- Joined
- Aug 15, 2014
- Messages
- 131
Hello Tom, thank you for your reply. I really do want to buy from Lance, but there is no way we can make the transaction work... the only thing that would work is providing my credit card information to him over the phone, something I'm not fine with. I'm not even sure if the bulb will overheat or dehydrate him, I just assumed so because I've never used such a high watt bulb and MVBs get very warm apparently. Now that I think about it, I've used two 75-Watt bulbs in the same enclosure before and the temperature was OK, so I'm not concerned about that issue anymore. No my living room doesn't stay at comfortable temperatures year-round, but it doesn't start getting cold here until mid-October. Do you think I can do without a CHE until then? I don't know if you missed it, but I stated that wild turtles and ducks reside in the pond where the park is and most likely eat the grass... wouldn't it affect them negatively if it was contaminated with something? If letting him munch on the grass at the park turns out to be safe, then I can take some of those rabbit PVC cage builders with me and build him a little play pen while I'm there.You are starting to get the idea, but you are much too inflexible in your plans. You need to change the environment to give the tortoise what it needs, not decide what is convenient for you and then decide the tortoise will adapt to it. I want to offer some tips based on what I have read in this thread. I hope this will help you and the tortoise you are considering.
1. You are making a mistake in not buying from Lance. I've never met him and unfortunately I don't even know him well enough to call him "friend". But I do know that very few people on this earth start their sulcata babies as correctly or as thoroughly as he does. I have talked to him on the phone about his practices, and I've seen countless babies of his on this forum thrive and do well. A sulcata hatchlings first few days and weeks are critical and set the tone for the rest of that babies life. I love LLL. The owner of LLL is a friend of mine. They sell a lot of babies and so they buy babies from a lot of sources. These sources, to the best of my knowledge, do not start their babies as well as Lance. Just send Lance a cashiers check. You can trust him. He's been on this forum for years without a single complaint. If he rips you off, I will personally repay you.
2. 30 gallons is too small. I say minimum 40, but that will only last 2 or 3 months. Just do it right and build a big one from the start.
3. If his bulb is going to overheat and dehydrate him, it is the wrong bulb or the wrong enclosure. This is the inflexibility I'm talking about. Why must it be a 125 if that is not the right bulb to maintain your temps in your enclosure?
4. Instead of asking what they can tolerate, ask what is optimal and figure out how to offer it.
5. You don't need night heat if your room temp is warm enough. I don't use night heat in my reptile room because I keep the ambient temp at 80. Does your living rom stay 80 all year? Even in winter?
6. If your deep dome doesn't accommodate the heating and lighting equipment your baby needs, get the right fixture. THey are only $12 at Home Depot.
7. They can see colored light bulbs at night and sometimes it messes with their head. I'm glad to see you are switching to a CHE.
8. There is no way to find out what every person is or isn't putting on that grass. Even if the manager of the park says its "clean", he might be lying and telling you what he thinks you want to hear, or he might not know what one of his guys is doing. Don't risk it. Besides that you shouldn't be letting him run loose anyway. Make him a large outdoor pen and let him run around in there. Don't let him run outside of a proper enclosure, and don't run him in an area that you don't have control over.
9. People with open tortoise tables in normal houses CAN'T maintain proper conditions. That's why their tortoises pyramid. Make a closed chamber. Like this: http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/closed-chambers.32333/
Please read these threads. They will help you:
http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/how-to-raise-a-healthy-sulcata-or-leopard-version-2-0.79895/
http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/beginner-mistakes.45180/
http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/for-those-who-have-a-young-sulcata.76744/