the early morning and early evening and sleeps most of the other time.

I would post photos here, but it wants me to insert a url for a picture, instead of just inserting an image, and honestly I have no idea what that is about, so if you would like to see pictures, please reach out in a private message and I can send you them.

 

[wellington]

The sun thru window and tight screen does not give the uvb needed as it's blocked.
If you have more than one, they need to be housed separately if not now very soon as living in pairs is very stressful. Tortoise are loners and although you think they benefit from socializing, they are not a dog. Short handling daily while soaking and short stints of looking them over and touching legs, head etc, can help them get used to being touched Incase a vet visit is ever needed, but I wouldn't do it too long at a time. It's important babies stay warm, never lower than 80.
As for posting photos. At the bottom of the box you type in it says Attach files. Click on that. Follow prompts to post pics.

 

[voaness]

Hello. Apologies I didnt give all the parameters, they are housed with a basking lamp (one for day) and a ceramic heat emitter at night, so temp is never below 80. They have a reptisun 10.0 uvb bulb as well. I am not new to housing tortoises, which is why I rescued this baby, I just know my parameters in that I cannot house a sulcata once they reach adulthood. I do not have the right environment for an adult sulcata. I just could not leave him in the environment he was at.

I also do not have more than one sulcata, for obvious reasons stated above.

According to this site, or perhaps the browser I am on (brave) posting pics requires one to have them posted on another site, like facebook, instagram, etc, and then to link that url. I dont have these posted on any other site, so I cannot seem to just attach here. It would require me to post to another site and then attach a url.

 

[voaness]

https://pin.it/6wS7RaS

I tried making a pin board about them. Perhaps people can view them here. Apologies I am struggling to post photos to this site.

also he is housed in cococoir mixture with some sand, if people wanted to know his current substrate, since the photos show some sand particles.

 

[voaness]

also he is housed in cococoir mixture with some sand, if people wanted to know his current substrate.

 

[SinLA]

Im guessing those white spots are a mark made by a breeder to tell ones apart from each other

 

[voaness]

I have tried doing a gentle toothbrush wash off the top when I was investigating the marks, they seem pretty permanent. They have only been with us for about four days, so havent seen them grow or change.

 

[wellington]

Never use sand. It can cause impaction. Coconut coir and orchid/fir bark only.

 

[voaness]

ok we will change out his substrate to eliminate the sand while he stays with us, we primarily use it as a bottom substrate, then we put the cococoir on top of this, but inevitably some of the sand gets mixed to the top. I dont suppose you also have recommendations for a good place for him to relocate to for a permanent home?

 

[wellington]

I personally think they can live any place as long as the person has the room and means to properly house and heat it in a shed or night box depending on where they are. We have many members in the colder and snowy states with sulcata that do just fine.
Of course those that live in the warmer states think otherwise. Yet, they keep selling to the northern colder states.
It's your call. Just be sure they have the room for when he is bigger and can live outside. That will be in two years or less.
Also be careful of new members that join only to respond to free threads. A lot of them just want to resell it.
Ask questions about space, ask for pictures, be sure they are already set up the right way to take one in now and as it grows.

 

[Yvonne G]

Go to the forum's home page and scroll down to and click on Tortoise photos and videos. You will find a thread "posting pictures using a smart phone" and another "posting pictures using the forum 's method."

 

[voaness]

Thank you, I did search for how to post photos on this site, and the same conclusion was had of the experience I am having. You cannot directly post photos on this site currently, you have to upload them to a third party site and then connect this link back to this forum. I did this above with Pinterest. Here is the link again: https://pin.it/6wS7RaS. Perhaps this is only happening with newer members, but the attach image link above triggers one to have to connect to a url. If you do a drop down with the three dots, it states that it needs to be connected to a third party site to post photos.

 

[voaness]

If anyone is still interested, the little guy is now spoken for. He is being adopted by a rehabber in Texas, we will ship them out in March when the weather is warmer.

 

[Tom]

According to this site, or perhaps the browser I am on (brave) posting pics requires one to have them posted on another site, like facebook, instagram, etc, and then to link that url. I dont have these posted on any other site, so I cannot seem to just attach here. It would require me to post to another site and then attach a url.

The reason you can't post pictures is because you are in the "adoption" section of the forum. I don't know why, but it won't let you post pics here. That seems like an oversight that maybe @Josh doesn't realize? You can post pics in every other section.

It sounds like you are taking great care of this baby, with the exception of the sand, which you are fixing.

The white marks are likely nail polish and will fade in time. It doesn't hurt anything.

