Total noob

[nefta777]

Hello all!
I was gifted a Sulcata baby by one of my youth's parents (I'm a youth pastor).

We thought we were doing a good job until Dash started getting lethargic. We tried many things until this weekend. We were away from town, before we left we left plenty of food (kale, and grass, and lettuce) before we left on the trip and came to him being totally unresponsive.

My daughter and I are distraught at his loss and only came to find this forum on the last day of his life :.(

Here are a couple of mistakes I think we did:
1) for some reason I thought that leaving the night bulb on, instead of the daylight would be a good idea. Mistake?
2) We did not leave water in his bowl. We were in fear he'd hop on the water and not get out and freeze or something. Mistake too?
3) We kept his fish tank enclosure at 80-86F degrees, Was this too cold?
4) we gave him daily baths and water sprits. Too much water?

We really loved him and are distraught that we lost him.
We were ready to give him a good life, but, we were not prepared.

Should we give it another go with better training and help?

Picture the first day we got him (we cleaned the fish tank they gave us real nice)

 

[jeff kushner]

You have landed at the best possible place for your little guy so Welcome! He's beautiful!

WATER???? Not your fault....you are thinking "Dry" for Tortoise.....Think more "Wet", especially for a little guy.


We have some superb talent here who will help you.....I don't want to distract or confuse you....but while you wait for them to get home from work, get the kids to practice etc.....read some of the Sticky's here in the Sulc section they cover diet, enclosures heat, light etc....written by some amazing talent!

https://tortoiseforum.org/forums/sulcata-tortoises.88/

Good luck!

 

[Tom]

Hello all!
I was gifted a Sulcata baby by one of my youth's parents (I'm a youth pastor).

We thought we were doing a good job until Dash started getting lethargic. We tried many things until this weekend. We were away from town, before we left we left plenty of food (kale, and grass, and lettuce) before we left on the trip and came to him being totally unresponsive.

My daughter and I are distraught at his loss and only came to find this forum on the last day of his life :.(

Here are a couple of mistakes I think we did:
1) for some reason I thought that leaving the night bulb on, instead of the daylight would be a good idea. Mistake?
2) We did not leave water in his bowl. We were in fear he'd hop on the water and not get out and freeze or something. Mistake too?
3) We kept his fish tank enclosure at 80-86F degrees, Was this too cold?
4) we gave him daily baths and water sprits. Too much water?

We really loved him and are distraught that we lost him.
We were ready to give him a good life, but, we were not prepared.

Should we give it another go with better training and help?

Picture the first day we got him (we cleaned the fish tank they gave us real nice)
View attachment 350090

Hello and welcome. Sorry it didn't work out so well.

Here is the current and correct care info. Getting info from other sources than this forum will confuse and frustrate you. Most of the world is still parroting the old wrong info. Questions are welcome:

The Best Way To Raise A Sulcata, Leopard, Or Star Tortoise

I chose the title of this care sheet very carefully. Are there other ways to raise babies? Yes. Yes there are, but those ways are not as good. What follows is the BEST way, according to 30 years of research and experimentation with hundreds of babies of many species. Babies hatch during the...

tortoiseforum.org

 

[wellington]

Do your research on here first. Read the sulcata caresheet, and the closed chamber threads. Also realize an aquarium will not last long for a healthy sulcata and a bigger enclosure will be needed. Then around 3 years or so he will need a large outdoor enclosure with either a heated night box or a heated shed, depending on where you live.
Get everything set up and running for a week or so before you bring a new baby home.
Good luck and sorry for your loss.

 

[nefta777]

Do your research on here first. Read the sulcata caresheet, and the closed chamber threads. Also realize an aquarium will not last long for a healthy sulcata and a bigger enclosure will be needed. Then around 3 years or so he will need a large outdoor enclosure with either a heated night box or a heated shed, depending on where you live.
Get everything set up and running for a week or so before you bring a new baby home.
Good luck and sorry for your loss.

I was ready and willing to build a suitable enclosure in my yard. I was getting ready to start converting my shed into a tort house with access to the room for exercise.

I will do that, I'm going to buy the proper equipment and give it another go after being acquainted with it for a couple of weeks.. Thank you

 

[nefta777]

Hello and welcome. Sorry it didn't work out so well.

Here is the current and correct care info. Getting info from other sources than this forum will confuse and frustrate you. Most of the world is still parroting the old wrong info. Questions are welcome:

The Best Way To Raise A Sulcata, Leopard, Or Star Tortoise

I chose the title of this care sheet very carefully. Are there other ways to raise babies? Yes. Yes there are, but those ways are not as good. What follows is the BEST way, according to 30 years of research and experimentation with hundreds of babies of many species. Babies hatch during the...

tortoiseforum.org

This is Gold thank you

 

[Tom]

I was ready and willing to build a suitable enclosure in my yard. I was getting ready to start converting my shed into a tort house with access to the room for exercise.

I will do that, I'm going to buy the proper equipment and give it another go after being acquainted with it for a couple of weeks.. Thank you

If you are in Ohio, then this is not the right species for you. They need huge warm spaces to roam around in every day, year round. Cooped up in a little shed for 7 months a year is no way for them to live.

Based on decades of tortoise keeping, I would urge you to consider a more manageable species that is better suited to your climate. There are many to choose from. Sulcatas are the wrong species for most people.

 

[jeff kushner]

Tom couldn't be more right even if he wasn't one of the top talent here. I bought a sulc after having lots of smaller turtles. I thought, "A big guy, that's what I want" beside it will take years for him to get big...........so I had Clemson for many years. It did not take "years" for him to get big. He also was pretty much able to destroy what he wanted to. I'd love to know the force generated when a big sulc digs in and pushes.....LOL

In hindsight, while I miss him dearly, it was a tragic mistake.

My box turtle, Matilda is 2 yrs old and 190 grams. A sulc will be 10 times her weight and its' growth is only speeding up!

Good luck!

 

[nefta777]

WOW! ok, that's something to think about. I'll consider other species then

 

[Yvonne G]

Welcome!