Sulcata shell

[huggies]

Hello,
I am the owner of a baby Sulcata. He lives in a medium sized aquarium which contains the sand with nutrients necessary for him. I have also purchased a bottle of food pallets that just require some water so that they may soft and easy for the lil one to eat, which he does eat alot! He also has the UV light and I have placed him/ her by the window where he can also get some good sunlight.
I just recently noticed that the sides of his shell were a little soft and I am alarmed by that. Does this have something to do with his nutrition and do I need to take him to the vet? He is still very active and I have not noticed anything else that maybe strange. Please help =/

 

[chadk]

YIKES! You are doing the right thing by researching. Some changes need to happen soon or I'm afraid your little tort is in trouble.

First thing - forget everything they told you \ sold you at the pet store.... For better info, go to good sources like this: http://www.sulcata-station.org/


Second - the aquarium needs to go. For now, you can cover the lower level sides so he can't see out. This can stress them out. A stressed tort is a sick tort...

The sand needs to GO NOW! Sounds like you got some kind of calci-sand that they push in the pet shops. Dumpt it ASAP. Not only can that sand cause various health issues, but it won't hold the humidity a baby sullie needs to grow and develop properly. You should be using a mix of eco-earth \ coir type stuff mixed with a little children's play sand (local hardware store). The eco-earth is a coconut fiber bedding that comes in hard bricks and expands when wet. Most pet stores will have this. You want to keep this moist - not soaking wet, just moist so he can dig down and nap in the most substrate.

Forget the pellet food as well. Maybe as a treat here and there... But they need high fiber grass, hay, and weed diet. No fruits, no animal matter.

Move him away from the window ASAP as well. Direct sunlight from the window offers little UVB (what the need) and plenty of heat - enough to cook the little guy in short order if you are not careful. Aqariums + sunlight are dangerous combos!

What type of UVB bulb do you have? How are you heating the tank? How are you measuring temps?

 

[huggies]

The tank is not hot but warm, infact weirdly that is the coolest room in the house and the house being at 77-78 degrees... I do feed him some veggies every now and that I googled... I also noticed that he has chalky pee?
omg I feel like a really bad pet owner... =(

---

p.s. the website is really helpful =)

 

[Maggie Cummings]

You have already been given some good advice. You need a better substrate that you can keep moist. Sulcata hatchlings need a lot of humidity and we create that by keeping the substrate moist. He also needs better food. Instead of repeating what you have already been told, I am going to add a link to care sheets that I think are the best.
I would like you to press lightly in the middle of his plastron and see if that is soft as well. Plastron is the bottom shell. Have you ever taken him to a Vet? He may also have parasites...I am glad you found us here and I am sure we can help you...

http://africantortoise.com/

http://www.chelonia.org/Articles/sulcatacare.htm

Do you have a light that provides heat? He needs a hot end of that tank to be 85 or 90 degrees so he can metabolize his food and if he's not at that temperature he won't eat because he knows his system can't process his food. Chad has given you very good advice and I don't mean to contradict him and confuse you, but I prefer cypress mulch for the substrate. It holds the humidity better , it smells good and it's not dirty....
Please keep us posted on your little one and welcome to the forum

 

[Isa]

Welcome to the forum
Here is a very helpful thread that will give you ideas of what to feed to your little one.
http://www.tortoiseforum.org/thread-5823.html
You are not a bad pet owner because you did not know, now I am sure with the changes that you will make, you will have a happy little sulcata
Here is a very helpful site that will help you with your little one
http://www.tortoisetrust.org/
Check their articles, they are very interesting.
When I bought my Hermann, the people at the pet store knew nothing. Thank God, I came across this site, Chad is right, forget everything they told you

 

[huggies]

Thanks you guys are awesome! I have already book marked the web sites.

 

[haleybobl]

Maggie, what is cypress mulch, and where do you purchase it?