This baby looks fine to me. At least on the outside. How much does it weigh? You should keep it until it reaches 50 grams and is steadily growing past that point. Once they pass 50 grams and continue growing, they are "out of the woods" so to speak and should be fine after that.

You will have no problem finding someone who wants a little one like this, but it will likely be hard to find someone that will give it the correct care, which includes a warm humid closed chamber that is 4x8 feet until it is large enough to live outside full time. Be careful who you send it to.

It sounds like you already know what to do, but here is the care sheet, in case you are missing any of the fine points. Questions are welcome!

The Best Way To Raise A Sulcata, Leopard, Or Star Tortoise

I chose the title of this care sheet very carefully. Are there other ways to raise babies? Yes. Yes there are, but those ways are not as good. What follows is the BEST way, according to 30 years of research and experimentation with hundreds of babies of many species. Babies hatch during the...

tortoiseforum.org

 

[voaness]

Hi Tom, not going to get lie, getting a reply from you is pretty darn awesome. I have followed your guidelines on many other forum posts, and your input is really invaluable. Thank you for writing.

Good to know about the marks on the shell. Was worried at first it was rot, but then saw your post that rot was not likely on Sulcatas and talked myself off the ledge to examine it with more clearly after the initial freak out.

Thank you for the tip on the weight. Yes I believe this tortoise would live it’s optimal life outdoors in a warmer climate than I am in, even though I could build it an elaborate building outdoors, it’s just not the right call, in my book. I just knew I had to get it out of its current situation and then figure it out. Central Texas Tortoise Rescue was the one who responded to take it in come spring. So once it’s weighty enough (I will weigh them tomorrow), and warmer to travel, they will make the great trek, though that’s a whole other consideration that I’m nervous about. Shipped live plants before but never a live animal.

I do have a couple of questions for you. 1. What fine orchid bark (brand) do you use? I use orchid bark for my Hoyas (but it’s mixed with a bunch of stuff when I get it in like charcoal and perlite which aren’t tortoise approved) and the plain orchid bark here (lowes) is the miracle gro kind and I’m worried about the chemicals that are probably in there. Our local green houses either carry this mixed stuff because of the local grow community, or very small expensive bags of orchid bark. So wondering if I can find your brand online.

Lastly I’ve only housed small tortoises before in aquariums or tortoise boxes. I’ve been reading more about the tortoise chambers and curious if anyone has specs on building one on this forum? I’ve tried searching for this but it doesn’t seem to come up. My partner and I are both architects so I’m sure we could rig something up but would love to have some basic parameters notated on a plan or elevation that we can riff off of. Like, placement of heat panels or does it need a fan, etc etc.

Thank you for your time

 

[Tom]

I was trying to drop a picture of my orchid bark bag, but we are in the adoption section, so I can't post a pic... Its called "Micro Bark" and the company that makes it is called GreenAll. You can also order large bags of repti-bark on chewy.com or petco.com. E.B. Stone makes a 1 cu. ft bag and I used to be able to buy that at OSH.

https://tortoiseforum.org/threads/building-your-own-expanded-pvc-enclosed-chamber-–-for-beginners.159220/

Heat panels for on the ceiling. No fans needed, but you can use them internally if you want to move the air around. Just don't blow or suck room air in, or you defeat the purpose of a closed chamber which is to contain the warm humid air. I don't use fans in my indoor closed chambers, but I do use them in my outdoor heated night boxes sometimes. I like the 4 inch variable speed computer fans.

 

[voaness]

Thank you! And what about the bottom. Did you line with removable internal plastic trays, or removable tray that can be pulled out from the outside, or just coat the inside with something? I saw a forum debating how to coat the box material (if it’s made of something that water can break down), there is a boat sealant out there, but haven’t used it. Wondering if a resin would work.

Do you have any weep holes drilled out in the box to off set condensation or just let it condense and fog on the glass?

 

[voaness]

This link is so good, thank you. I suppose you just let the pvc box just be the bottom. And clean out this way.

 

[TammyJ]

also he is housed in cococoir mixture with some sand, if people wanted to know his current substrate

 

[Tom]

Thank you! And what about the bottom. Did you line with removable internal plastic trays, or removable tray that can be pulled out from the outside, or just coat the inside with something? I saw a forum debating how to coat the box material (if it’s made of something that water can break down), there is a boat sealant out there, but haven’t used it. Wondering if a resin would work.

Do you have any weep holes drilled out in the box to off set condensation or just let it condense and fog on the glass?

When using expanded PVC, there is no need to coat it with anything. When using wood, the only thing I have found that works is Pond Shield, but that stuff is expensive and difficult to work with.

All chambers have venting. Only your thermometer and hygrometer can tell you if you have enough venting or too much.