Sulcata Hatchling Care Questions

[kirbytherussian]

Hi all!
Yesterday I purchased an itty bitty Sulcata- about a month or two old. I’ve owned Russians before, so I’m very familiar with their care and even the care of other tortoise species- as a tortoise fanatic does. However, I’m not as comfortable as I would like to be with hatchling care. I surfed the web a little, and found very limited care about how to raise a sulcata from a hatchling- and some of said information I found rose my eyebrows a little, as being familiar with tortoises it just didn’t sound right.
I want nothing but the absolute best for this baby (which I’m calling him for the time bring until I find a name that suits him), so I’m willing to take any suggestions on how to raise them.

For example, how often should I soak him? I know babies need frequent soaks and higher humidity, but every other day? Every third day soaks? And for diet, what would y’all recommend. I know a variety of leafy greens is always good, but what exactly have y’all fed yours that yielded a healthy, lil (soon to be big) tortoise? On that same topic- is small amounts of fruit okay ya this age? And what substrate y’all have found to work best would also all be AMAZING info I would love to read about.
Thank you all so much! There are pictures soon to come of the little bugger, as I’m absolutely obsessed and can’t keep my eyes off him.

 

[Tom]

Hi all!
Yesterday I purchased an itty bitty Sulcata- about a month or two old. I’ve owned Russians before, so I’m very familiar with their care and even the care of other tortoise species- as a tortoise fanatic does. However, I’m not as comfortable as I would like to be with hatchling care. I surfed the web a little, and found very limited care about how to raise a sulcata from a hatchling- and some of said information I found rose my eyebrows a little, as being familiar with tortoises it just didn’t sound right.
I want nothing but the absolute best for this baby (which I’m calling him for the time bring until I find a name that suits him), so I’m willing to take any suggestions on how to raise them.

For example, how often should I soak him? I know babies need frequent soaks and higher humidity, but every other day? Every third day soaks? And for diet, what would y’all recommend. I know a variety of leafy greens is always good, but what exactly have y’all fed yours that yielded a healthy, lil (soon to be big) tortoise? On that same topic- is small amounts of fruit okay ya this age? And what substrate y’all have found to work best would also all be AMAZING info I would love to read about.
Thank you all so much! There are pictures soon to come of the little bugger, as I’m absolutely obsessed and can’t keep my eyes off him.

Here is nothing but the absolute best way to raise and care for them. I wrote this care sheet just for YOU:

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

I'll also answer your questions. Most of what you read and find on care for this species is wrong. Old, outdated, and wrong.

Soak every day for 30-40 minutes. If you are in a hurry, 10 minutes is enough. If you get distracted and forget the baby is soaking 2 hours won't hurt anything.

Diet recommendation are in the care sheet. Many ways to do it right, but key elements are high fiber, high calcium and lots of variety. Grocery store greens my themselves are not a good diet. If you add amendments to them, grocery store greens can be a good way to get nutrition into your tortoise.

No fruit. Its bad for them.

The best substrate for them by far is fine grade orchid bark.

Go into your user profile and put in a location. All the advice you'll get is location based.

 

[kirbytherussian]

Here is nothing but the absolute best way to raise and care for them. I wrote this care sheet just for YOU:

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

I'll also answer your questions. Most of what you read and find on care for this species is wrong. Old, outdated, and wrong.

Soak every day for 30-40 minutes. If you are in a hurry, 10 minutes is enough. If you get distracted and forget the baby is soaking 2 hours won't hurt anything.

Diet recommendation are in the care sheet. Many ways to do it right, but key elements are high fiber, high calcium and lots of variety. Grocery store greens my themselves are not a good diet. If you add amendments to them, grocery store greens can be a good way to get nutrition into your tortoise.

No fruit. Its bad for them.

The best substrate for them by far is fine grade orchid bark.

Go into your user profile and put in a location. All the advice you'll get is location based.

Awesome! Thanks so much, I’ll definitely read up on that information