sulcata tortiose - never comes out

jasonf150

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we have a 10 yr old suly. he has a hide/house that he never comes out of. it has us concerned. we got him on october and so throughout the colder months (phoenix,az) he would stay inside where his heat was, but now that it's hotter, we were expecting him to be out more. we did confirm he's still alive. we keep a pile of his grass in there to eat. and we keep his water full. my only guess is that it's too hot, but he wasn't coming out when it was cooler either. He also doesn't come out in the evening or morning when it's cooler. mid-day is around 105 right now. i was hoping that someone had an idea o why he never comes out.

thanks
 

JoesMum

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In order to answer your question, I need to ask you quite a few more so that we can get a detailed picture.

How big is your Sulcata? Do you know what he weighs? Is his weight stable?

What is his enclosure like? Is it indoors or out? How big is it? A picture paints a thousand words, so please post photos.

You say he hides away all the time. Does he have a UVB source? Does he have a basking lamp? What are the 4 important temperatures: directly under the basking lamp, warm end , cool end and overnight minimum?

What do you feed him? Does he eat much? Is his plastron soft or hard? Do you soak him?

Sorry that's an awful lot of questions, but we want to help.
 

jasonf150

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How big is your Sulcata? Do you know what he weighs? Is his weight stable?
Full grown, 80 lbs or so, ~2' long. no idea if his weight is stable or not.

What is his enclosure like? Is it indoors or out? How big is it? A picture paints a thousand words, so please post photos.
Outdoors, roughly 4'x8' with an open end, about 2' tall inside. We have no other pets outside, although we do have wild rabbits that frequent our backyard.

You say he hides away all the time. Does he have a UVB source? No.
Does he have a basking lamp? No.
What are the 4 important temperatures: directly under the basking lamp, warm end , cool end and overnight minimum?
Overnight lows here are around 77°, highs are around 105°. And being Phoenix, those numbers will rise into July and August. Upwards of 90° overnight low and 115°+ at 3pm.

What do you feed him? Bermuda grass from a bale.
Does he eat much? He seems to be, his food is gone.
Is his plastron soft or hard? seems hard.
Do you soak him? No.

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JoesMum

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I am hoping @Tom will look in on this one as he is the expert. I can say that 4' × 8' is far too small for a full grown Sulcata though.
 

Yvonne G

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If this were my tortoise, I would bring him out daily. I'd put his pile of food at the far end of the yard and put him in front of it. That way he has to walk the length of the yard to get back into the hide. And, speaking of the hide...that's really not a very good hiding place. It's probably just as hot inside it as it is outside it. So the tortoise might be aestivating (waiting for cooler weather and in a semi sleep state).

Look at some of Tom's shelters. Your tortoise needs a place where he can cool down to about 80F degrees. Here's a good one:

http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/daisys-new-enclosure.28662/
 

yillt

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He looks healthy but I think Yvonne's advice was spot on. Have a go at that.
 
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