Torterra's battle with height and gravity n a sulcata pokemon wannabe. Aka HELP!

[torterrasmom]

Torterra, yes my 10 year old Pokemon obsessed son named her, has been with us for about a month now. History mostly unknown as the person we got her from couldn't even tell if she was female (she is) and we are guessing, of course that's a complete shot in the dark, at about 5 years old, she's 11lbs.
Anyway, she has recently been staying outside during the day in my completely organic garden bed. I haven't planted that one yet this year so we took almost everything out and added a thick layer of coir substrate, basking rock, separate food and water dish, top of a dog crate for a hide plus added shade cloth so she has multiple options. She's been very happy to hang out while unsupervised and gets free roam of the yard while we're out, she loves eating all the weeds.
The only reason she's in there at all is because we were given (read dumped on) another sulcata that's much smaller and in worse shape (another thread about her later) who needs the one indoor enclosure we have, and they obviously don't like each other. We are building a large (45ftx25ft) outdoor area for Torterra but with pouring concrete and setting it all up its taking a bit. We also don't have a tortoise proof fence around our property, another in progress job, so I can't just let her go.
Last night however, when I went to bring her in, she had somehow decided to get herself out. Best we can tell she climbed up the 18inch sides and toppled herself out? Still not sure on that one but it's really the only option since the bottom is wire mesh.
Well this means we couldn't find her, we have over an acre, and she was outside all night, low of 41F. When we found her this morning we immediately put her inside under the heat lamp and she kinda started to perk up. She had a soak and passed the white sandy urates which I figured were coming and had a good drink, first in a couple days. She's back to basking now and chilling but I'm still not convinced she's actually ok. There are dark spots on her carapace now that weren't there yesterday, see pic. The vet's advice was to watch her, super helpful.
My plan is to continue to monitor her activity and food intake, soaks every day for a week, and only supervised outside time. No more garden bed, she'll just be free roaming in the house and we'll be getting another indoor enclosure today.
I'll take any and all advice right now. She's still relatively new to us and I want her to be happy and healthy. Literally cried for an hour plus while looking for her last night and didn't sleep well at all. For a seasoned dog owner, I didn't know I could get so similarly attached to a tortoise so quickly. Thank you in advance!

 

[TammyJ]

Hi and welcome to the forum. Some of our experts will be coming along to help you soon. Warm soaks for her in the meantime would be good.

 

[wellington]

That's really all you can do is keep a close eye on her. Likely one night didn't do any perminent damage and she will be fine. She does need to get hydrated as sandy/gritty urates is not what you want. You want her to have smooth, tooth paste like urates
Do not let her roam your house, that's almost as dangerous as being out all night in cold temps.
She is big enough to live outside 24/7 with a heated shed or night box for those cold nights.
Take a look at member Tom night box threads.
Also be sure not to house the two together.

 

[torterrasmom]

That's really all you can do is keep a close eye on her. Likely one night didn't do any perminent damage and she will be fine. She does need to get hydrated as sandy/gritty urates is not what you want. You want her to have smooth, tooth paste like urates
Do not let her roam your house, that's almost as dangerous as being out all night in cold temps.
She is big enough to live outside 24/7 with a heated shed or night box for those cold nights.
Take a look at member Tom night box threads.
Also be sure not to house the two together.

She only roams the house during the day if she's not outside and only because I won't put the two together, it's currently 73 in the house right now. But yes I need to figure something out for nights. I will look up those threads. Thank you for the direction!

That's really all you can do is keep a close eye on her. Likely one night didn't do any perminent damage and she will be fine. She does need to get hydrated as sandy/gritty urates is not what you want. You want her to have smooth, tooth paste like urates
Do not let her roam your house, that's almost as dangerous as being out all night in cold temps.
She is big enough to live outside 24/7 with a heated shed or night box for those cold nights.
Take a look at member Tom night box threads.
Also be sure not to house the two together.

 

[Tom]

Torterra, yes my 10 year old Pokemon obsessed son named her, has been with us for about a month now. History mostly unknown as the person we got her from couldn't even tell if she was female (she is) and we are guessing, of course that's a complete shot in the dark, at about 5 years old, she's 11lbs.
Anyway, she has recently been staying outside during the day in my completely organic garden bed. I haven't planted that one yet this year so we took almost everything out and added a thick layer of coir substrate, basking rock, separate food and water dish, top of a dog crate for a hide plus added shade cloth so she has multiple options. She's been very happy to hang out while unsupervised and gets free roam of the yard while we're out, she loves eating all the weeds.
The only reason she's in there at all is because we were given (read dumped on) another sulcata that's much smaller and in worse shape (another thread about her later) who needs the one indoor enclosure we have, and they obviously don't like each other. We are building a large (45ftx25ft) outdoor area for Torterra but with pouring concrete and setting it all up its taking a bit. We also don't have a tortoise proof fence around our property, another in progress job, so I can't just let her go.
Last night however, when I went to bring her in, she had somehow decided to get herself out. Best we can tell she climbed up the 18inch sides and toppled herself out? Still not sure on that one but it's really the only option since the bottom is wire mesh.
Well this means we couldn't find her, we have over an acre, and she was outside all night, low of 41F. When we found her this morning we immediately put her inside under the heat lamp and she kinda started to perk up. She had a soak and passed the white sandy urates which I figured were coming and had a good drink, first in a couple days. She's back to basking now and chilling but I'm still not convinced she's actually ok. There are dark spots on her carapace now that weren't there yesterday, see pic. The vet's advice was to watch her, super helpful.
My plan is to continue to monitor her activity and food intake, soaks every day for a week, and only supervised outside time. No more garden bed, she'll just be free roaming in the house and we'll be getting another indoor enclosure today.
I'll take any and all advice right now. She's still relatively new to us and I want her to be happy and healthy. Literally cried for an hour plus while looking for her last night and didn't sleep well at all. For a seasoned dog owner, I didn't know I could get so similarly attached to a tortoise so quickly. Thank you in advance!