 

[Maggie Cummings]

Cypress mulch is sometimes sold as 'forest floor' and it's what I use for substrate. I use it for all my animals from tiny tortoises to box turtles. It is just the best stuff. It doesn't break down so it lasts a long time. It holds moisture so it constantly creates the humidity that's needed for optimum growth. My sister gets hers on-line and when she finds a good deal she sends it to me also. Just google it and do some shopping on-line that's the best way to get the best deal. I think most Home Depots sell it, unless you live in Corvallis Oregon then they don't.

 

[Yvonne G]

Cypress mulch is readily available on the east coast at any home improvement store. If you're on the west coast, you have to buy it in small bags at a pet shop. It is packaged as Forest Floor, Jungle Bed and maybe some other names too. I pick mine up at PetsMart, but when I get it for Maggie I shop online and have it delivered directly to her address.

Yvonne

 

[MarysTort]

I'd also like to chime in that a calcium supplement might do your little tort some good! And make sure you regularly soak your little guy in water.


I'm planning on trying the cypress mulch next time we change our substrate! Right now we are using organic soil, which has worked pretty well but dries out fairly fast.

 

[spring pace]

im crying here, it happens over and over again, the peeps at the pet store give the worst information and so many suffer because of it. i have a replacement option for the aquarium. its the opague sweater box about 18" wide 10" tall and 2.6 ft long. problem w/ the glass tank is there is minimal air flow and the heat is constant thru out the tank not giving your wee one a cooler spot when he needs it. the organic top soil is OK......but it hard to find topsoil that doesnt have perlite in it, thats like a filler, not good for the tort. i used coconut coir instead of cypress or florest blend. i know for sure the coconut is pure and has no pine in it which is toxic to sulcatas. please, please, please take a stool sample to the vets to check for parasites, w/ a soft shell thats a dangerous combo. does the milky pee hve hard chalky chunks in it? urates should be creamy not hard. pellets are full of fillers and really made for convenience, like fast food, a 99 cent heart attack if eaten every day. long greens, hays and grasses are best for nourishment and a healthy gut. digestion is slow in a tort for a reason, it takes time to gleam out the full potential of all the nutrients in the food. your tort needs a halthy balance of heat for digestion, water for hydration and sunshine to aid in digestion. its all about the food being processed properly to keep a healthy shell, clear eyes and nares, good fiberous poops and tons of energy which sulcatas are known for. i sure am glad you found us and realized something was wrong, way wrong. i know ive been the person that accepted what someone who didnt know torts told me. sounded reasonable at the time, but in the end i lost a baby and my 2nd one got really sick and almost lost him too. hes till w/ me. thats him in the upper left corner, my galileo survived and is my bestest dinosaur friend. galieo and spring hoping for the best for you and your little one.

 

[dmmj]

remenber most pet stores main goal is to sell you all the extras. there are a few good ones, but most are just in it for the bucks. you will most liely get mucj better advice here than any petstore, because we have no financial interest in selling you stuff, though I do have a bridge for sale if anyone is interested.

 

[huggies]

but dont you have to make sure that its organic and does not contain any dyes....

---

You know the worst thing was that the person selling him was suggesting that it was fine for him to eat fruits everyday ( which I did not do) I have now read most of the sites that yall have posted in this thread and I am super thankful for that! yall are awesome!
His poop does seem pretty fiberous... and the gray stuff in his pee is not chunky. I checked that online as well and some say that a little ashy looking is okay and shows that he is healthy. The hardest thing I guess is for me to make him eat grasses...I placed some in there but I guess he shall eat when he is hungry.
I have been soaking him in warm water since then for at least ten minutes though he hates it! and wants to crawl out!( that is what one the sites posted here suggests)
I have also places an appropriate sized box in there and have placed a moist towel in there so that he can go in there n chill when he needs to. He has been going there but I guess mostly cuz he likes to walk through obstacles, even in my yard!
I actually had the hardest time finding him organic cypress mulch so I think for now I shall be going with bed a beast.
do you guys have any other suggestions?