Token new guy, curious about my setup

[benlacy2112]

Hello!

I've been watching several posts on the forum, and I think I've made a few good decisions, and a few bad ones. We purchased a very young sulcata for my daughter over the holidays, and unfortunately she's lost interest, but I've fallen in love with the species.

I did my best to give him/her a good environment, but he/she passed away two weeks ago :-(

We were all pretty devastated, and since then I've been digging in on how to raise a sulcata. There are so many conflicting opinions out there, but it seems that Tom on this forum knows what's going on. (Thanks Tom, for all your insightful posts and recommendations!)

I bought a 40 gallon terrarium, filled it with about 4" of cypress mulch, and put thermometers and humidity sensors at both ends. I also put a few flat stones, and a nice cave-like enclosure toward the cool side.

I purchased a "well-started 6-month-old sulcata" from tortoisetown.com, and the little guy arrived last Wednesday. We named him Travis, and he's eating like a pig! He has romaine, kale, dandelion flowers, grass (from our untreated yard), and the occasional strawberry for a treat. His daytime temps are 80 at the low end, and ~100 under the UVB bulb (Farenheight, of course . Humidity is only around 30% usually. At night, he usually burrows a couple inches into his cypress mulch, and the temps are around 70, with humidity at ~60%.

I change his water dish out every day, and give him fresh food twice a day. He eats pretty much all of his breakfast, but not all of his dinner. I sprinkle calcium powder on all of his food, and give him a few gel treats, which he seems to devour pretty quickly.

He defecates about twice, thrice a day. Today, he pooped in my daughter's hand while she was holding him! :-D

I've started working on the layout for his outdoor enclosure, which I assume he'll need in the next 1-3 years.

Anyway, just wanted to post this and say hello to everyone, after lurking for a few months.

Cheers!
Ben

 

[Stuart S.]

Hello and Welcome Ben!
I'm sorry for your loss but glad you found a new love for tortoises..as you've discovered they're much different from any other animal you can bring into your home, they're with you for your life and potentially even longer. It sounds like you're doing a great job with your new setup, keep it up, keep his diet varied and get those daily soaks in and you'll have a bull fixer running around before you know it and hopefully your daughter will find the same love you have for these animals because your little one is going to be around a long time

 

[wellington]

Hello and Welcome. Sorry for your loss. They do steal your heart quickly. Most likely it was a bad start in life from before you ever received him.
I would change up a few things. Get humidity up to 80% and temps no lower then 80 day and night with the high humidity. Also in the dish is too much strawberry and tomato. If you want to give him a great of strawberry it should be a 1/4 of a piece maybe once a month and no tomato. More greens which is better for him, the others will mess with his gut. Also a small pinch of calcium twice a week is all that's needed. Too much is as bad as too little.

 

[Yvonne G]

Hi Ben, and welcome!

You shouldn't allow the night time temperature to get that low, and you need more humidity in the enclosure. Maybe a cover over it will help. Also, you're putting too much calcium on the food. Don't allow it to fall on the food in clumps like that. It needs to be just a tiny amount and unseen by the tortoise. So wet the food, sprinkle the calcium the stir it all up.

 

[benlacy2112]

Thanks for the advice, everyone. The only thing I can't seem to get is the higher humidity. I have two humidity gauges, one on the hot side by the uvb lamp, and one on the cool side far from the light. Under the light the humidity doesn't get much higher than 30%, and the cool side hovers around 50-60%. I spray everything down multiple times a day, but I just can't reach (and maintain) a consistent 80%. It is a glass terrarium, but the back and sides are covered, the top is covered with foil, and I keep objects obscuring the front most of the day, unless I'm actively doing something inside the terrarium.

 

[Tom]

Hello and welcome. I agree with the previous poster's advice.

In case you haven't seen these yet:
http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/for-those-who-have-a-young-sulcata.76744/
http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/beginner-mistakes.45180/
http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/how-to-raise-a-healthy-sulcata-or-leopard-version-2-0.79895/

If you make your new and improved, longer-term enclosure a large closed chamber, you will have a much easier time maintaining head and humidity, and use a fraction of the electricity too.

Does tortoise town soak their babies daily and keep them humid and warm? Do they introduce all sorts of grasses, weeds and leaves to the hatchlings? I don't know them or how they do things.

Personally, I would skip the fruit entirely. If its so bad that you can only feed a little bit, one in a while, why not just skip it and feed good things every day instead? Just my perspective on the matter.

Congrats on the new baby.