There is no reason to be pouring concrete for an 11 pound tortoise, and one that size cannot scale an 18 inch wall unless there was something near the wall to use as a step.

To keep him/her outside ( you can't sex them until they get to at least 14 inches, and sometimes not until 17-18 inches. They all look females as juveniles...) you need a heated night box. With a night box, the tortoise can seek its own shelter on cold or rainy days, and it will always be warm and cozy at night, protected from predators. Best to let them burrow in summer to escape the scorching AZ heat.

Here are two examples of night boxes and a pic of a much easier way to make pens for smaller sulcatas:

Single Tortoise Night Box

I like my larger tortoises to live outside full time. My climate permits this year round with a little help. For people who live where it snows all winter, this type of box is still good for warmer weather, getting them out earlier in Spring, and keeping them out a bit later into fall. You'll...

tortoiseforum.org

Double Door Night Box

As the years have gone by and I build more of these boxes, I learn more and more each time. This one is the latest and I incorporated everything I've learned over the years. I also tried to take lots of pics so I can explain in more detail some of what is going on. It will take multiple posts to...

tortoiseforum.org

Also, be aware the most of the care, feeding and housing info that you find while doing "research" is mostly old wrong info. More on that here:

Info For New People. Please Read This First.

Hello and welcome to tortoiseforum.org! We are all glad you are here! There is no other forum like this anywhere. We have tens of thousands of members from all over the world ranging from kids with their first tortoise to people who have been breeding and keeping high end tortoises since the...

tortoiseforum.org

 

[torterrasmom]

There is no reason to be pouring concrete for an 11 pound tortoise, and one that size cannot scale an 18 inch wall unless there was something near the wall to use as a step.

To keep him/her outside ( you can't sex them until they get to at least 14 inches, and sometimes not until 17-18 inches. They all look females as juveniles...) you need a heated night box. With a night box, the tortoise can seek its own shelter on cold or rainy days, and it will always be warm and cozy at night, protected from predators. Best to let them burrow in summer to escape the scorching AZ heat.

Here are two examples of night boxes and a pic of a much easier way to make pens for smaller sulcatas:

Single Tortoise Night Box

I like my larger tortoises to live outside full time. My climate permits this year round with a little help. For people who live where it snows all winter, this type of box is still good for warmer weather, getting them out earlier in Spring, and keeping them out a bit later into fall. You'll...

tortoiseforum.org

Double Door Night Box

As the years have gone by and I build more of these boxes, I learn more and more each time. This one is the latest and I incorporated everything I've learned over the years. I also tried to take lots of pics so I can explain in more detail some of what is going on. It will take multiple posts to...

tortoiseforum.org

View attachment 355359


Also, be aware the most of the care, feeding and housing info that you find while doing "research" is mostly old wrong info. More on that here:

Info For New People. Please Read This First.

Hello and welcome to tortoiseforum.org! We are all glad you are here! There is no other forum like this anywhere. We have tens of thousands of members from all over the world ranging from kids with their first tortoise to people who have been breeding and keeping high end tortoises since the...

tortoiseforum.org

Thank you so much Tom! I will look at all of those right now. The idea behind pouring concrete now was so they could grow into it. With young kids, I have the time now, so we're doing it because we might not have time later on.

 

[wellington]

Are you pouring concrete walls/fence?

 

[Ray--Opo]

Welcome, if your tort gets outside overnight in cold weather. The best bet is to warm them up slowly. You don’t want drastic temp changes.

 

[torterrasmom]

Are you pouring concrete walls/fence?

So far the concrete is sunken in the ground to deter the other burrowing animals we have around here and to hold the posts we're using to temporarily board in the space. Depending how long the rest of the yard takes I will be reinforcing with blocks because this little thing is strong!
I know I can't dig down far enough to contain a full-grown, serious burrowing tortoise so this really is just a semi longer-term enclosure before they get the whole yard. In truth if we hadn't acquired the two as quickly as we did I probably wouldn't be doing any of it, I'd just make the whole yard work for them.

 

[torterrasmom]

Welcome, if your tort gets outside overnight in cold weather. The best bet is to warm them up slowly. You don’t want drastic temp changes.

I kinda figured shocking them wasn't a good idea. I let her move herself from one side of the enclosure, without the heat bulb, to the other. It took her about an hour, and then about an hour after she did that she had a nice soak.

 

[Tom]

So far the concrete is sunken in the ground to deter the other burrowing animals we have around here and to hold the posts we're using to temporarily board in the space. Depending how long the rest of the yard takes I will be reinforcing with blocks because this little thing is strong!
I know I can't dig down far enough to contain a full-grown, serious burrowing tortoise so this really is just a semi longer-term enclosure before they get the whole yard. In truth if we hadn't acquired the two as quickly as we did I probably wouldn't be doing any of it, I'd just make the whole yard work for them.

You don't need to contain them underground. They dig down at about a 35-40 degree angle, and just use that one tunnel. They don't dig down and then back up on another trajectory. When the time comes, you can start a burrow for the tortoises where you want them to dig, so that they don't choose their own spot and dig under a wall or your house.

You seem like you will be an excellent tortoise keeper. I'm glad these tortoises found their way to you, and please feel free to ask as many questions as you want. I hope we can help. We are all here to talk tortoises!